American Revolution and Road to War Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing key historical terms, figures, and events from the lecture transcript leading up to the American Revolutionary War.

Committee of Correspondence

Organizations first developed in Boston in 1772 by Sons of Liberty organizers like Sam Adams to provide information on British threats.

Tea Act

An act passed in 1773 that granted the East India Company a monopoly on the shipment and sale of English tea in America.

Dartmouth

The ship that arrived on November 28th carrying English tea that Patriots refused to allow to be unloaded.

Boston Tea Party

An event on December 16th where 150 men and boys dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the Dartmouth and dumped 342 large cases of tea into the harbor.

House of Burgesses

The Virginia legislative body whose member Thomas Jefferson called for a day of fasting and prayer, causing the royal governor to dissolve it.

First Continental Congress

A meeting held on September 5th 1774 at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia with elected representatives from each colony except Georgia.

Declaration of American Rights

A document adopted by the Continental Congress stating that colonies must be self-governing in nearly every respect, had the right to raise militias, and maintained allegiance to the king.

Provincial Congress

A body established in Massachusetts in 1774 that authorized the drilling and supplying of Patriot militias.

Minutemen

Special militia units organized by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress as the first line of defense.

General Gage

The British General who learned in April 1775 that there was a large stock of munitions stored in Concord.

Old North Church

The church where two lanterns were hung to signal to the people of Charlestown that British forces were crossing the river.

Samuel Prescott

The rider who, along with Paul Revere and William Dawes, set out to warn the colonists, and was the only one who made it to Concord.

Battle of Lexington

An confrontation on April 19th where about 70 militiamen lined up on Lexington Green, resulting in 8 colonists killed and 10 injured after a shot rang out.