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O R C L I W O R A L N D S
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| Term | Definition |
| Lord Cornwalis | Commander of the British forces; surrendered at Yorktown |
| John Hancock | The statesman who was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence |
| Privateer | a ship permitted to attach enemy ships |
| John Paul Jones | One of the most successful American captains; Famous victory came against a British warship; "I have not yet begun to fight" |
| Battle of Lexington | At the start of what battle were the minutemen told, "DOn't fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have war, let it begin here!" |
| Olive Branch Petition | Assured King George III that the colonists wanted peace; asked King to protect the colonist's rights; and to repeal Intolerable Acts and end taxation without representation |
| 1776 | America declared independence from Britain |
| Patrick Henry | Man who said "as for me, give me liberty or give me death." |
| Thomas Jefferson | Wrote the Declaration of Independence; Anti-Federalist |
| Benjamin Franklin | Inventor; discoverer of electricity, negotiated peace treaty with France |
| George III | King of England during the American Revolution |
| Treaty of Paris 1783 | Treaty that ended the American Revolution |
| Battle of Bunker Hill | First MAJOR battle of the American Revolution. Proved that Americans could fight bravely and that the British would not be easily defeated. |
| Marquis de Lafayette | Frenchman who aided troops at Valley Forge by supplying clothing |
| Frederick von Steuben | I was a German army officer who trained Washington's troops at Valley Forge. I taught them how to march and use their bayonets |
| Martha Washington | She stayed with her husband during the hard winter at Valley Forge. Eventually she became the country's First Lady. |
| Desert | to leave military duty without planning to return |
| Rendezvous | a meeting |
| Guerrilla | a fighter who uses hit-and-run attacks |
| Hay Salomon | Convinced many Hessians to desert the British military; he used his own money to finance the Patriot cause for independence |
| Crispus Attucks | First African American killed in America's fight for independence |
| Revolution | Overturning of a government by the people being governed |
| General Howe | The British general who was driven out of Boston in March of 1776 |
| Ethan Allen | I led a group of men from Vermont on an expedition to steal cannons from Fort Ticonderoga |
| Loyalist | Colonists wanting to remain loyal to Britain |
| Battle of Trenton | On the night of December 25th, Washington and his army crossed the Delaware River and surprised the Hessians. |
| Intolerable Acts | Actions taken by Parliament because of the Boston Tea Party |
| Minutemen | Got their name because they were ready to fight at a minute's notice |
| Saratoga | American Revolution; the 1st time that it looked like the Americans could win |
| Blockade | A closing off of an are to keep people or supplies from going in or out |
| Olive Branch Petition | Last effort to restore peaceful relationships between the King and the colonists. |
| Mercy Otis Warren | A partiot; she wrote plays that were critical of the British government's actions against the colonists |
| Writs of Assistance | Search warrants to enter homes or businesses |
| Posterity | Decedents of future generation |
| Quartering Act | Required colonists to house British soldiers and provide them with supplies |
| Committees of Correspondence | groups that exchanged letters on colonial affairs |
| Strategy | an overall plan of action |
| Militia | Troops of voluntary citizen-soldiers; minutemen |
| Ally | a country that aids another country |
| Redcoats | British soldiers who fought against the colonist; so called because of the color of their bright red uniform |
| Boycott | A refusal to buy something |
| Proclamation of 1763 | This forbid colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains |
| Tariff | A tax used to regulate trade |
| Lexington/Concord | First battle of the American Revolution; the "Shot Heard Round the World" |
| Declaratory Act | Asserted Britain's power over her colonies |
| James Armistead | A slave who enlisted as a patriot spy; he could get into British camps and hear important war secrets; Marquis de Lafayette helped him gain his freedom |
| Yorktown | Wat colonia city did the minutemen surround and hold under siege |
| Grievance | Grudge or circumstance regarded as just cause for complaint often in retaliation |
| Continental Army | Organized by the 2nd Continental Congress to fight against the British |
| Prohibitory Act | In response to Olive Branch Petition; King ordered all rebels arrested for treason and hung; hired 10,000 Prussian mercenaries to help suppress the rebellion |
| George Rogers Clark | I led Virginia frontiersmen against the British in the Ohio River Valley. We captured forts at Kaskasia Cahokia, and Vincennes |
