Vocab, Docs, and People for U3 AH

abolition

The movement to end slavery

patriot

Colonists who Wanted independence from Britain; 40% of colonists were patriots

loyalist

colonists who remained loyal to Britain and the king; 15 to 20% of colonists were loyalists

unalienable rights

Rights that all people have. Thomas Jefferson listed them as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the declaration of independence.

Valley Forge

December 1777- June 1778: Winter military camp commanded by General George Washington; major hardship the continental army was able to overcome

Lexington and Concord

April 19, 1775

first battle of the war. The British attempted to read colonial, malicious supplies from Concord and capture patriot leaders in Lexington.

New York

July 1776

Washington and troops were defeated in retreat; British accomplished their strategy to occupy New York and cut off New England from the other colonies

Trenton

December 25, 1776

Suppress attack on the Hessians capturing or killing 900 of them, gaining needed supplies

Princeton

January 3, 1777

The continental army treats the British by leaving their campfires burning while they attacked. The British were forced to retreat.

Saratoga

October 1777

British troops were outnumbered by patriot troops. General gates’s army won the battle and forced the British to surrender.

Vincennes and Kaskaskia

February 1779

Western battles: George Rogers Clark took the war to the British forts on the western frontier. Clerks victories gave the Americans a claim to all frontier lands up to the Mississippi.

Yorktown

October 1781

last major battle of the war; British general Lord Cornwallis brought his troops there, and Americans bombarded them

The declaration of independence

Included unalienable rights as life liberty in the pursuit of happiness

article articles of confederation

March 1, 1781; the USA’s government during the American Revolution

The American crisis

written by Thomas Paine to inspire continental soldiers and patriots to stay and fight for independence during the war

treaty of Paris 1783

peace treaty between Great Britain and the US, which officially ended the revolutionary war

George Washington

Father of our country; commander in chief of the continental army; calm, dignified; military genius; first president of the USA; amazing leader

abigayle Adams

A fierce patriot who helped organize boycotts against British good; in a letter to her husband, while in Congress, she asks him to remember the ladies when formin ga new government

Benjamin Franklin

Ambassador to France during the revolution. Convinced France to help The US against Britain

Marquis de Lafayette

French nobleman and military officer; served as a general in continental army; negotiated with France to help the Americans; close friend to George Washington

Bernardo de Galvez

Spanish governor of Louisiana, who attacked the British along the Gulf of America. This gave the British another enemy to fight, taking pressure off the Americans.

John Paul Jones

American naval officer; defeated British ships: Serapis; father of the American Navy

Wentworth Cheswell

Fought in the battle of Saratoga; a messenger who reported on British actions; first African-American elected to public office

James Armistead

Virginia slave, who served as a spy for Washington and Lafayette; double agent; gained info on Cornwallis’s plan; enabled Americans to win at Yorktown

George Rogers Clark

American General, who won the frontier battles giving America claim to land surrounding the Mississippi river

Elizabeth Freedman

A slave sued for her freedom in Massachusetts 1781 and won! Her victory ended slavery in that state (abolition)