Ch 8 American Pageant

Second Continental Congress

(1755-1781) representative body of delegates from all thirteen colonies; drafted the Declaration of Independence and managed colonial war effort

Battle of Bunker Hill

(June 1775) fought on the outskirts of Boston, on Breed's Hill, the battle ended in the colonial militia's retreat, though at a heavy cost to the British

Olive Branch Petition

(July 1775) conciliatory measure adopted by the Continental Congress, professing American loyalty and seeking an end to the hostilities; King George rejected the petition and proclaimed the colonies in rebellion

Hessians

German troops hired from their princes by George III to aid in putting down the colonial insurrection; this hardened the resolve of American colonists, who resented the use of paid foreign fighters

Common Sense

(1776) Thomas Paine's pamphlet urging the colonies to declare independence and establish a republican government; the widely read pamphlet helped convince colonists to support the Revolution

Declaration of Independence

(July 4, 1776) formal pronouncement of independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson and approved by Congress; the declaration allowed Americans to appeal for foreign aid and served as an inspiration for later revolutionary movements worldwide

Declaration of the Rights of Man

(1789) declaration of rights adopted during the French Revolution; modeled after American Declaration of Independence

loyalists

American colonists who opposed the Revolution and maintained their loyalty to the King; sometimes referred to as 'Tories'

patriots

colonists who supported the American Revolution; they were also known as 'Whigs'

Battle of Long Island

(August 1776) battle for the control of New York; British troops overwhelmed the colonial militias and retained control of the city for most of the war

Battle of Trenton

(December 1776) George Washington surprised and captured a garrison of sleeping German Hessians, raising the moral of his crestfallen army and setting stage for victory at Princeton a week later

Battle of Saratoga

(October 1777) decisive colonial victory in upstate New York, which helped secure French support for the Revolutionary War

Model Treaty

(1776) sample treaty drafted by the Continental Congress as a guide for American diplomats; reflected the American's desire to foster commercial partnerships than political or military entanglements

Armed Neutrality

(1780) loose alliance of nonbelligerent naval powers, organized by Russia's Catherine the Great, to protect neutral trading rights during the war for American Independence

Treaty of Fort Stanwix

(1784) treaty signed by the United States and the pro-British Iroquois granting Ohio Country to the Americans

privateers

privately owned armed ships authorized by Congress to prey on enemy shipping during the Revolutionary War; privateers, more numerous than the tiny American Navy, inflicted heavy damages on British shippers

Battle Of Yorktown

(October 1781) George Washington, with the aid of the French army, besieged Cornwallis at Yorktown, while the French naval fleet prevented British reinforcements from coming ashore; Cornwallis surrendered, dealing a heavy blow to the British war effort and paving the way for an eventual peace

Treaty of Paris

(1783) peace treaty signed by Britain and the United States ending the Revolutionary War; the British formally recognized American Independence and ceded territory east of the Mississippi while the Americans, in turn, promised to restore Loyalist property and repay debts to British creditors

Ethan Allen

(1738-1789): Revolutionary war officer

who, along with Benedict Arnold, fought British and Indian forces in frontier New York and Vermont.

Benedict Arnold

An American General who prevented the British from taking Ticonderoga. He later defected to the British army and was named a traitor

Richard Montgomery

Revolutionary war general

turned traitor, who valiantly held off a British invasion of upstate New York at Lake Champlain, but later switched sides, plotting to sell out the Continental stronghold at West Point to the redcoats. His scheme was discovered and the disgraced general fled to British lines.

Thomas Paine

(1737-1809): British-born pamphleteer and author of Common Sense, a fiery tract that laid out the case for American independence. Later an ardent supporter of the French Revolution, Paine became increasingly radical in his views, publishing the anti-clerical The Age of Reason in 1794, which cost him the support of his American allies.

Richard Henry Lee

(1733-1794): Virginia planter and revolutionary, who served as a member of the Continental Congress. He first introduced the motion asserting America's independence from Britain, later supplanted by Thomas Jefferson's more formal and rhetorically moving declaration. Lee went on to become the first U.S. Senator from Virginia under the new Constitution.

Lord Charles Cornwallis

(1738-1805): British general during the Revolutionary War who, having failed to crush Greene's forces in South Carolina, retreated to Virginia, where his defeat at Yorktown marked the beginning of the end for Britain's efforts to suppress the colonial rebellion.

William Howe

(1729-1814): British general who, despite victories on the battlefield, failed to deal a crushing blow to Washington's Continental Army. By attacking Philadelphia instead of reinforcing General Burgoyne at Saratoga, Howe also inadvertently contributed to that crucial American victory.

John ("Gentleman Johnny") Burgoyne

(1722-1792): British general who led an ill-fated invasion of upstate New York, suffering a crushing defeat by George Washington at Saratoga.

Benjamin Franklin

(1706-1790): American printer, inventor, statesman, and revolutionary. Franklin first established himself in Philadelphia as a leading newspaper printer, inventor, and author of Poor Richard's Almanac. Franklin later became a leading revolutionary and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. During the Revolutionary War, Franklin served as commissioner to France, securing the nation's support for the American cause.

Comte de Rochambeau

(1725-1807): General in command of French forces during the American Revolution, he fought alongside George Washington at Yorktown.

Nathanael Greene

(1742-1786): General in command of the Continental army in the Carolina campaign of 1781, the "Fighting Quaker" successfully cleared most of Georgia and South Carolina of British troops despite losing a string of minor battles.

Joseph Brant

(1743-1807): Mohawk chief and Anglican convert, who sided with the British during the Revolutionary war, believing that only a British victory could halt American westward expansion.

George Rogers Clark

(1752-1818): American frontiersman who captured a series of British forts along the Ohio River during the Revolutionary war.

Admiral de Grasse

(1722-1788): French admiral whose fleet blocked British reinforcements, allowing Washington and Rochambeau to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Abagail Adams

(1744-1818): The wife of President John Adams. Abigail had her own opinions about the course of the American Revolution, and urged her husband to take the needs and rights of women into consideration in the construction of the new government.