Causes of the American Revolution & American Revolution

Lexington and Concord

A 1775 conflict between colonial minutemen & British soldiers attempting to take the colonists' large store of arms; began the Revolutionary War, British governor Thomas Gage sent troops to Concord to stop the colonists who were loading arms. The next day, on April 19, 1775, the first shots were fired in Lexington, starting the war. The battles resulted in a British retreat to Boston.

John Adams

A Massachusetts attorney & politician who was a strong believer in colonial independence. He argued against the Stamp Act and was involved in various patriot groups. As a delegate from Massachusetts, he urged the Second Continental Congress to declare independence. He helped draft and pass the Declaration of Independence. Adams later served as the second President of the United States.

Common Sense

A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that claimed the colonies had a right to be an independent nation.

Loyalist

A person who supported the British during the American Revolution

Patriot

A person who supported the colonists during the American Revolution, a colonist who wanted to break free from Britain's rule

Benjamin Franklin

American patriot, writer, printer, and inventor. During the Revolutionary War he persuaded the French to help the colonists.

Paul Revere

American silversmith remembered for his midnight ride (celebrated in a poem by Longfellow) to warn the colonists in Lexington and Concord that British troops were coming (1735-1818)

Continental Army

Army formed in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress and led by General George Washington

Albany Plan of Union

Benjamin Franklin's idea of unifying colonists' efforts in trade, military, and other purposes against Great Britain; Franklin utilized the Join or Die political cartoon in the plan

Boston Massacre

British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists who were teasing and taunting them. Five colonists were killed. The colonists blamed the British and the Sons of Liberty and used this incident as an excuse to promote the Revolution.

Committees of Correspondence

Colonies organized groups dedicated to resistance to British laws

Representation in Parliament

Colonists felt that the laws and taxes passed by the British were unfair because they had no____________________.

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army. He had led troops (rather unsuccessfully) during the French and Indian War, and had surrendered Fort Necessity to the French. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and was much more successful in this second command.

Thomas Jefferson

He was a delegate from Virginia at the Second Continental Congress and wrote the Declaration of Independence. He later served as the third President of the United States.

King George III

He was the king of England from 1760 to 1820, exercised a greater hand in the government of the American colonies than had many of his predecessors. Colonists were torn between loyalty to the king and resistance to acts carried out in his name. After King George III rejected the Olive Branch Petition, the colonists came to see him as a tyrant.

Marquis de Lafayette

He was very rich and noble when he arrived in America at the age of 19 years old. He believed in the liberty that the Americans were fighting for and asked to help. He became a general on Washington's staff and fought hard. He was known as "the soldier's friend," and is buried in france but his grave is covered with earth from Bunker Hill.

Intolerable Acts

In response to Boston Tea Party, 4 acts passed in 1774, Port of Boston closed, reduced power of assemblies in colonies, permitted royal officers to be tried elsewhere, provided for quartering of troop's in barns and empty houses.

Battle of Yorktown (1781)

Last major battle of the Revolutionary War. Cornwallis and his troops were trapped in the Chesapeake Bay by the French fleet. He was sandwiched between the French navy and the American army. He surrendered October 19, 1781.

Quartering Act

March 24, 1765 - Required the colonials to provide food, lodging, and supplies for the British troops in the colonies.

minutemen

Member of a militia during the American Revolution who could be ready to fight in a minute.

Olive Branch Petition

On July 8, 1775, the colonies made a final offer of peace to Britain, agreeing to be loyal to the British government if it addressed their grievances (repealed the Coercive Acts, ended the taxation without representation policies). It was rejected by Parliament, which in December 1775 passed the American Prohibitory Act forbidding all further trade with the colonies.

Thomas Paine

Patriot and writer whose pamphlet Common Sense, published in 1776, convinced many Americans that it was time to declare independence from Britain. He also wrote The American Crisis to urge colonists to join the fight against the British.

What were the causes of the American Revolution?

Proclamation of 1763, Intolerable Acts, Stamp Act, Mercantilism, Lack of Representation in Parliament, and British economic polocies following the French & Indian War.

Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams played a key role in the defense of colonial rights. He had been a leader of the Sons of Liberty and suggested the formation of the Committees of Correspondence. Adams was crucial in spreading the principle of colonial rights throughout New England and is credited with provoking the Boston Tea Party..

First Continental Congress

September 1774, delegates from twelve colonies sent representatives to Philadelphia to discuss a response to the Intolerable Acts

Tea Act

Tax on all British tea

Crispus Attucks

The African-Native American man who was the first man to die in the Boston Massacre, also considered the first death in the Revolutionary War

Proclamation of 1763

The British king forbade the colonists from moving into lands west of the Appalachian mountains

Battle of Saratoga (1777)

The battle which was the turning point of the Revolution because after the colonists won this major victory, the French decided to support us with money, troops, ships, etc.

Declaration of Independence

The document approved by representatives of the American colonies in 1776 that stated their grievances against the British monarch and declared their independence.

What were the strengths of the British?

They had a strong well-trained army and navy along with a strong central government with food, ammunition and the support of colonial loyalists and Native Americans.

Second Continental Congress

They organized the Continental Army, called on the colonies to send troops, selected George Washington to lead the army, and appointed the comittee to draft the Declaration of Independence.

Treaty of Paris of 1783

This treaty ended the Revolutionary War, recognized the independence of the American colonies, and granted the colonies the territory from the southern border of Canada to the northern border of Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.

Valley Forge

Washington and troops were low on supplies, food, and clothing. Because it was a harsh winter, 1/5 of soldiers died. Name given to the 1777-1778 encampment at Valley Forge by the American military under General Washington. It was America's first real effort to field a professional military against the British.

ally

a country that agrees to help another country achieve a common goal, ie. American Revolution - French were allies.

Sons of Liberty

a group of colonists who formed a secret society to oppose British policies at the time of the American Revolution.

Stamp Act

a tax on all printed materials

salutary neglect

allowed the colonies to develop their own government and way of life due to Britain's neglect

Mercantilism

an economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought

Boston Tea Party

colonists angry over tax on tea protested by throwing the tea into the harbor

French and Indian War

due to the costly war, the king began taxing the colonists which led to a lot of tension between Britain and the colonists

Parliament

government in Great Britain

American Revolution

helped to ignite or spark the French Revolution

unalienable rights stated in the Declaration of Independence

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

propaganda

material distributed by those in favor of a specific cause and reflecting their point of view, Ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause.

Spain and France

supported the colonist's war for independence; were allies of the colonists

boycott

to refuse to buy items from a particular country. The colonists upheld a __________against British goods.

guerilla warfare tactics

type of fighting in which soldiers use swift hit-and-run attacks against the enemy