The American revolution Flashcards
Cause
The reason why something happened.
Course
Duration. Events that happened.
Consequence
Result.
Revolution
A forcible overthrow of a government.
Colonist
A person who lives in a colony.
13 colonies
The original states : Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.
Governor
King or Queen’s representative in each colony.
The population of the colonies grew because of
High birth rates, low death rates and immigration.
The largest town in the 13 colonies was
Philadelphia.
American Revolution
The revolution of the American colonies against Great Britain.
Causes of the American Revolution
The Navigation Acts, the Seven Years War and British debt, the Quartering Act, the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre.
The Navigation Acts
Laws that stated some American products, like sugar, cotton and tobacco, could only be sold through England.
The Seven Years War and British debt
Combined effort of the British and Americans to defeat the French who had colonies in Canada and America. Britain insisted Americans must pay for the cost of the war and keeping British troops in America.
The Quartering Act
Local towns and villages had to provide housing and food for any British soldiers based there.
The Sugar Act
Tax on sugar imports.
The Stamp Act
Americans had to have newspapers and legal documents stamped by a government official. They also had to pay for this.
Sons of Liberty
A group of colonists who burned stamps and attacked stamp officials.
No taxation without representation’
Colonists did not want to be taxed if they did not have a representative in Britain’s Parliament.
The Boston Massacre
British guards at the Boston Customs House opened fire on a crowd of protestors and killed five Americans.
The Boston Tea Party
A 1773 protest against British taxes in which colonists, disguised as Native Americans, dumped valuable tea into Boston Harbour.
Tarred and feathered
This happened to customs officials in Boston. Victims were smeared with tar and covered with feathers as a punishment.
Intolerable Acts
In response to Boston Tea Party. Included closing the Port of Boston.
General Gage
British general who heard the Americans were storing weapons in Concord. He sent 800 British troops to destroy the weapons. This was the first conflict of the American Revolution.
The Battle of Bunker Hill
First major battle of the Revolution. Britain won. It showed that the Americans could hold their own, but the British were also not easy to defeat.
Tom Paine
Wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense that urged the colonists to separate from Great Britain.
Common Sense
A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that claimed the colonies had a right to be an independent nation.
The Continental Congress
A meeting of representatives of the British colonies.
George Washington
Commander of the Continental Army.
Declaration of Independence
Signed in 1776 by US revolutionaries; it declared the United States a free state.
The Battle of Long Island
A 1776 battle in New York in which more than 1,400 Americans were killed, wounded, or captured.
Battle of Saratoga
American victory over British troops in 1777 that was a turning point in the American Revolution.
Three allies that joined the War on the American side
France, Spain and Holland.
Marquis de Lafayette
French soldier who joined General Washington’s staff and became a general in the Continental Army.
Valley Forge
Place where Washington’s army spent the winter of 1777-1778.
Frederick von Steuben
German who trained the Continental Army in Valley Forge.
Victory at Yorktown
Last big battle of the Revolutionary War. Cornwallis, the British commander, was forced to surrender.
The Treaty of Paris
- The British government finally recognised the independence of the United States of America.
The American Constitution
Drawn up in 1787. This created a federal government structure with a central government in the capital that shared power with the states.
Father of the Untied States
George Washington.
Countries inspired by the American Revolution
France and Ireland.
