Quiz 7

Cornwallis

A British Army officer and colonial administrator. In the United States and the United Kingdom he is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined American and French force at the Siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America.

Lafayette

A French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War. A close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830.

Second Continental Congress

A convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that declared the American Revolutionary War had begun. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Yorktown

A decisive victory by a combined force of American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by British lord and Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, in Yorktown, Virginia, the siege proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in the North American theater, as the surrender by Cornwallis, and the capture of both him and his army, prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-76 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution, and became an immediate sensation.

Richard Henry Lee

An American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain.

Bunker Hill

The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in the battle. It was the original objective of both the colonial and British troops, though the majority of combat took place on the adjacent Breed's Hill. The battle was a tactical victory for the British, but it proved to be a sobering experience for them, involving many more casualties than the Americans had incurred, including a large number of officers.

Saratoga

The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War.

Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies,[2] then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer under British rule. Instead they formed a new nation—the United States of America.

Olive Branch Petition

The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775 in a final attempt to avoid a full-on war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies, which the Congress represented. Congress had already authorized the invasion of Canada over a week previously, but the petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and beseeched the king to prevent further conflict. However, the petition was followed by the July 6 Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, making its success in London improbable. In August 1775, the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected by England—even though King George had refused to read the Olive Branch Petition before declaring the Colonists traitors.

Declaration of Causes and Necessities

a document issued by the Second Continental Congress on July 6, 1775, to explain why the Thirteen Colonies had taken up arms in what had become the American Revolutionary War. The final draft of the Declaration was written by John Dickinson, who incorporated language from an earlier draft by Thomas Jefferson.