Spark of Rebellion
Passed in 1765, this British act imposed a direct tax on the colonies for all paper goods, from legal documents to playing cards.
Stamp Act
The name given to the local volunteer militia forces who swore they could be ready to fight at a moment's notice.
Minutemen
This silver smith rode through the Massachusetts countryside on the night of April 18, 1775, warning that the regulars were coming.
Paul Revere
This Virginian was formally selected by the Second Continental Congress to serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.
George Washington
Although named after Bunker Hill, the vast majority of this bloody June 1775 battle actually took place on this nearby hill.
Breed's Hill
This March 5, 1770 tragedy began with snowballs, oyster shells, and ice being thrown at a British sentry before panicked soldiers fired into the crowd.
Boston Massacre
This underground political organization was formed by radical colonists to actively resist British tyranny.
Sons of Liberty
The poetic name coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson for the anonymous first shot fired on Lexington Green.
"The shot heard 'round the world"
This fiery orator famously declared to the Virginia House of Burgesses, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
Patrick Henry
The famous commanding order given to the low-on-ammunition colonial soldiers waiting for the British charge at Bunker Hill.
"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes"
Enraged by a monopoly on tea imports, the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Native Americans and dumped millions of dollars worth of cargo into this harbor.
Boston Harbor
In September 1774, this governing body met in Philadelphia for the first time to coordinate a unified colonial response to British overreach.
First Continental Congress
The primary target of the British march into the countryside, where the provincial militia had successfully stockpiled gunpowder and weapons.
Concord
He was the ruling monarch of Great Britain who viewed the American protests as an unforgivable betrayal of the crown.
King George III
Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led the Green Mountain Boys in a surprise dawn raid to capture this crucial New York fort without firing a single shot.
Fort Ticonderoga
This catchphrase became the rallying cry for colonial protests against Parliament’s fiscal policies.
No taxation without representation
The documentary notes that this 1768 act of sending 1,000 British soldiers to live among a population of 15,000 locals made a violent collision inevitable due to this unpopular law.
Quartering Act
This tactical strategy was used by the militia along the "Battle Road" back to Boston, devastating the retreating Redcoats from behind trees and stone walls.
guerrilla warfare
This wealthy Boston merchant and prominent Son of Liberty signed his name exceptionally large on colonial protest letters and later, the Declaration of Independence.
John Hancock
This African-American dockworker became recognized by historians as the very first casualty of the American Revolution when he was shot during the Boston Massacre.
Crispus Attucks
Parliament responded to the Boston Tea Party by passing these aggressive punitive measures, known in Britain as the Coercive Acts.
Intolerable Acts
This colonial governor of Massachusetts and British general was tasked with suppressing the dissenters and confiscating colonial weapons stockpiles.
General Thomas Gage
He was the captain leading the small band of 77 minutemen assembled on Lexington Green to face the British advance.
Captain John Parker
This British General arrived in Boston as a reinforcement in May 1775 alongside Clinton and Burgoyne, and would later lead the frontal assault at Bunker Hill.
Major General William Howe
The type of military victory achieved by the British at Bunker Hill—meaning they won the ground but suffered unsustainable casualties.
Pyrrhic victory