6: Independence for the Colonies

Second Continental Congress: May 10, 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • sent to the King asking him to preserve their rights as Englishmen

Olive Branch Petition: peaceful request from the members of the Second Constitutional Convention to the King

Continental Army: The army at Boston that was taken over by the Congress

Ethan Allen: A Vermont blacksmith

  • Led the Green Mountain Boys

  • attack on Fort Ticonderoga

  • Won the Fort and a valuable supply of gun powder

  • and control of a key route into Canada

  • Benedict Arnold: American General and traitor

    • During the American Revolution, he was instrumental in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga but later planned to betray west point to the British
    • fled behind British lines and lived the rest of his life in Britain

  • Fort Ticonderoga Fort on Lake Champlain

    • major battles in the American Revolution

  • William Howe: British general who defeated the Americans at BunkerHill Boston

  • Mercenaries: hired soldiers such as the Hessians

  • Common Sense: A pamphlet

    • written by Englishman Thomas Paine
    • supporting independence from Britain

  • Thomas Paine: Revolutionary leader who wrote the pamphlet Common Sense (1776)

    • argued for American independence from Britain

  • Thomas Jefferson: one of the five men appointed to help write the Declaration of Independence

  • Declaration of Independence: approved on July 4, 1776

  • Charles Cornwallis: commanding general of the British forces defeated at Yorktown in 1781

    • ended the American Revolution

  • John Burgoyne: British general in the American Revolution who captured Fort Ticonderoga

    • lost the battle of Saratoga in 1777

  • Saratoga: the battle that took place in New York

    • proved to be the turning point of the war

  • Nathanael Greene: A major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War

    • emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washington’s most gifted and dependable officer

  • Privateers: merchant ships outfitted to fight

  • John Paul Jones: American naval commander in the American Revolution

  • Marquis de Lafayette: French soldier who joined General Washington and became general in the Continental Army

  • Yorktown: 1781; last battle of the revolution

  • Treaty of Paris: agreement signed by British and American leaders that stated the United States of America was a free and independent country

  • Torries: Loyalists; supported the king although they were Americans

  • Hessians: hired soldiers named after the German region

  • Loyalists: colonists that believed the British; and favored the British