American Revolution & Colonial Era Vocabulary

Vocabulary terms, definitions, and key historical figures covering the Enlightenment, French and Indian War, Imperial policies, and the American Revolution.

Enlightenment

17th–18th century European intellectual movement in Western Europe and North American colonies that emphasized reason, science, and individual rights over traditional authority, challenging absolute monarchy and divine right.

John Locke

English Enlightenment philosopher who wrote Two Treatises of Government (1689), arguing that government exists by consent of the governed to protect natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

The Glorious Revolution & English Bill of Rights

1688–1689 overthrow of King James II establishing a constitutional monarchy under William and Mary, curtailing royal power and asserting Parliamentary supremacy.

Great Awakening

Major Protestant religious revival movement in the 1730s–1740s American colonies emphasizing personal salvation, emotional faith, democratic thinking, and an intercolonial identity.

Jonathan Edwards

Revivalist preacher who delivered the July 1741 sermon "Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God" in Northampton, Massachusetts, using vivid imagery of hell to ignite the First Great Awakening.

French and Indian War (Seven Years' War)

Global conflict (1754–1763) between Great Britain and France over the Ohio River Valley and fur trade, ending French power in North America and creating British war debt.

Fort Duquesne

Strategic French fort at the convergence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers (modern Pittsburgh) that was the site of early battles involving George Washington in 1754–1758.

Albany Plan of Union & "Join or Die"

1754 proposal led by Benjamin Franklin proposing a unified colonial government for defense and diplomacy, promoted by his famous severed snake cartoon.

Iroquois Confederacy

Alliance of Six Native American nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora) that allied with Britain during the French and Indian War.

Treaty of Paris (1763)

Peace treaty concluding the Seven Years' War in which France ceded its North American territory east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain.

Salutary Neglect

Early 18th century to 1763 British policy of lax enforcement of parliamentary trade laws on the American colonies, allowing self-governing institutions to develop.

Pontiac's Rebellion & Proclamation of 1763

Native resistance led by Ottawa Chief Pontiac in 1763, prompting King George III to issue a decree prohibiting colonial settlement west of the Appalachian crest.

King George III & George Grenville

British King and Prime Minister who instituted post-1763 colonial revenue policies to pay off Seven Years' War debt, ending salutary neglect.

Sugar Act (1764)

1764 revenue law that lowered duties on foreign molasses while strictly enforcing collection and establishing admiralty courts without juries.

Stamp Act (1765) & Stamp Act Congress

1765 direct internal tax on printed papers that led delegates from multiple colonies to assemble in New York City and coordinate economic boycotts.

James Otis

Massachusetts attorney during the 1760s who opposed British writs and taxes, popularizing the phrase "taxation without representation is tyranny."

Quartering Act (1765)

1765 law mandating that colonial assemblies provide housing and supplies for British military troops to decrease imperial defense costs.

Declaratory Act (1766)

1766 statute passed alongside the Stamp Act's repeal declaring Parliament's total authority to bind the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

Townshend Acts (1767)

Indirect taxes placed on colonial imports of glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea to pay royal governors' salaries directly and circumvent local assemblies.

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

Colonial activist organizations led by figures like Samuel Adams that organized economic boycotts, with women producing "homespun" goods to avoid British imports.

Boston Massacre (1770)

March 5, 1770 conflict where British regulars killed five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, which was publicized through Paul Revere's propaganda engraving.

Gaspee Affair (1772)

1772 incident in Rhode Island where colonists burned the grounded British customs ship HMS Gaspee, leading to the creation of permanent Committees of Correspondence.

Committees of Correspondence

Intercolonial shadow governments established starting in 1772 by Samuel Adams and patriot leaders to transmit news and coordinate anti-British resistance.

Intolerable (Coercive) Acts (1774)

Punitive British legislation passed in 1774 closing Boston Port and restricting town meetings following the Boston Tea Party, triggering the First Continental Congress.

First Continental Congress (1774)

Fall 1774 assembly in Philadelphia where colonial delegates gathered to organize trade boycotts and demand rights, featured by Patrick Henry's rally call.

Lexington and Concord (1775)

April 19, 1775 military skirmishes in Massachusetts between colonial Minutemen and British regulars over confiscated weapons stockpiles, launching the Revolutionary War.

Second Continental Congress (1775–1781)

Colonial governing body in Philadelphia that created the Continental Army, sent the Olive Branch Petition, and adopted the Declaration of Independence.

Common Sense

January 1776 political pamphlet by Thomas Paine advocating republicanism and complete independence from monarchy, transforming colonial public opinion.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Document drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson and adopted on July 4, 1776, severing allegiance to Great Britain using natural rights principles.

Three Phases of the War

Shift in British military campaign focus from New England (1775–1776) to the Mid-Atlantic (1776–1778) and finally the South (1778–1781).

Battle of Saratoga (1777)

1777 American military victory in New York that served as the turning point of the war by persuading France to form an official alliance with the United States.

Valley Forge (1777–1778)

Continental Army winter encampment location where Prussian officer Baron von Steuben trained and disciplined American soldiers.

Battle of Yorktown (1781)

1781 final major combat operation where combined American forces under Washington and French forces trapped Lord Cornwallis, ending military hostilities.

Hessians

German mercenary troops contracted by the British Crown to assist in suppressing the American colonial rebellion.

Phillis Wheatley

Acclaimed African American poet who published literary works expressing strong support for American independence.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

1783 diplomatic accord negotiated by Franklin, Adams, and Jay formally recognizing United States independence and extending boundaries west to the Mississippi River.