Revolution Vocab

Albany Congress

A 1754 meeting where colonial leaders attempted to coordinate a common defense and improve cooperation, showing an early but difficult move toward unity.

Battle of Québec

A major 1759 British victory that gave Britain control over French Canada and served as the most important turning point of the French and Indian War.

French and Indian War

A theater of the Seven Years' War where British forces and colonial militias fought France and its Native American allies; it ended in British victory but left the empire with massive debt.

Proclamation of 1763

A British decree following Pontiac’s War that prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, sparking anger among those who fought for that land.

Mercantilism

An economic system where Britain enforced policies to ensure the colonies served primarily as a source of raw materials and a guaranteed market for British manufactured goods.

Stamp Act

A 1765 tax on newspapers, legal documents, and printed materials; it was highly controversial because colonists believed it violated their rights as English subjects.

Sons of Liberty

A group of colonial patriots who organized protests and economic resistance, such as nonimportation agreements, to oppose British taxation and authority.

Townshend Acts

A series of laws that placed duties on various imported goods, further increasing tensions and leading to more direct confrontations between colonists and British officials.

Boston Massacre

A March 1770 incident where British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists, an event that became a symbol of British tyranny and colonial resistance.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest against British trade policies and taxes where colonists dumped tea into the harbor, leading to a severe crackdown by the British government.

Intolerable Acts

A set of punitive laws passed to punish Massachusetts for the Tea Party; they restricted local government and closed the port, pushing the colonies toward a unified response.

First Continental Congress

A 1774 gathering of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to coordinate a united opposition to the Intolerable Acts and assert their rights against British overreach.

Battles of Lexington and Concord

The April 1775 clashes between British troops and colonial 'Minutemen' that marked the official transition from political protest to open armed conflict.

Second Continental Congress

The 1775 meeting that took control of the colonial war effort, organized the Continental Army, and eventually moved to draft a formal break from Britain.

Common Sense

A persuasive pamphlet by Thomas Paine that used Enlightenment ideas to argue that it was logical and necessary for the colonies to seek complete independence.

Declaration of Independence

The July 1776 document which argued that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed and officially announced the colonies' separation from Britain.

Battle of Trenton

A key victory where Washington’s forces surprised the British/Hessians, providing a massive boost to colonial morale during a low point in the war.

Battle of Saratoga

The 1777 turning point victory for the Americans that successfully convinced France to formally enter the war as an ally against Great Britain.

Battle of Yorktown

The final major engagement of the war in 1781 where British forces were trapped and defeated, effectively securing an American victory in the revolution.

Treaty of Paris

The 1783 peace agreement that officially ended the war, recognized the independence of the United States, and established the new nation's boundaries.