Term
| What was decided at the First Continental Congress? |
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Definition
| Besides agreeing to the boycott, they urged each colony to set up and train its own militia. A militia is an army of citizens who serve as soldiers during an emergency. |
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Term
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Definition
| Volunteers who trained regularly and where prepared to fight at a minute's notice. |
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Term
| What happened at Lexington and Concord? |
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Definition
a. The British reached Lexington 1st and ordered the 70 minutemen to retreat.
b. At Concord, 300 minutemen met the British at the Old North Bridge and forced them to retreat to Boston using sharpshooters. The redcoats lost 73 men and another 200 were injured or missing.
c. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a New England poet, wrote a poem honoring the minutemen at Concord. "Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world." |
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Term
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Definition
| A Vermont blacksmith who led the Green Mt. Boys on a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga soon after the Revolutionary War. |
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Term
| What was the importance of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga? |
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Definition
| Located in NY state between Lakes George and Ticonderoga, Allen captured the fort, cannons and gunpowder. |
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Term
| What happened at the Second Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia in May 1775? |
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Definition
| The delegates set up the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander and wrote the Olive Branch Petition. |
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Term
| What was the Olive Branch petition? |
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Definition
| The colonists sent it to Kind George III and pledged their loyalty, but they wanted he Intolerable Acts repealed. |
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Term
| What were the American strengths during the Revolutionary War? |
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Definition
a. They had more spirit because they were fighting for their homes, families and freedom.
b. They were fighting on their own land and knew their way around.
c. The British were overconfident and careless.
d. The Americans had many Volunteers from Europe.
e. George Washington was an excellent, brave, commander-in-chief who had military experience. |
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Term
| What were the American weaknesses during the Revolutionary War? |
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Definition
a. The men in the continental army had limited experience and training.
b. Volunteers could go home at any time and the leaders never knew how many men they would have at any time.
c. The British Navy was the strongest in the world and Americans did not have one 1st class ship.
d. They were low on supplies and military equiptment. The 2nd Contenental Congress could not tax to raise money.
e. The colonists mistrusted each other and did not work together well. (Mass, RI did not want each other in their ranks) |
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Term
| Why did the minutemen, led by Colonel Prescott, fight at Bunker Hill? |
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Definition
| They wanted to force the British out of Boston. |
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Term
| What happened at the Battle of Bunker Hill? |
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Definition
| The americans fought bravely and were low on gunpowder. Prescott told the troops "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" On the 3rd try, the British defeated the Americans. The Americans concidered it a victory because the British lost twice as many men. |
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Term
| What was King George's reaction to the Olive Branch Petition? |
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Definition
a. He refused to listen to them and called them rebels.
b. He ordered a blocade of colonial ports.
c. He hired German mercenaries, called Hessians, to fight the Americans. |
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Term
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Definition
| He wrote the pamphlet Common Sense to convince the colonists to declare independance. |
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Term
| What did Common Sense say? |
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Definition
a. A vast continent should not be ruled by a small island thousands of miles away.
b. Colonists should not obey laws that hurt their trade and industry.
c. Colonists should not pledge loyalty to a king who sent armies against them. |
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Term
| Who was Richard Henry Lee? |
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Definition
| A delegate to the Second Continental Congress (the governing body of the 13 colonies), he made the motion to officially declare independence from Britain in June 1776. A 5 member committee was appointed to write it. Thomas Jefferson was the principle, or main, writer of the Declaration of Independence. |
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Term
| What did the founding fathers learn from the Enlightenment? |
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Definition
The English writer John Locke wrote the Two Treaties of Government. In it he said that people are born with natural rights and that government is an agreement between the people ruled and the ruler.
The French thinker Baron Montesquieu wrote The Spirit of Laws. He believed in the division of the government into three branches and called it the separation of powers.
1. Legislative branch would make the laws.
2. Executive branch to carry out the laws,
3. Judicial branch, a system of courts would interpret the laws. |
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Term
| Where did the first battle in NY (Middle Colony) take place? |
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Definition
| Long Island, it was a complete victory for the British who controlled New York City until the end of the war. |
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Term
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Definition
| A patriot spy sent by Washington to NYC. He was captured and hanged. His last words were, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" |
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Term
| What was the Battle of Trenton? |
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Definition
| The day after Christmas 1776, Washington made a surprise attach on 1400 Hessian soldiers. It gave the Americans hope and raised their spirits. |
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Term
| What was the Battle of Saratoga? |
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Definition
| The "turning point" of the war. As a result France decided to join our cause and send men, ships and supplies to help defeat the British. |
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Term
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Definition
| Where the Continental Army spent a miserable winter in 1777-1778 with very few supplies. |
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Term
| How did African Americans and women contribute to the war? |
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Definition
| Some women took on more work at home and many joined their husbands at the front. African Americans fought with the American patriots in the army and navy and some served as spies. They were eager to get their freedom, which did not come easily or quickly. |
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Term
| Who was George Rogers Clark? |
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Definition
| He lead Virginia frontier fighters against the British and their Indian allies. He captured many British forts int eh Ohio Valley. |
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Term
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Definition
| Known as the father of the Navy, he led patriots in the great sea victory of the Revolutionary war against the British. |
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Term
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Definition
| Known as the Swamp Fox, he used hit and run, or guerrilla tactics against the British. He and his men would suddenly appear out of the swamps and attack. |
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Term
| What was the Battle of Yorktown? |
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Definition
| The final battle of the Revolutionary War, in Virginia, October 17, 1781. The British General Cornwallis was surrounded by the Americans by land and the French by sea. The British had surrendered. |
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Term
| What was the name of the official peace treaty that ended the war? |
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Definition
The Treaty of Paris of 1783.
It provided for:
a. Recognition of the US as an independent nation.
b. America got all of the land from the Great Lakes to Florida and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
c. Florida was returned to Spain. |
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Term
| How did the war of Independence Begin? |
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Definition
| The British heard the minutemen were storing arms and the British General Gage planned a surprise attack. The Sons of Liberty hung 2 lamps to signal the British were on the move. Midnight riders like Paul Revere shouted "The British are coming" |
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