American Revolution History (3.1-3.4)

Iroquis

Also known as the Haudenosaunee, a group of American Indian peoples who lived in upstate New York and neighboring lands. They included the Cayuga, Cherokee, Huron, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscacora, who shared a language family and certain ways of life.

George Washington

1st President of the United States; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution (1732-1799)

French and Indian War

war fought from 1754 to 1763 in which Britain and its colonies defeated France and its American Indian allies, gaining control of eastern North America

Edward Braddock

A British commander during the French and Indian War. He attempted to capture Fort Duquesne in 1755. He was defeated by the French and the Indians. At this battle, he was mortally wounded.

Pontiac's rebellion

uprising in 1763 by American Indians in the Great Lakes region

Proclimation of 1763

declaration by the British king ordering all colonists to remain east of the Appalachian Mountains

Benjamin Franklin

American intellectual, inventor, and politician He helped to negotiate French support for the American Revolution.

Salutary Neglect

a British policy in the early 1700s that allowed the colonies virtual self-rule as long as Great Britain profited economically

Stamp Act

1765 law passed by Parliament that required colonists to pay taxes on printed materials

John Adams

America's first Vice-President and second President. Sponsor of the American Revolution in Massachusetts, and wrote the Massachusetts guarantee that freedom of press "ought not to be restrained."

Patrick Henry

a leader of the American Revolution and a famous orator who spoke out against British rule of the American colonies (1736-1799) "Give me liberty or give me death".

Sons of Liberty

organization of colonists formed in opposition to the Stamp Act and other British laws and taxes

Boston Massacre

incident on March 5, 1770, in which British soldiers killed five colonists in Boston

Boston Tea Party

protest against British taxes in which Bostonian protestors dumped tea into the harbor on December 16, 1773

Intolerable Acts

American name for the Coercive Acts, which Parliament passed in 1774 to control the colonies

First Continental Congress

group of delegates representing all the American colonies, except Georgia, that met in 1774

Paul Revere

Boston silversmith who rode into the countryside to spread news of British troop movement.

Militia

trained citizens who serve as soldiers during an emergency

Loyalists

colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolutionary War

Continental Army

army that represented the colonies during Revolutionary War

Thomas Paine

American Revolutionary leader and pamphleteer (born in England) who supported the American colonist's fight for independence and supported the French Revolution (1737-1809)

Republic

form of government in which officials are elected by the people

Declaration of Independence

document drawn up by the Second Continental Congress, and approved in 1776, that announced American independence and explained the reasons for it

Thomas Jefferson

Wrote the Declaration of Independence

Natural Rights

universal rights, such as life and liberty, that derive from nature rather than from government, according to philosophers

William Howe

British Commanding General at the start of the American Revolution

Mercenary

professional soldier who is paid to fight in a foreign army

Battle of Trenton

1776 Revolutionary War battle in New Jersey, won by the Continental Army

Charles Cornwallis

Commanding general of the British forces that were defeated at Yorktown in 1781, ending the American Revolution.

Marquis de Lafayette

French soldier who served under George Washington in the American Revolution (1757-1834)

Valley Forge

location in Pennsylvania where General Washington's army spent a difficult winter in 1777-1778

Kings Mountain

a 1780 Revolutionary War battle in South Carolina in which Patriots defeated a Loyalist militia

Yorktown

site in Virginia where, in 1781, General Cornwallis's British forces surrendered to General Washington

Treaty of Paris

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

Manumission

the act of freeing someone from slavery