1775-1783 (set 2)

first continental congress

a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 American colonies that took place in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 177

john Adams

an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain

john jay

first Chief Justice of the United States. During and after the American Revolution, he was the US ambassador to Spain, a negotiator of the Treaty of Paris by which Great Britain recognized American independence, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs

Deceleration of rights and grievances

that American colonists were equal to all other British citizens, protested taxation without representation, and stated that, without colonial representation in Parliament, Parliament could not tax colonists

Paul revere

American silversmith remembered for his midnight ride (celebrated in a poem by Longfellow) to warn the colonists in Lexington and Concord that British troops were coming

lexington and concord

the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in an American victory and outpouring of militia support for the anti-British caus

battle of bunker hill

first major battle of the American Revolution, fought in Charlestown (now part of Boston) during the Siege of Boston. Although the British eventually won the battle, it was a Pyrrhic victory that lent considerable encouragement to the revolutionary cause.

second continental Congress

a meeting of delegates from the 13 American colonies that took place from 1775 to 1781

declaration of the causes and necessities for taking up arms

one of several addresses issued by Congress in the summer of 1775 with the object of justifying to the American people and to the world the necessity for armed resistance.

olive branch petition

It was rejected by Parliament and viewed as an act of rebellion by the colonists, Then in December 1775 Parliament passed the American Prohibitory Act forbidding all further trade with the colonies.

Prohibitory act

forbidding all further trade with the colonies

Thomas Paine

Revolutionary leader who wrote the pamphlet Common Sense (1776) arguing for American independence from Britain. In England he published The Rights of Man

common sense

a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776 that advocated for American independence from British rule.

Declaration of independence

formal document in which the Continental Congress representing the American colonies detailed its reasons for breaking political bonds with Great Britain.

patriots

The people who were rebelling against Britain during the war,

loyalist/torries

terms used to describe colonists who remained loyal to the British crown during the American Revolution. were colonists who disagreed with the move for independence and did not support the Revolution.

valley forge

encampment where George Washington's poorly equipped army spent a long, freezing winter.

continentals

of or relating to the 13 original American colonies during and immediately after the American Revolution

battle of Saratoga

marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War

battle of Yorktown

the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War, Fought in and around Yorktown, Virginia, American forces defeated the British, forcing them to surrender and sign Articles of Capitulation on October 19, 1781.

treaty of Paris

ended the American Revolution and formally recognized the United States as an independent nation

Articles of confederation

the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britai

unicameral

(of a parliament) having only one group of members

land ordinance of 1785

a law passed by the U.S. Congress that established how to survey and sell land west of the Appalachian Mountains

northwest ordinance of 1787

chartered a government for the Northwest Territory, provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory, and listed a bill of rights guaranteed in the territor

shay’s rebellion

a violent uprising in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787 that highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the role of the federal government