Download Document

2. Towards Independence (1756 – 1783)
(lecture worksheet 2009/2010)
Important dates:
1765, 1767, 1770, 1773, 1774, July 4, 1776, 1763, 1781, 1783
Names & Places:
Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, B. Franklin, J. Locke, M. Montesquie, J.
J. Rousseau, George Ill., Thomas Pmne, G. Washington, Marqius de
Lafayette, Mohawk Indians, George Washington, the Stamp Act, the
Townshend Acts, Boston, East India Company, "Boston Massacre",
Coercive Acts (also "Intolerable Acts), the First Continental Congress,
Colonial Association, "Common Sense", the Second Continental Congress,
the Continental Army, the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris
Lexington (Mass.), Concord (Mass.), Philadelphia, France, Spain, the
Netherlands
Vocabulary:
to squabble over sthg. (e. g. taxes), an act of Parliament, to impose import
duties, to levy custom duties, to repeal a tax, to dispatch a regiment, a mob
attack, a martyr, "no taxation without representation", to be disguised as
sb., to dump a ship cargo into the sea, to draft a petition, trade boycott,
publish a pamphlet, to appoint sb. commander-in-chief, to derive one's
powers from the consent of the governed, to have the right to alter or
abolish a government, to deprive sb. of their unalienable rights, to recognise
independence of the thirteen colonies
Exam Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Give a short outline of the French and Indian War; its causes, land claims of the parties
involved, peace settlement and the war’s implications for the future of the American colonies.
What taxation policy did Britain apply to the American colonies after 1763 and how did
American colonists react to it (specific taxes imposed and their rationale, stampmen, John
Dickinson)?
Describe the events known as the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party and point out
their significance in the lead-up to the War of Independence.
Discuss the most important political and military developments in the American
Revolutionary War between 1775 and 1783 (The First and Second Continental Congresses,
Lexington and Concord, Common Sense, French assistance, Yorktown, the Treaty of Paris).
Analyse the Declaration of Independence looking at its structure, arguments and historical
background.