Key Figures of the Enlightenment and American Revolution

Flashcards of key people and events leading up to and during the American Revolution.

John Locke

English Enlightenment philosopher. Key ideas: Natural Rights (Life, Liberty, and Property), Social Contract, Tabula Rasa. His philosophy was foundational to Republicanism and the Declaration of Independence.

Voltaire

French Enlightenment philosopher. Associated with Deism and the Clockmaker Analogy.

Sir Isaac Newton

English scientist and a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment. His work on the laws of motion and gravity suggested a mechanical, knowable universe operating on natural laws.

Benjamin Franklin

The American embodiment of the Enlightenment. Focused on applied science. Key inventions included the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, and bifocals. He also proposed the Albany Plan of Union.

Jonathan Edwards

A New England minister and a central figure in the First Great Awakening. He delivered the famous hellfire and brimstone sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

George Whitefield

A traveling evangelist who was instrumental in spreading the First Great Awakening throughout the colonies. He preached a message of a personal relationship with God and being born again.

William Penn

The Quaker founder of Pennsylvania. He established the colony as a Holy Experiment based on religious tolerance and was unique for his insistence on peaceful relations and buying land from the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Indians.

Sir Edmund Andros

The tyrannical royal governor of the Dominion of New England. He dissolved colonial legislatures and enforced British laws without colonial consent. He was overthrown after the Glorious Revolution.

Samuel Adams

A key Boston Patriot and leader of the Sons of Liberty. He was a master of organizing protests against British policies like the Stamp Act and wrote the Circular Letter against the Townshend Duties.

George Grenville

The British Prime Minister who introduced the Stamp Act of 1765. He also responded to colonial protests with the concept of virtual representation.

Charles Townshend

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer who introduced the Townshend Duties in 1767, which taxed goods like glass, lead, paper, and tea. The revenue was earmarked to pay the salaries of royal officials.

Andrew Oliver

The appointed stamp agent for Boston. He was the target of the Sons of Liberty, who hung an effigy of him and ransacked his house, forcing him to resign.

General Thomas Gage

The British general in North America who needed a solution for housing his troops, leading Parliament to pass the Quartering Act of 1765.

Captain Thomas Preston

The British officer in command of the soldiers at the Boston Massacre. He was tried for murder but was found not guilty, with John Adams defending him.

General Charles Cornwallis

A leading British general, particularly known for his command during the Southern Strategy. He was forced to surrender his entire army at the Battle of Yorktown, effectively ending the war.

General John Burgoyne

The British general who was supposed to lead one of the three armies to converge at Saratoga. He was isolated and forced to surrender his army, marking the turning point of the war.

Admiral de Grasse

The French naval commander whose fleet was essential to the American victory at Yorktown. His blockade of the Chesapeake Bay trapped Cornwallis's army and prevented the British navy from rescuing them.

Sir William Johnson

A key British diplomat and frontiersman in New York. He had a deep understanding of and strong alliance with the Mohawk nation and was a primary broker between the Iroquois League and the British Empire.