Topic 3: The American Revolution (3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4) Study Guide

Be able to answer the following questions:

  1. Why was England in debt and how did it seek to pay its debts in the 1760s and 1770s? 

Britain was in debt after the French and Indian war they helped to fight in. The king didn’t know what to do but then came up with an idea: tax the colonists. This led to the many taxes such as tea acts, stamp act, sugar act etc.

  1. What are 2 examples of each type of British oppression that impacted colonists on the road to revolution: financial and personal?


Financial: 

  • Tea act: Britain taxed all imported tea and other goods.

  • Stamp act: Britain taxed all printed goods.

Personal

  • Quartering act: Colonists were required to give British soldiers hostility and give them food and wash their clothes.

  • Massachusetts Government Act: Regulated the Massachusetts government and gave the royally-appointed more power


  1. What were some key ideas detailed in the Declaration of Independence?

The declaration of independence stated all of their grievances with the king. It outlined:

  • Self-governance and the consent of the governed.

  • Right to overthrow a ruler if he does not represent the people

  • Equality 

  • Liberty

  • Justice

  • Merit over birthright or wealth

  • All men are created equal

    Give examples of American military strategy that helped them win the war?

The Americans were not a trained army so they had different tactics than the English Army. They fought in guerilla warfare which meant that they would stand behind barns or in some place with cover and then take a shot and then hide again. This strategy confused the British who were marching in a straight line as a whole. Also, they chose George Washington as the military leader. This was significant in multiple ways as he had military leadership experience and he was also from Virginia so it would further promote the unity of all the colonies. 

  1. Why was the Treaty of Paris significant? 

The Treaty of Paris was significant because it was what freed the colonies and made them their own independent nation. It ended the war and set the stage for America to grow into the nation it is today. 

Be able to define and explain the significance of the following terms:

Iroquois - Also known as the Haudenosaunee, the Iroquois were 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 Tuscarora, who shared a language family and certain ways of life.

George Washington - George Washington (1732-1799) worked early on as a surveyor of the Virginia colony. Washington became interested in western expansion in the Ohio country and invested in the Ohio company. In  1752 he accepted an appointment to the military as an officer. 2 years later, he led a company to drive out the French from Fort Duquesne. Later, he went on to serve as the commander-in-chief of the colonies’ Continental Army and to become the first president of the USA.

French & 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 - General Edward Braddock (1695–1755) served as a British commander in North America during the French and Indian War. In 1754, he came to Virginia to lead the British forces on the continent. During an attempted assault on Fort Duquesne, Braddock's forces were defeated, and the general was killed.

Pontiac’s Rebellion - uprising in 1763 by American Indians in the Great Lakes region

Proclamation of 1763 - declaration by the British king ordering all colonists to remain east of the Appalachian Mountains

Albany Plan of Union - Benjamin Franklin's 1754 proposal to form one government for a group of Britain's colonies in North America

Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was an influential American statesman, inventor, and scientist. Trained as a printer, Franklin settled in Philadelphia, where he printed and published newspapers, his own writings, and the popular Poor Richard's Almanac . Franklin's contribution to the founding of the United States was significant. He was the only individual to sign all three principal documents of the new nation: the Declaration of Independence, the treaty with Great Britain that ended the American Revolution, and the U.S. Constitution. His scientific achievements include the formulation of a theory of electricity.

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 - John Adams (1735–1826) was an American colonial lawyer and writer who became one of the foremost thinkers and activists among American patriots. He spoke out against British tax laws and served as a delegate from Massachusetts to the First Continental Congress.

Patrick Henry - Patrick Henry (1736–1799) was an American patriot, lawyer, and author. He is best known for a speech he gave before the Virginia Convention in 1775, during which he stated, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Henry served in the Virginia committee of correspondence and served as a Virginia delegate to the First Continental Congress.

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

Nonimportation agreements - colonial consumer boycotts of British exports in response to taxes passed by Parliament

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

Committees of correspondence - network of local groups that informed colonists of British measures and the opposition to them in the years before the Revolutionary War

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 - Paul Revere (1735–1818) was an American silversmith who lived and worked in Boston. When the British approached Boston Harbor on April 16, 1775, Revere rode through the countryside to Concord warning the colonists and calling Patriots to arms. His adventures that night were recorded years later by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the poem "Paul Revere's Ride."

Militia - trained citizens who serve as soldiers during an emergency

Loyalists - colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolutionary War

Second Continental Congress - assembly of delegates representing every colony that met in 1775 in Philadelphia following the Battles of Lexington and Concord

Continental Army - army that represented the colonies during Revolutionary War

Thomas Paine - Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was an English-American author and political thinker who moved to Philadelphia in 1774, following a meeting with Benjamin Franklin. He is best known for his highly influential pamphlet, Common Sense , which helped bring support to the Patriot cause.

Republic - led by Jefferson and Madison, one of the first political parties in the United States and also known as the Republicans

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 - Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was an American farmer, landholder, author, architect, lawyer, and statesman. He joined the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1768 and began advocating for American independence in the 1770s. Jefferson represented Virginia in the Second Continental Congress, during which time he drafted and revised the Declaration of Independence. He went on to serve as a diplomat to France and as the nation's first secretary of state, second vice president, and third president. Jefferson also founded the University of Virginia.

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

William Howe - General William Howe (1729–1814) served as commander-in-chief of the British army from 1776 to 1778, during the Revolutionary War. Although he led British troops to victory in engagements including Bunker Hill, Brandywine, and Germantown, he resigned his command after failing to defeat General Washington's forces at Valley Forge.

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 - General Charles Cornwallis (1738–1805) fought in the Seven Years' War in Europe before being sent to combat the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He won key victories in New Jersey and South Carolina, but he was trapped with his forces at Yorktown in 1781, where he surrendered to General Washington.

Battle of Princeton - 1777 Revolutionary War battle in New Jersey, won by the Continental Army

Marquis de Lafayette - The Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) was a French aristocrat who joined the American Patriot cause in 1777. He fought under General Washington, and returned to France in 1779 to persuade the king to send French forces to help the Americans. In 1780, he returned to command Patriot forces in Virginia. In 1781, he helped trap the British under General Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was an influential American statesman, inventor, and scientist. Franklin's contribution to the founding of the United States was significant. He was the only individual to sign all three principal documents of the new nation: the Declaration of Independence, the treaty with Great Britain that ended the American Revolution, and the U.S. Constitution. 

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

Monmouth - 1778 Revolutionary War battle site in New Jersey where neither side won a clear victory

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 - 1783 peace treaty that ended the Revolutionary War and affirmed American independence

Manumision - the act of freeing someone from slavery