| Samuel Adams | Leader of the Boston Sons of Liberty |
| Henry Knox | This patriot moved the cannon from Fort Ticonderoga 300 miles through the wilderness to the siege of Boston |
| John Locke | An Enlightenment thinker who thought that people had natural rights such as equality and liberty. |
| Molly Pitcher | Nickname given to Mary Ludwig Hayes McCauley when she carried water to soldiers after her husband was kill in battle |
| Valley Forge | Washington's starving, poorly equipped troops trained here during freezing winter |
| Boston Tea Party | Event in which citizens of Boston dressed as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor |
| Wentworth Cheswell | Grandson to 1st African American land owner; he worked for freedom and justice for all American citizens; fought in the Battle of Saratoga |
| Sugar Act | Tax enacted in 1764 to help pay colonial defense |
| First Continental Congress | 12 colonies met in Philadelphia; sent a respectful message to King George urging him to consider the colonists' grievances (complaints) |
| John Adams | Defended the British soldiers who killed the 5 citizens during the Boston Massacre |
| French and Indian War | The war between 1754-1763 over control of the northern and eastern parts of North America |
| Civil Disobedience | Refusal to obey laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation; usually through nonviolent means |
| Johnathan Edwards | Important leader of the Great Awakening; his dramatic sermons told sinners to seek forgiveness for their sins or face punishment in Hell forever. |
| Repeal | To officially cancel |
| John Burgoyne | I am a British general who led a march on Albany. I was slowed by dragging my baggage carts through the woods. I finally surrendered my army at Saratoga |
| The fort that Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen captured giving the colonists a large supply of weapons and cannon to use in the Revolution | Fort Ticonderoga |
| Deborah Sampson | She disguised herself as a man using the name Robert Shurtleff and joined the Patriot forces |
| Stamp Act | Required a legal documents to carry an official stamp showing that a tax had been paid. |
| Boston Massare | Deaths that occurred in a riot |
| Thomas Paine | Wrote Common Sense (people should rule themselves, not ruled by a King) |
| General Horatio Gates | Retired British soldier who served as a American General in the American Revolution; his victory at the Battle of Saratoga turned the tide in the war |
| 2nd Continental Congress | Chose Washington to lead the Continental Army; Sent Olive Branch Petition (another try for peace); selected a committee to write the Declaration of Independence |
| Mercenary | a soldier fighting for another country |
| Bernardo de Galvez | From Spain; governor of Louisiana; he sided with the Americans; he gave weapons, gunpowder, clothing, and other supplies to the colonial army |
| Bunker Hill | The battle near Boston proved that the Continental army could "hold its own" against the British army. |
| Yorktown | Last battle of the American Revolution |
| George Washington | 21 year old major who was sent by the British to tell the French to leave the Ohio River Valley |
| Petition | A request to change something |
| Inalienable Rights (Unalienable Rights) | Rights that all people are born with: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness |
| Taxation without Representation | Slogan of colonial grievance due to paying $$$$ without consent |
| Declaration of Independence | Listed the reasons that the U.S. was officially overthrowing the British rule |
| Bayonet | a knife attached to a gun |
| Abigail Adams | Wife of John Adams; a patriot; she wanted the Declaration of Independence to address women's rights |
| The Enlightenment | Believed there should be a social contract between government and citizens |
| Comte de Rochabeau | French commander who aided in the victory of Yorktown |
| Patriots | Colonists wanting to fight for independence from Britain |
| The Great Awakening | Sermons about spiritual equality of all people led some colonists to began demanding more political equality |
| Siege | The surrounding or blockading of a city, town or fortress by an army attempting to capture it. |
| Republicanism | the idea that the people should rule |
| Paul Revere | Warned the colonists that the British were attacking |
| Townshend Acts | Taxed tea, lead, paper, and glass |
| Navigation Acts | Law to control colonial trade |
| Concord | The location where colonial militias in Massachusetts stored their weapons |
| Hessians | We are German mercenaries (professional soldiers) hired by the British. 900 of us were captured by Washington at Trenton |
| Parliament | England's chief lawmaking body; was the colonists' model for representative government. |
| Francis Maron | I was an American patriot known as the "Swamp Fox" because of my guerrilla attacks on the British in South Carolina |