TFS 8th Grade SS Unit 3 Vocabulary Terms

John Locke

An English thinker who believed people have basic rights like life, liberty, and property.

Natural Rights

Rights that everyone is born with: life, liberty, and property.

Social Contract

An agreement between people and their government: people follow the laws, and the government protects their rights.

Separation of Powers

Dividing government into different branches so no one group has too much power.

Salutary Neglect

When Britain mostly ignored the colonies and let them rule themselves for many years.

Albany Plan of Union

A plan made by Benjamin Franklin to unite the colonies to fight together.

Sugar Act

A British law that taxed sugar and molasses in the colonies.

Quartering Act

A law that forced colonists to give food and housing to British soldiers.

Stamp Act

A tax on paper items like newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards.

Declaratory Act

A law saying Britain could make laws for the colonies 'in all cases whatsoever.'

Townshend Acts

Taxes on goods the colonies imported, like glass, paint, paper, and tea.

Tea Act

A law that gave the British East India Company control over tea sales in the colonies.

Navigation Acts

Laws that said only British ships could carry goods in and out of the colonies.

Proclamation of 1763

A rule saying colonists couldn’t move west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)

Harsh laws passed to punish Boston after the Boston Tea Party.

Sons of Liberty

A secret group of colonists who protested British laws, sometimes violently.

Daughters of Liberty

Colonial women who supported protests by making homemade goods instead of buying British ones.

Boston Massacre

A clash in 1770 where British soldiers killed 5 colonists during a protest.

Boston Tea Party

In 1773, colonists threw British tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act.

French and Indian War

A war between Britain and France (with Native American allies) over land in North America.

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The agreement that ended the French and Indian War, giving Britain control of much more land.

Thomas Jefferson

Main writer of the Declaration of Independence and future U.S. president.

George Washington

Leader of the Continental Army and later the first U.S. president.

Patrick Henry

A fiery speaker famous for saying, 'Give me liberty or give me death!'

John Adams

A leader in the Revolution and later the second U.S. president.

Benjamin Franklin

An inventor, writer, and patriot who helped convince France to support America.

Paul Revere

A patriot known for his 'Midnight Ride' to warn that the British were coming.

Thomas Paine – Common Sense

Writer of Common Sense, a pamphlet that convinced many colonists to fight for independence.

King George III

The king of Britain during the American Revolution.

First Continental Congress

A meeting of colonial leaders in 1774 to discuss how to respond to British laws.

Second Continental Congress

A meeting where leaders organized the Continental Army and approved the Declaration of Independence.

Olive Branch Petition

A final attempt by colonists to make peace with Britain before declaring independence.

Declaration of Independence

A document written in 1776 declaring the colonies free and independent from Britain.

Great Awakening

A religious revival in the 1700s that encouraged new churches and ideas about equality and freedom.