Vocab and Key Terms
Bonus Trashketball: companies of civilian soldiers (militia men) that boasted that they were ready to fight on a minute’s notice
Minutemen
No taxation without representation
an organization (committee) that spread political ideas through the colonies
Committee of Correspondence
Bonus Trashketball: the king of Great Britain during this time period
King George III
Declaration of Independence signed
What is July 4, 1776?
to refuse to buy items from a particular country or manufacturer
Boycott
a law created to tax almost all printed materials, including newspapers, wills, and playing cards. After this tax was paid, a British official would apply a stamp to the printed item.
Stamp Act
Bonus Trashketball: Benjamin Franklin’s plan for a united colonial government under “one general government”
Albany Plan of Union
a delegate to the Continental Congress and former British officer who believed the time had come for the colonies to become independent. Eventually voted Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
George Washington
Bonus Trashketball: a Virginian delegate to the Continental Congress who fought against the Stamp Act and famously declared, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Patrick Henry
Bonus Trashketball: an American colonist who favored American independence
Patriot
Bonus Trashketball: a tragic encounter between colonists in Boston and British soldiers that ultimately resulted in the deaths of five colonists
The Boston Massacre
Bonus Trashketball: an event in which the Boston Sons of Liberty snuck aboard ships owned by the British East India Company and threw 342 chests of tea overboard into Boston Harbor
Boston Tea Party
a dockworker (who was part Native American and part African) who became the first American colonist to die by British hands during the Boston Massacre
Crispus Attucks
Which of the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence? (Hint: He was our third president)
Thomas Jefferson
ideas or information designed and spread to influence opinion. Can be in the form of cartoons, pamphlets, etc.
Propaganda
Bonus Trashketball: an organization established by delegates from the colonies (except Georgia) to represent American interests and challenge British authority
Continental Congress
a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that called for complete independence from Britain and influenced the opinions of many colonists
Common Sense
Bonus Trashketball: a delegate to the Continental Congress and an outspoken leader in Boston who helped start a protest organization called the Sons of Liberty
Samuel Adams
Bonus Trashketball: What founding father represented the British soldiers from the Boston Massacre in court. (Hint: He was our second president)
John Adams
an American colonist who remained loyal to Britain and opposed the war for independence
Loyalist
a declaration that set the Appalachian mountains as the temporary western boundary for the colonies as a way to stop settlers from expanding further westward
Proclamation of 1763
this Treaty between Britain and France in which France agreed to give up Canada and most of its lands east of the Mississippi River and Britain received Florida from Spain (one of France’s allies); this marked the end of France as a major power in North America
Treaty of Paris
a Virginian delegate to the Continental Congress who fought against the Stamp Act and famously declared, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Patrick Henry
a rag figure created to represent an unpopular individual
Effigy