Vocabulary & Key Terms
Colonial soldiers who were ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
Minutemen
This 1763 British law banned colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.
Proclamation of 1763
The fort captured by Patriots early in the war that provided cannons.
Fort Ticonderoga
Colonists who remained loyal to Great Britain during the Revolution.
Loyalists
The petition sent to King George III asking for peace and compromise.
Olive Branch Petition
A group of citizen soldiers who could be called up in emergencies.
militia
A British tax that required stamps on printed materials, angering colonists.
Stamp Act
The battle where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired.
Lexington and Concord
The leader chosen to command the Continental Army.
George Washington
The document that announced the colonies’ decision to separate from Britain.
Declaration of Independence
A colonial protest that involved refusing to buy British goods.
boycott
Colonists opposed this act because it gave one company control of tea sales.
Tea Act
The 1770 event where British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists.
Boston Massacre
A Patriot spy who was captured and executed by the British.
Nathan Hale
The country that first signed an alliance with the United States.
France
An agreement between countries to support each other, such as between the U.S. and France.
alliance
A colonial protest declaring that only colonial assemblies could tax colonists.
Virginia Resolution
The surprise attack Washington led after crossing the Delaware River.
Battle of Trenton
The Patriot leader known as the “Swamp Fox.”
Francis Marion
The treaty that officially ended the American Revolution.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The author of Common Sense, which encouraged independence from Britain.
Thomas Paine
A plan created to unite the colonies for defense and cooperation.
Albany Plan of Union
The Middle States battle that became a major turning point in the war.
Battle of Saratoga
The group that often sided with the British during the war.
Native Americans
One reason the Americans won the war.
Geography
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