Coercive Acts

• also known as the intollerable act

• response/retalliation to destruction of tea

• involved the Port Act, the Massachussets Government Act, the Justice Act, and the Quartering Act
• GB expected this to isolate MA from the rest of the colonies, but instead it united them

• March 1790
• shots were fired in Boston between the British and the colonists
• artistically pictured the colonists to be extremely helpless on most accounts

• the first document that was used to govern the United States
• agreed to work together, but the states were sovereign
• central government would direct dimplomary and military defense only
• no president, and only one house legislature (unicameral)
• very week:  couldn't regulate commerse, couldnt tax, didn't have power

• systems in place to ensure that power was evenly distributed
• three branches: legislative, executive, judicial
• checks and balances of each branch

stops one branch from becoming powerful enough to override the other branches.

Example:  Congress can override the president's veto

impeachment of president be legislature

judicial branch can declare a law to be unconstitutional

Second document to govern the United States.  Still Used today. 

Federalism-relationship between central government and the states

separation of powers

list of things that the fed. government cannot do, in order to ensure it doesn't get too powerful

• written by Thomas Jefferson
• Part one (theory)
• Part two (greivences
• Part three (after "he has_

• Purpose: to declare and justify independence both to Great Britain, the colonies, and other nations

• wrote on the equality of intellect
• wanted to change who is educated, and to educate women and create new schools
• claims men and women have the same intellectual capacity

• armed uprising that took place in MA in 1786-7
• brought on by financial difficulties after the Revolutionary War
• farmers wanted tax relief and help with their foreclosures

• epidemic/outbreak during the Revolutionary War
• caused blindness and scares, and if one didn't build immunity they died
• response to help solve it was innoculation, the process of infecting yourself with a small dose of the virus, in hopes you would develope an immunity to it

• GB taxed goods coming to the colonies like lead, glass, paint, paper, and tea
• used to raise revenue, but in hopes that colonies would accept it better than Navigation Acts
• colonies rejected this on principle of "no taxation without representation"
• colonies started to boycott british goods due to this starting on January 1, 1768

• Parliament was trying to save East India Tea Co. who was on the verge of bankruptsy, so they arranged for them to sell very cheaply to the colonies (The Tea Act)
• Since colonies were boycotting tea, the Boston residents decide to destroy the tea by dumping all 45 tons into the harbor

• laws created by Northern States to very slowly start emancipating slaves
• In PA, no slaves could be freed if they were a slave before 1780, and those born after 1780 weren't freed under the law until 1801. 

Motherhood began to take on significant importance, and many argued that the mother rearing her children should be properly educated.  This was meant to encourage changes in women's education as a whole and they used motherhood as a gateway. (political act)

• she asks her husband to "remember the ladies" when making laws about how much control husbands have over their wives
• coverature: the idea that wives are "covered" by their husbands in financial and legal matters
• he tells her that there are more important things to worry about

law passed by parliament that required colonists to pay tax on all paper goods.  If tax was not paid, it would not be professionally accepted. (newspapers, wills, deeds, diplomas, cards, ect)

• wrote Common Sense
• touches on the reality of the monarchy having preference just because of birth
• gave a direct jab to England Royalty

• Soldier for the Confederate Army during the Revolutionary War
• Writes a diary about his rough experiences, including starvation, lack of clothes and shoes, dehuydration, being very cold, and not getting paid