APUSH American Pageant Chapter 8

Second Continental Congress

Second Continental Congress

12 delegates meet in Philadelphia to express their growing dissatisfaction with King George and his lack of response to the Declaration of Rights

George Washington

(1732-1799) no political party. Virginian who began as a commander and chief in the Revolutionary war. Had no desire to become president but the people wanted a strong national leader. Set prescient for many things, including the two terms rule. Warned US against being involved in foreign politics.

Ethan Allen

a soldier of the American Revolution whose troops helped capture Fort Ticonderoga from the British (1738-1789)

Benedict Arnold

American General who was labeled a traitor when he assisted the British in a failed attempt to take the American fort at West Point.

Fort Ticonderoga

Fort on Lake Champlain in northeastern New York, site of major battles in the American Revolution.

Bunker Hill

(1775) Fought on the outskirts of Boston on Breed's Hill. The battle ended in the colonial militia's retreat, though at a heavy loss to the British.

Redcoats

British soldiers who fought against the colonists in the American Revolution; so called because of their bright red uniforms.

Olive Branch Petition

An offer of peace sent by the Second Continental Congress to King George lll

Richard Montgomery

A formerly British General, he then led the colonists. He led a successful attack into Montreal, then on to Quebec. Montgomery's attack on Quebec failed and he was killed, thus, the whole invasion into Canada failed.

Common Sense

1776: a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that claimed the colonies had a right to be an independent nation

Republic

A form of government in which citizens choose their leaders by voting

Natural Aristocracy

arises out of work and competition rather than birth, education, or special privilege.

Richard Henry Lee

Member of the Second Continental Congress who urged Congress to support independence; signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson

..., Virginian, architect, author, governor, and president. Lived at Monticello. Wrote the Declaration of Independence. Second governor of Virgina. Third president of the United States. Designed the buildings of the University of Virginia.

Declaration of Independence

the document recording the proclamation of the second Continental Congress (4 July 1776) asserting the independence of the colonies from Great Britain

Natural Rights

..., the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property

Patrick Henry

A leader of the American Revolution and a famous orator who spoke out against British rule of the American colonies (1736-1799)

William Howe

British Commanding General at the start of the American Revolution

Trenton

On Christmas night, 1776, Washington led 2,400 men across the Delaware River to attack the drunken Hessians who were sleeping. The Americans killed 30 of the enemy and took 918 captives and 6 Hessian cannons.

Princeton

1777- where the American troops drove the British all the way back to the environs of New York City. American leader George Washington and British Leader Charles Cornwallis- American troops won this battle

John Burgoyne

British general in the American Revolution who captured Fort Ticonderoga but lost the battle of Saratoga in 1777 (1722-1792)

Saratoga

A battle that took place in New York where the Continental Army defeated the British. It proved to be the turning point of the war. This battle ultimately had France to openly support the colonies with military forces in addition to the supplies and money already being sent.

Horatio Gates

American General whose troops defeated the British forces at Saratoga.

Armed neutrality

This means that in times of war, the country has its own military forces but does not take sides in other nations' conflicts.

Nathaniel Greene

Quaker-raised American general who employed tactics of fighting and then drawing back to recover, then attacking again. Defeated Cornwallis by thus "fighting Quaker".

Charles Cornwallis

A British general, he lost to Nathaniel Green in one campaign. He was humiliated by his defeat in the colonies. He finally lost at the Battle of Yorktown, commonly known as the end of the war, in 1781.

Iroquois Confederacy

a powerful group of Native Americans in the eastern part of the United States made up of five nations: the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondoga, and Oneida

Fort Stanwix

Benedict Arnold sent a captured Loyalist and some Iroquois allies to the British to tell them that he had a huge army so he could keep them away from this fort.

George Rogers Clarke

Captured the British for Vincennes, Indiana and secured the west for the colonists from the British during the Revolution.

John Paul Jones

American naval commander in the American Revolution (1747-1792)

Privateers

"Legalized pirates," more than a thousand strong, who inflicted heavy damage on British shipping

Yorktown

1781; last battle of the revolution; Benedict Arnold, Cornwallis and Washington; colonists won because British were surrounded and they surrended

John Jay

American delegate who signed Treaty of Paris; New York lawyer and diplomat who negotiated with Britain and Spain on behalf of the Confederation; he later became the first chief justice of the Supreme Court and negotiated the Jay Treaty

Treaty of Paris

agreement signed by British and American leaders that stated the United States of America was a free and independent contry

Whigs

British political party opposed to Lord North's Tories and generally more sympathetic to the colonial cause

Hessians

American slang for the German troops under British command

Falmouth, Maine

Burned by the British in October of 1775

Norfolk, Virginia

Burned by the British in January 1776

Thomas Paine

Author of the influential Common Sense

Loyalists

Colonials loyal to the king

Patriots

American rebels

Charleston

Colonial city captured that was crippling

Treaty of Fort Stanwix

First treaty between the United States and an Indian nation

Admiral de Grasse

Joined the Americans in an assault on Cornwallis at Yorktown