18th Century Events and People in American History Flashcards
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was a leader of Colonial America. He was the publisher of Poor Richard’s Almanac, inventor-of bifocal lenses, signer of the Declaration of independence, and signer of the United States Constitution.
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone spent most of his life exploring and settling the American frontier. He was responsible for the exploration and settlement Kentucky during the 1770s.
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was an English tax on American colonists. Everything written or printed have to have a special stamp to show that the tax had been paid. What angered American colonists was not the amount of the tax, but the fact that they had not agreed to be taxed. The cry of, “no taxation without representation began.
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a fight between English soldiers and American colonists that led to two deaths. It was one of the lead-up events Of the Revolutionary War.
Crispus Attucks
Crispus Attucks was a runaway slave who led the charge against British troops at the Boston massacre, Crispus Attucks was killed in the attack.
Committees of Correspondence
The Committees of Correspondence refers to the communication system developed by Samuel Adams to keep the colonists informed about what was happening in other colonies.
Boston Tea Party
After the English passed a law that allowed a British company to sell tea at a very low price which hurt American merchants, members of the Sons of liberty dumped English tea into Boston Harbor to flout the authority of the British king,
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense, published in 1776, which advocated an immediate declaration of independence from Great Britain because the British were causing suffering for Americans. It was the first work to openly call for American independence from Great Britain.
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written mostly by Thomas Jefferson and was passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence declared the independence of the thirteen American colonies from England and gave the reasons the Colonists wanted to have their own country.
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was a folk hero of the American Revolution. He participated in the Boston Tea
Party and was made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s narrative poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride” which described Revere’s ride to nearby Concord, New Hampshire to warn colonists that the British troops were on the move.
Nathan Hale
Nathan Hale was a lieutenant in the Continental Army of the Revolutionary War. Hale volunteered to gather intelligence on the British Army. He was captured by the British and interrogated. He was executed as a spy in 1776.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the main author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States.
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the idea that the United States should stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It was the doctrine used to rationalize the westward expansion of the United States from ‘sea to shining sea’.
James Madison
James Madison was the main author of the United States’ Constitution, In 1787, which created a strong Federalist government He was the fourth President of the United States.
