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| In the mid-eighteenth century, they were a political faction that doimnated Parliament. Generally, they were opposed to royal influence of Parliament. Later they were associated with Parliamentary reform. |
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| parliamentary sovereignty |
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| Principle that emphasized the power of Parliament to govern colonial affairs as the preeminent authority. |
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| Throughout the conflict with Great Britain, many colonists sided with the king and Parliament. Also called the Tories, these people feared that American liberty might promote social anarchy. |
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| Meeting of colonial delegates in New York City in October 1765 to protest the Stamp Sct, a law passed by Parliament to raise revenue in America. The delegates drafted petitions denouncing the Stamp Act and other taxes imposed on Americans without colonial consent. |
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| A violent confrontation between British troops and a Boston mob on March 5, 1770. Five citizens were killed when the troops fired into the crowd. The incident inflamed anit-British sentiment in Massachusetts. |
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| committee of correspondance |
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| Vast communication network formed in Massachusetts and other colonies to communicate grievances and provide colonists with evidence of British oppression. |
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| Also known as the Intolerable Acts, the four pieces of legislation passed by Parliament in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party that were meant to punish the colonies. |
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| First Continental Congress |
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| Meeting of delegates from twelve colonies in Philadelphia in 1774. The Congress denied Parliament's authority to legislate the colonies, condemned British actions toward the colonies, created the Continental Association, and endorsed a call to take up arms. |
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| Second Continental Congress |
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| This meeting took place in Philadelphia in May 1775, in the midst of rapidly unfolding military events. It organized the Continental Army and commissioned George Washington to lead it, then began requisitioning men and supplies for the war effort. |
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| Revolutionary tract written by Thomas Pain in January 1776. It called for independence and the establishment of a republican government in America. |
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| Concept that ultimate political authority is vested in the citizens of the nation. The character of republican government was dependent on the civic virtue of its citizens to preserve the nation from corruption and moral decay. |
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| Fundamental rights over which the government could exercise no control. An uncompromising belief in such rights energized the popular demand for a formal bill of rights in 1791. |
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| Articles of Confederation |
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| Ratified in 1781, this document was the first constitution of the United States, providing a framework for national government. The articles sharply limited central authority by denying the national government any taxation or coercive powers. |
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| Legislation that formulated plans for governments in America's northwestern territories, defined a procedure for the territories admission to the Union as states, and prohibited slavery north of the Ohio River. |
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| Group of leaders who favored replacing the Articles og Confederation with a stronger national government. |
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| Armed insurrection of farmers in western Massacusetts led by Daniel Shays, a veteran of the Continental Army. Intended to prevent state courts from foreclosing on debtors unable to pay their taxes, the rebellion was put down by te state militia. Nationalists used thie event to justify the calling of a constitutional convention to strengthen national government. |
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| Offered by James Madison and the Virginia delegaion at the Constitutional Convention, this proposal called for a new government with a strong executive office and two houses of Congress, each with representation proportional to a states population. |
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| Proposal of the New Jersey delegation at the Constitutional Convention that called for a strong government with one house of Congress in which all states would have equal representation. |
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| Supporters of the Constitution who advocatedits ratification. |
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| Critics of the Constitution who expressed concern that it seemed to possess no specific provision for the protection of national and civil rights. |
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| A series of essays penned by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, that explained and defended the stronger national government created by the Constitutional Convention of 1787. |
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| The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1791 to preserve the rights and liberties of indivduals. |
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