Acre: a unit of measure in the U.S., used in measuring a field or plot of land, equal to 43,560 square feet.
Barter: to trade goods or services without exchanging cash.
Boston Massacre: on March 5, 1770, after provocation, British soldiers fired on a crowd of Boston colonials, killing five men.
Corncrib: a structure for storing corn.
Flax: a widely cultivated plant, with slender stems,which yields a textile fiber.
Grain: a single seed of a cereal grass, such as wheat.
Intolerable Acts: also known as the Coercive Acts among American colonists, these were a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 to punish and make an example of Massachusetts for resisting parliamentary authority.
Linen: thread made from, or cloth woven, from the flax plant.
Molasses Act: a British law of 1733 that imposed taxes on molasses, rum, and sugar imported into the American colonies, which would effectively close trade with the West Indies and destroy New England's rum industry. The colonists rarely paid the tax, choosing rather to avoid it through smuggling.
Musket: a shoulder firearm used from the late 16th through the 18th centuries.
Navigation Acts: starting in 1651, these laws restricted the shipping trade of the American colonies to protect British interests, and secure a profit for England.
Orchard: a piece of land for the growing of fruit trees.
Outhouse: an outbuilding on a farm; a small structure serving as an outdoor toilet.
Oxen: plural for ox; an adult bovine bull that has been castrated, used as a draft animal.
Parson: a member of the clergy, especially a Protestant minister; a rector.
Pasture: a field of grass or other vegetation for the purpose of feeding grazing animals.
Plow: a farm tool with a heavy blade at the end of a beam, usually hitched to a team of draft animals or a tractor, used for breaking up soil and cutting furrows for planting.
Quartering Act: applied to all the colonies in 1765, this law was put in place to force colonial legislatures to provide housing for British troops in America- it allowed soldiers to take up "quarters" in buildings that did not belong to the British military.
Redcoats: British soldiers, especially those serving during the American Revolution.
Shear: tool used to remove the hair or fleece from a mammal, primarily sheep.
Smokehouse: a structure for curing meat or fish with smoke.
Sons of Liberty: an organization formed in 1765 of American colonials who opposed British measures against the colonists, and agitated for resistance.
Stamp Act: to pay for a military presence in North America, and because the British felt the colonies were the beneficiaries of such a presence and should pay for it. In 1765 Parliament required all legal documents, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the colonies to carry a tax stamp, which of course had to be purchased.
Sugar Act: this law of 1764 reduced the tax imposed by the Molasses Act of 1733, but was a measure to increase enforcement of the duty. It included many other imported goods, which affected the colonial economy by straining the American export market and reducing the amount of cash in colonial pockets. Without cash, the colonists could not purchase British manufactured goods.
Swine: omnivores of the family that includes pigs, hogs, and boars.
Tea Act: in 1773, this law was an attempt to save the failing East India Company by shipping their surplus tea to America for sale at a bargain price, thereby undercutting the business of colonial merchants.
Tillage: land used for growing crops for human consumption.
Townshend Act: in 1767 these laws proposed by Charles Townshend taxed products imported into the American colonies including paper, glass, and tea. The revenue was for paying British officials in the colonies. Colonists opposed these acts by proclaiming, "No taxation without representation!" and through a boycott of legitimate English imports.
Upland Meadow: grassland, for use as pasture or for growing hay.
Wheelwright: a woodworker or carpenter that builds and repairs wheels.
Woodlot: a privately owned area of woodland maintained as a source for fuel and lumber.
