Revolutionary War

Battles and Acts

100

Battles of Lexington and Concord

• The first military battles of the American Revolution, fought in April 1775 between British troops and colonial militia.

200

Intolerable Acts

•  A series of harsh laws passed by Britain in 1774 to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party; they limited colonial self-government and angered many colonists.

300

Battle of Bunker Hill

•  A major early battle of the American Revolution (1775) showing that colonial forces could stand up to the British army.

400

Tea Act

 A 1773 law that allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonies, angering colonists who opposed taxation without representation.

500

Quebec Act

• A 1774 British law that expanded Quebec’s borders and allowed religious freedom for Catholics; colonists disliked it because it reduced their land claims and favored Catholics.

Military Groups

100

Militia

• A group of civilian soldiers who could be called to fight in an emergency.

200

Minutemen

Colonial militia members trained to be ready to fight at a minute’s notice.

300

Green Mountain Boys

• A militia group from present-day Vermont led by Ethan Allen that fought against British forces.

400

Continental Army 

• A militia group from present-day Vermont led by Ethan Allen that fought against British forces.

500

Mercenaries

_{Professional soldiers hired to fight for a country; Britain used German mercenaries called Hessians during the Revolution.}

Political

100

Civil Disobedience

• The act of peacefully refusing to follow laws considered unjust.

200

Boston Tea Party

•  A 1773 protest in which colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor to oppose the Tea Act.

300

Thomas Jefferson

A Patriot leader and main author of the Declaration of Independence; later became the third president of the United States.

400

Olive Branch Petition

•  A document sent by the Second Continental Congress to King George III in 1775, asking for peace and a resolution to colonial grievances.

500

Bypass

to avoid by going around 

Political continued...

100

Patriots

• Colonists who supported independence from Britain.

200

Loyalists

• Colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution.

300

First Continental Congress

•  A meeting in 1774 where delegates from most colonies gathered to protest British policies and coordinate a response to the Intolerable Acts.

400

Blockade

• The use of naval forces to prevent ships from entering or leaving a port.

500

scorned

rejected or dismissed as unworthy of respect