History Unit 2

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

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

Nonimportation agreement- Colonial consumer boycotts of British exports as a response to taxes passed by Parliament

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

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

First Continental Congress- Group of delegates that met in 1774 and represented all the American colonies, except GA

Declaration of Independence- Document drawn up by the Second Continental Congress that announced American independence and the reason for it

Natural rights- Universal rights, such as life and liberty that, according to philosophers, derive from nature rather than gov.

Militia - Trained citizens who serve as soldiers during an emergency

Loyalist- Colonist who remained loyal to Britain during Revolution

Second Continental Congress - Assembly of delegates representing every colony that met in 1775 in Philly.

Mercenary- Professional soldier who is paid to fight in a foreign army.

Charles Cornwallis- Lord Cornwallis was a british commander in the south, met and crushed a patriot force under Horatio Gates on August 16,1780

Saratoga- 1777 revolutionary war battle considered to be the turning point in the was bc the Patriot win convinced the french to aid the U.S

Marquis de Lafayette- Foreign military expert appointed by washingtonn, and helped build a force that prevailed against the mightiest power i the world. ( a french soldier who served under GQ in the American Revolution.

Valley Forge- Location in PA where Washington’s army spent a difficult winter in 1777-1778

Monmouth - 1778 revolutionary war battle site in NJ where neither side won a clear victory

Kings Mountain- 1780 revolutionary war battle in SC in which Patriots defeated a loyalist militia

Yorktown- Site in VA where Cornwallis’s army surrendered to Washington

Manumission- The act of freeing someone from slavery