Term | Definition |
Minutemen | American colonial militia members who were supposed to be ready to fight at a minutes notice. |
Siege | Military blockade of a city or fort. |
First Continental Congress | Met in Philadelphia. had 56 colonial delegates. |
Thomas Gage | decided to take away the minutemen's weapons and ammunation. |
Redcoats | British soldiers, becuase of uniform. |
Second Continental Congress | Had to decide how to react to the fighting. |
Continental Army | To defend the colonies. |
George Washington | Virginian to command army. |
Olive Branch Petition | Peace request sent by the Second Continental Congress to Britains King George III, who rejected it. |
Battle of Bunker Hill | Revolutionary War battle in Boston that demostrated that the colonists could fight well against the British army. |
Unalienable Rights | Basic human rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. |
Common Sense | Panphlet written by Thomas Paine |
Thomas Paine | argued for breaking away from Great Britain. |
Thomas Jefferson | Main of author of Decleration of Independence. |
Decleration of Independence | Statement of the Second Continental Congress that defined the colonists rights, outlined their complaints about Great Britain, and declared the colonies independence. |
Patriots | American colonists who fought for independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. |
Loyalissts | Colonists who sided with Britain in the American Revolution. |
Abigail Adams | The wife of John Adams. |
Mercenaries | Hired foreign soldiers. |
Lord's Dunmore's Proclamation | Statement issued by by Virginia's royal governorpromosing freedom to any slave who fought for the british in the American Revolution. |
Thayendanega | Persuaded many of the Iroquois to support the British. |
Molly Pitcher | Brought water to thirsty Patriot troops. |
William Howe | Led the British to drive the the continental armyoff of Long Island. |
Battle of Trenton | Revolutionary War battle in New Jersey in which Patriot forces captured more than 900 Hessain troops. |
Battle of Princeton | Revolutionary War battle in which the the Patriots drove back British forces in New Jersey. |
John Burgoyne | surrendered army to american patriot general Haatio's Gates at Saratoga, New York, on october 17, 1777. |
Battle of Brandywine Creek | Revolutionary War battle in which British forces overwhelmed th e Patriots in Pennsylvania. |
Battle of Saratoga | Revolutionary war battle in New York that resulted in a major defeat of British troops; marked the Patriot's greatest victory up to that point in the war. |
Bernado de Galvez | the governor of Spanish Louisiana, was a key ally to the Patriots. |
Marquis de Lafayette | individual foreigner who aso fought for the patriots. |
Friedrich von Steuben | sspoke no english |
John Paul Jones | one of the most successful American captains. |
Guerilla Warfare | Type of fighting in which soldiers use swift hit-and-run attacks against the enemy, usually behind the battle lines. |
George Rogers Clark | Was a key American leader in the west. |
Battle of Vincennes | Revolutionary War battle in the west in which Patriots retook Vincennes, a mostly French town along the Wabash River, from the British. |
Horatio Gates | led patriot forces who tried to drive out the British |
Francis Marion | great at Guerrilla Warfare. |
Comte de Rochambeau | french general |
Battle of Yorktown | Last major battle of the Revolutionary War; site of British general Charles Conwallis's surrender to the Patriots in Virginia. |
Treaty of Paris 1783 | Peace agreement that officially ended the Revoluionary War and estblished British reconition of the United States. |