The Road to War
The conflict between Britain and France that left Great Britain in severe financial debt despite gaining Canada and land east of the Mississippi River.
The 7 Years War (French and Indian War)
The March 5, 1770 event outside the Boston Customs House where British soldiers fired into a crowd throwing snowballs and sticks, leaving five dead.
The Boston Massacre
The bestselling 1776 pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that persuaded colonists that it made no sense for an island to rule a continent.
Common Sense
Colonists who fought for independence and wished to break away from Great Britain.
Patriots
The 1775 battle near Boston where British forces suffered over double the colonial casualties, proving the Americans could stand and fight.
Battle of Bunker Hill
King George III's decree forbidding colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains on the newly acquired land won from France.
The Patriot silversmith who created a famous engraving of the Boston Massacre, using it as anti-British propaganda.
Paul Rivere
According to Thomas Paine's Common Sense, in a free, independent nation, this—rather than a king—ought to be supreme.
the Law
Colonists who remained loyal to King George III and wanted the Thirteen Colonies to stay part of the British Empire.
Loyalists
The battle tactic adapted from Native Americans—involving ambushes and snipers firing from behind trees—used by Continental troops.
guerilla warfare
The 1765 British law requiring colonists to pay a fee for an official stamp on legal documents, newspapers, and pamphlets.
The Stamp Act
The 1773 protest where the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Native Americans and dumped 342 chests of British tea into the harbor.
The Boston Tea Party
The primary author appointed by the Second Continental Congress to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Jefferson
The assembly that met in May 1775, created the Continental Army, and appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief.
Second Continental Congress
The 1777 battle in New York recognized as the major turning point of the war because it convinced European powers to support the Americans.
Battle of Saratoga
The set of punitive laws passed by Parliament that closed Boston Harbor and banned local town meetings following the Boston Tea Party.
The Coercive Acts (The Intolerable Acts)
The 18th-century religious movement that encouraged colonists to leave the Anglican Church, helping foster a broader spirit of political self-rule.
The Great Awakening
The three unalienable rights specifically highlighted in the Declaration of Independence that every government must protect.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
The Loyalist military commander of African descent who fought for the British after they offered freedom to enslaved individuals who joined the King's forces.
Colonel Tye
The two major European nations that officially joined the war as American allies following the victory at Saratoga.
France and Spain
The Massachusetts towns where "the shot heard 'round the world" was fired in April 1775, launching the Revolutionary War.
Lexington and Concord
The 1774 meeting in Philadelphia where delegates from 12 colonies voted to boycott British goods and instruct local militias to prepare for war.
the First Continental Congress
The European Enlightenment philosopher whose social contract theory deeply inspired Thomas Jefferson's writing in the Declaration.
John Locke
The enslaved individual who fought alongside Patriot militias in hopes that an American victory would lead to personal emancipation and rights.
The 1783 agreement in which Great Britain formally recognized the United States as an independent nation.