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| The Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Those amendments were all adopted within a few years of the ratification of the Constitution, and all relate to limiting the power of the federal government. |
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| was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founders of the United States. |
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| President of the United States |
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| The President of the United States (unofficially abbreviated "POTUS") is the head of state of the United States. Under the U.S. Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The full title is President of the United States of America |
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| A census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). It can be contrasted with sampling in which information is only obtained from a subset of a population. As such it is a method used for accumulating statistical data, and it is also vital to democracy (voting). |
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| United States House of Representatives |
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| The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States. Each state is represented in the House proportional to its population, but each state is entitled to at least one Representative. The total number of Representatives is currently fixed at 435, each of whom serve two-year terms. Congress has the power to alter the total membership. The presiding officer of the House is known as the Speaker. |
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| The American Revolution is the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was one part of the revolution, but the revolution began before the first shot was fired at Lexington and Concord and continued after the British surrender at Yorktown. "The Revolution was effected before the War commenced," wrote John Adams. "The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people." |
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| The French and Indian War |
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| The French and Indian War is the American name for the decisive nine-year conflict (1754-1763) in North America between the Kingdom of Great Britain and France, which was one of the theatres of the Seven Years' War. The war resulted in France's loss of all its possessions in North America except for some Caribbean islands and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, two small islands off Newfoundland. The British acquired Canada while Spain gained Louisiana in compensation for its loss of Florida to the British. |
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| Battles of Lexington and Concord |
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| The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775 in the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (Arlington), and Cambridge in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America. |
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Minutemen is a name given to members of the militia of the American Colonies, who would be ready for battle in a minute's notice.
The term minutemen has also been applied to various later United States' military units to recall the success and patriotism of the originals. |
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| The Massachusetts Bay Colony (sometimes called the Massachusetts Bay Company, for the institution that founded it) was an English settlement on the coast of North America in the 1600s, centered around the present-day city of Boston, which is now in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the 50 United States. |
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| The Pilgrims were a group of English religious separatists who sailed from Europe to North America in the early 17th century, in search of a home where they could freely practice their style of religion. |
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| George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the successful Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and later became the first President of the United States, an office to which he was elected twice (1789-1797). |
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| John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the first (1789–1797) Vice President of the United States, and the second (1797–1801) President of the United States. His son, John Quincy Adams, was the sixth President of the United States (1825–1829), the only son of a former President to hold the office until George W. Bush in 2001 |
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| Samuel Adams (September 27, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American revolutionary and organizer of the Boston Tea Party. He was also the cousin of another revolutionary and a future president of the Unites States of America, John Adams, one of the signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776). |
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| The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by Boston, Massachusetts, residents against the British government. It is one of the key events in the start of the American Revolution. |
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| The Stamp Act 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was the fourth Stamp Act to be passed by the British Parliament and required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the American colonies to carry a tax stamp. The Act was enacted in order to defray the cost of maintaining the military presence protecting the colonies. The Act passed unanimously on March 22, 1765, and went into effect later that year on November 1, 1765. It met with great resistance in the colonies and was never effectively enforced. |
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| The Thirteen Colonies were the 13 British colonies in North America, separately chartered and governed, that signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and formally broke with the Kingdom of Great Britain, leading to the American Revolutionary War and the establishment of the United States of America. |
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| Declaration of Independence |
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| The Declaration of Independence is the document in which the Thirteen Colonies declared themselves independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain and explained their justifications for doing so. It was ratified by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776; this anniversary is celebrated as Independence Day in the United States. The original signed copy of the document is on display in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. |
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| The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each state is equally represented by two members, regardless of population; as a result, the total membership of the body is currently 100. Senators serve for six-year terms that are staggered so elections are held for approximately one-third of the seats (a "class") every second year. The Vice President of the United States is the presiding officer of the Senate but is not a senator and does not vote except to break ties. |
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| A constitution is a system, often codified in a written document, which establishes the rules and principles by which an organization is governed. In the case of nation states, this term refers specifically to a national constitution, which defines its nation's fundamental political principles and establishes the power and duties of each government. Most national constitutions also guarantee certain rights to the people. Historically, before the evolution of modern codified national constitutions, the term constitution could be applied to any important law. |
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| Congress of the United States |
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| The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. Both representatives and senators are directly elected by the people, but in some states the governor may appoint a temporary replacement when a Senate seat is vacant. |
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legislature is a governmental deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws. Legislatures are known by many names, including: parliament, congress, diet and national assembly.
