The American Revolution

VOCABULARY

  1. Mercenaries: Hired soldiers.

  2. Recruit: Enlist someone to join.

  3. Blockade: Military tactic to prevent entry or exit.

  4. Privateer: Privately owned ship authorized to attack enemy vessels.

  5. Siege: Surrounding and isolating a fortified place to capture it.

  6. Ratify: Formal approval or confirmation of a decision or agreement.

  7. Hessian: German paid soldier

NOTES

  • Indentured servant: Someone who works off a debt from the government

  • Hessian: German paid soldier

  • Nathan Hale: Spied on the British, caught and hung

  • Paul Revere: Warned the patriots that the British were coming

  • Yankee Doodle: Song used by the British to mock American colonists

  • Battle of Long Island: George Washington's escape plan using burning campfires

  • Southern strategy: British plan to station soldiers in the south to reach loyalists

  • Cornwallis: Blocked the port of Yorktown, surrendered there

  • Saratoga: Turning point of the war, led to French and Spanish support

  • Thomas Jefferson: Given credit for writing the Declaration of Independence

  • Alexander Hamilton: Set up the national bank, the first financial system of the USA

  • Treaty of Paris: Ended the American Revolution

  • John Adams: 2nd president of the United States

  • After the war: It faced debts, economic problems, and had no president