Term | Definition |
Patrick Henry | Anti-federalist -"Give me liberty or give me death" |
Battle of Concord | Site of the first actual battle of the American Revolution. |
King George III | The King of England who disbanded the colonial legislatures, taxed the colonies, and refused the Olive Branch Petition leading to the final break with the colonies. |
Lord Cornwallis | British general who surrendered at Yorktown. |
Lord North | Blamed for losing the American Revolution. |
Common Sense | A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine to convince colonists that it was time to become independent from Britain |
First Continental Congress | Met in Philadelphia. Colonists asked Britain to repeal the Intolerable Acts. |
George Washington | Patriot leader who was in the Continental Congress and commanded the Continental Army. |
Patriots | A Colonist that was loyal to the idea of breaking away from the crown. |
Continental Army | Army created by the Second Continental Congress to defend the American Colonies from Britain. |
Minutemen | Patriots who were ready to fight at minutes notice. |
Redcoats | British Soldiers |
Second Continental Congress | Adopted the Declaration of Independence-Created the Continental Army |
Thomas Paine | Wrote pamphlets; Common Sense and The Crisis to encourage American independence . |
Battle of Lexington | The first shots of the American Revolution were fired here. |
Thomas Jefferson | Wrote the Declaration of Independence, became the 3rd President of the United States and purchased the Louisiana territory, doubling the size of the United States. |
Declaration of Independence | Drafted by Thomas Jefferson. Bulk of it lists the grieveness to King George III. |
Treaty of Paris 1783 | Ended the American Revolution. Two crucial provisions of the treaty were British recognition of U.S. independence and the delineation of boundaries that would allow for American western expansion. |
Loyalist | A colonist loyal to the English Crown. |
Battle of Yorktown | The British were defeated by George Washington’s troops signaled the end of the American Revolution. (Cornwallis-British General) |
Battle of Saratoga | The turning point of the American Revolution as it gave France a reason to enter the war against Britain. |
Marquis de Lafayette | French officer who helped finance the American Revolution. |
Olive Branch Petition | Adopted by the Continental Congress in July 1775 in an attempt to avoid a full-blown war with Great Britain. King George III ignored it. |
British Advantages | The British were well-equipped soldiers and had a large, powerful navy. |
Colonists Advantages | Colonist were fighting on their own ground, they had soldiers who were fighting for their freedom from Britain(men from colonies, they had George Washington as their leader,they had great determination, & they had food close by. |
John Adams | American statesman,delegate to the Continetal Congress...defended the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre. |
How the Colonists won the American Revolution. | Americans were fighting on their Native soil and knew the lay of the land and Americans were fighting for a cause; Liberty-Freedom whereas the British were uncertain as to their own goals. |
John Locke | In writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson drew heavily on the doctrines of this person concerning the general principles of liberty and the rights of man. |