In parliamentary systems of government, the legislature is formally supreme and appoints the executive. |
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| Vice President of the United States |
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The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government, the person who, in the words of Adlai Stevenson, is "a heartbeat from the presidency."
As first in the presidential line of succession, the Vice President becomes the new President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal of the President. The Vice President also serves as the President of the Senate, and may break any tie votes in that chamber. |
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| The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. Textually, it prevents the U.S. Congress from infringing on six rights. It forbids laws that: |
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| The Battle of Yorktown (1781) was a victory by a combined American and French force led by General George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette, and the Comte de Rochambeau over a British army commanded by General Lord Charles Cornwallis. The surrender of Cornwallis' army caused the British government to negotiate an end to the American Revolutionary War. |
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| The Treaty of Paris of 1783, signed on 3 September 1783, formally ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in North America who had rebelled against British rule in 1776. Great Britain signed ancillary treaties with France and Spain as the Treaties of Versailles of 1783. |
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| Patriots (also known as Partisans, or Rebels) were British North American colonists who rebelled against the Crown during the American Revolution and established the independent states that became the United States of America. Patriots were influenced by John Locke and the American Enlightenment. Historians in recent decades have also emphasized the influence of British "Old Whig" or "country-party" writers on the American Patriots. |
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| The Sons of Liberty was an association of Patriots in the British North American colonies before the American Revolution. The goal of the Sons of Liberty was to stop enforcement of the 1765 Stamp Act by any means, including violence. Members of the Sons of Liberty were generally young and ardent. |
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| Boston is the capital and largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. It is the unofficial capital of the region known as New England, and one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most culturally significant large cities in the United States. Its economy is based on education, health care, finance, and technology. |
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| The Puritans were members of a group of English Protestants seeking further reforms or even separation from the established church during the Reformation. |
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| Native Americans in the United States |
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| Native Americans in the United States (also Indians, American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, Aboriginal Americans, Amerindians, Amerinds, or Original Americans) are those indigenous peoples within the territory which is now encompassed by the continental United States, and their descendants in modern times. This collective term encompasses a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of them still enduring as political communities. A comprehensive tribal list can be found under "Classification of Native Americans." |
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| The American Enlightenment is a term sometimes employed to describe the intellectual culture of the British North American colonies and the early United States (as they became following the American Revolution). It is commonly dated from 1750-1820. Among the leading intellectual figures of this period are Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. |
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| Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706–April 17, 1790) was one of the most prominent of Founders and early political figures and statesmen of the United States. Considered the earliest of the Founders, Franklin was noted for his curiosity, ingenuity and diversity of interests. His wit and wisdom is proverbial to this day. More than anyone he shaped the American Revolution despite never holding national elective office. As a leader of the Enlightenment he had the attention of scientists and intellectuals all across Europe. As agent in London before the Revolution, and Minister to France during, he more than anyone defined the new nation in the minds of Europe. His success in securing French military and financial aid was decisive for American victory over Britain. He invented the lightning rod; he invented the notion of colonial unity; he invented the idea of America; historians hail him as the "First American". |
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| John Locke (August 29, 1632–October 28, 1704) was a 17th-century English philosopher. He developed the Lockean social contract, which included the ideas of a state of nature, "government with the consent of the governed," and the natural rights of life, liberty, and estate. Locke was also the first to fully develop the idea of tabula rasa. |
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| Natural rights are rights derived from natural law. In most historical discussions they are limited to humans, and thus derive from human nature. John Locke argued that these rights are integrated with the very definition of what it means to be human. Many philosophers and statesmen have listed what they believe to be natural rights; almost all include the right to life and liberty, as these are considered to be the two highest priorities in human nature. R. M. Hare has argued that if there are any rights at all, there must be the right to liberty, for all the others would depend upon this. |
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| Loyalists (often capitalized L) were British North American colonists who remained loyal subjects of the British crown during the American Revolutionary War. They were also called Tories or "King's Men". Those Loyalists settling in what would become Canada are often called United Empire Loyalists. Their colonial opponents, who supported the Revolution, were called Patriots, Whigs, or (more loosely) just Americans. From an American perspective, the Loyalists were traitors who turned against their fellow colonists and collaborated with an oppressive British government [1]; from a Canadian and British perspective, the Loyalists were the honourable ones who stood by the Crown and the British Empire, while the American rebels were the traitors. |
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