Paul Jones

American Pageant Chapter 7

1. John Hancock
John Hancock (January 23, 1737 – October 8, 1793) was a merchant, statesman, and
prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second
Continental Congress and was the first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
He is remembered for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of
Independence, so much so that "John Hancock" became, in the United States, a synonym
for signature.
2. George Grenville
George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770), was a British Whig
statesman who served in government for the relatively short period of seven years,
reaching the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was one of the few prime
ministers (others include William Pitt the Younger, Sir Winston Churchill, George
Canning, Spencer Percival, and William Gladstone) who never acceded to the peerage.
3. Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams (September 27, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was a statesman, political
philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in
colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American
Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism
that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to John
Adams.
4. John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American politician and the
second President of the United States (1797–1801), after being the first Vice President
(1789–1797) for two terms. He is regarded as one of the most influential Founding
Fathers of the United States.
5. King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820) was King of
Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two
countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
and prince-elector of Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire until his promotion to King of
Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover,
but unlike his two predecessors he was born in Britain and spoke English as his first
language. Despite his long life, he never visited Hanover.
6. Mercantilism
Mercantilism is an economic theory that holds that the prosperity of a nation is dependent
upon its supply of capital, and that the global volume of international trade is
"unchangeable." Economic assets or capital, are represented by bullion (gold, silver, and
trade value) held by the state, which is best increased through a positive balance of trade
with other nations (exports minus imports). Mercantilism suggests that the ruling
government should advance these goals by playing a protectionist role in the economy;
by encouraging exports and discouraging imports, notably through the use of tariffs and
subsidies.
 7. “No taxation without representation”
"No taxation without representation" began as a slogan in the period 1763–1776 that
summarized a primary grievance of the British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies. In
short, many in those colonies believed the lack of direct representation in the distant
British Parliament was an illegal denial of their rights as Englishmen, and therefore laws
taxing the colonists (the kind of law that affects the most individuals directly), and other
laws applying only to the colonies, were unconstitutional. In recent times, several other
groups in several different countries have used it over similar disputes.
8. Navigation Acts
The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws, which restricted the use of foreign
shipping for trade between England (after 1707 Great Britain) and its colonies, which
started in 1651. At their outset, they were a factor in the Anglo-Dutch Wars. Later, they
were one of several sources of resentment in the American colonies against Great Britain,
fuelling the flames of the American Revolutionary War.
9. Sugar Act
The Sugar Act (4 Geo. III c. 15), also known as the American Revenue Act or the
American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain
on April 5, 1764. The preamble to the act stated that, "it is expedient that new provisions
and regulations should be established for improving the revenue of this Kingdom ...
and ... it is just and necessary that a revenue should be raised ... for defraying the
expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same." The earlier Molasses Act of
1733, which had imposed a tax of six pence per gallon of molasses, had never been
effectively collected due to colonial evasion. By reducing the rate in half and increasing
measures to enforce the tax, the British hoped that the tax would actually be collected.
10. Quartering Act
Quartering Act is the name of at least two acts of the Parliament of Great Britain
during the Eighteenth century. The Quartering Acts were used by the British forces in the
American colonies to ensure that British troops had adequate housing and provisions.
These acts were amendments to the Mutiny Act, which had to be renewed annually by
Parliament. Originally intended as a response to problems that arose during Britain's
victory in the Seven Years War they later became a source of tension between inhabitants
of the Thirteen Colonies and the government in London.
11. Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first stamp act to be passed by the Parliament of
Great Britain and required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts,
newspapers, wills, pamphlets, and playing cards in the American colonies to carry a tax
stamp. The act was enacted in order to pay for a portion of the costs of maintaining an
army in the territories gained in North America during the Seven Years' War. However,
colonists protested that a tax laid upon them by a legislature in which they were not
represented violated the British constitutional right of no taxation without representation.
Colonial resistance to the act led to its repeal on March 18, 1766.
12. Stamp Act Congress
The Stamp Act Congress was a meeting in the building that would become Federal
Hall in New York City on October 19, 1765 consisting of delegates from 9 of the 13
colonies that discussed and acted upon the recently passed Stamp Act. The colonies that
did not send delegates were Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and New Hampshire, and
those from New York were delegates of particular counties within the colony, not the
colony itself.
13. Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of laws of Parliament loops passed beginning in
1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America.
The acts are named for Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who
proposed the program. Historians vary slightly in which acts they include under the
heading "Townshend Acts", but five laws are frequently mentioned: the Revenue Act of
1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court
Act, and the New York Restraining Act.
14. Boston Massacre
The Townshend Acts were a series of laws of Parliament loops passed beginning in
1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America.
The acts are named for Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who
proposed the program. Historians vary slightly in which acts they include under the
heading "Townshend Acts", but five laws are frequently mentioned: the Revenue Act of
1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court
Act, and the New York Restraining Act.
15. Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British
colony of Massachusetts, against the British government. On December 16, 1773, after
officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of
colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The
incident remains an iconic event of American history, and has often been referenced in
other political protests.
16. Loyalists
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain
(and the British monarchy) during and after the American Revolutionary War. They were
often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men by the Patriots, those that supported
the revolution. When their cause was defeated, about 20% of the Loyalists left the US to
resettle in other parts of the British Empire, in Britain or elsewhere in British North
America (especially New Brunswick), where they were called United Empire Loyalists;
some went to the British West Indies, especially the Bahamas). Black Loyalists made up
some of the Loyalist community. They lost all the property left behind, but were
compensated by British claims procedures.
17. Battle of Lexington and Concord
The battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the
American Revolutionary War.[8] They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex
County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord,
Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles
marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and
its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America.