American Revolution and Era Vocabulary Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key laws, treaties, documents, events, people, and terms from the American Revolution era based on the lecture notes.

Unalienable Rights

Rights defined in the Declaration of Independence as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that cannot be taken away without due process of law.

Writs of Assistance

A legal document allowing British officials to conduct searches.

Albany Plan of Union

Proposed by Benjamin Franklin during the French and Indian War to encourage the colonies to work together against the French.

Common Sense

Written by Thomas Paine to encourage the colonists to support independence from Great Britain.

Declaration of Independence

Document primary authored by Thomas Jefferson, ratified on July 4, 1776, to declare the 13 English Colonies independent from Great Britain; consists of 3 main parts: Natural Rights, British Wrongs (grievances), and Independence.

Intolerable Acts

Laws passed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, which included closing the port of Boston until the tea was paid for, dissolving the Massachusetts legislature, and reinstating the Quartering Act.

Olive Branch Petition

A last attempt at peace by the colonists before declaring independence.

Proclamation of 1763

A law banning colonists from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains to prevent conflicts between colonists and Native Americans.

Townshend Acts

An indirect tax on goods such as paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea.

Treaty of Paris 1763

Treaty that ended the French and Indian War; France lost all land claims in North America, Great Britain gained all land east of the Mississippi River from France and Florida from Spain, and Spain gained land west of the Mississippi River.

Treaty of Paris 1783

Treaty that ended the American Revolution; Great Britain recognized the U.S. as an independent nation, set borders at the Mississippi River, Spanish Florida, Great Lakes, and Atlantic Ocean, granted fishing rights off Nova Scotia & Newfoundland, returned Florida to Spain, and agreed property would be returned to loyalists.

Sugar Act

A tax on sugar and molasses.

Stamp Act

A tax on paper products such as newspapers, legal documents, playing cards, and dice, requiring a stamp to show the tax was paid.

Battle of Saratoga

Revolutionary War battle in New York where Washington defeated the British and captured a large portion of Burgyone's men; considered the turning point of the war that helped Benjamin Franklin convince France to join the Continental Army.

Battle of Yorktown

Virginia battle where General Cornwallis was trapped on the Yorktown Peninsula by the Continental Army, Marquis de Lafayette's French unit, and the French Navy, forcing his surrender and ending the American Revolution.

Battles of Lexington and Concord

First battles of the American Revolution in Massachusetts; colonists warned by Paul Revere and William Dawes fired first shots at Lexington and forced the British back to Boston at Concord.

Boston Tea Party

Event where the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded British tea ships and threw tea overboard in protest of the tea tax, leading to the Intolerable Acts.

French and Indian War

War between France and Great Britain over control of the Ohio River Valley, part of the Seven Years War, resulting in France giving up its North American land in the Treaty of Paris 1763.

Valley Forge

Winter camp of the Continental Army in Philadelphia where soldiers faced disease, starvation, and exposure, and were trained to be better soldiers by Baron Von Stubon.

First Continental Congress

Meeting in Philadelphia to form a response to the Intolerable Acts, appealing to Parliament for repeal and encouraging colonists to prepare to take up arms against the British.

James Armistead

A spy who served in a French Unit allied to the Continental Army, claiming to be a runaway slave to gain access to General Cornwallis's camp.

Wentworth Cheswell

A free black man who served in the American Revolution and was elected to public office in his New England hometown.

Benjamin Franklin

Proposed the Albany Plan of Union, served on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, and acted as US Representative in France to persuade them to join the war on the side of the Continental Army.

Bernardo de Galvez

Spanish commander who helped defeat the British during the American Revolution west of the Appalachian Mountains and along the coast of Florida.

Thomas Jefferson

Author of the Declaration of Independence.

John Paul Jones

A naval commander who won a naval battle by defeating the British ship Serapis.

Thomas Paine

Author of Common Sense and The Crisis.

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army.

John Hancock

The first signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Crispus Attucks

Killed at the Boston Massacre and often considered the first casualty of the American Revolution.

Boycotts

Protest by refusing to buy a product or visit a business.

Committees of Correspondence

An organization designed to communicate news of British movements in the colonies.

No Taxation Without Representation

A slogan used during the Revolutionary Era to explain the anger of the colonists over being taxed without representatives in Parliament.

Loyalists

People living in the colonies who remained loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution.

Patriots

People living in the colonies who supported the independence movement in the colonies.

Petition

A formal written request to make a change.