Unit #3 – The American Revolution

Please copy the following words in your vocabulary notebook: Natural Rights: Universal rights, such as life, liberty that, according to philosophers, derive from nature rather than a government. “Social Contract Theory”: The idea, written by John Locke, that all governments enter into a contract with their people and if the government doesn’t keep its part of the contract then the people can form their own government. Common Sense: The pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that became an instant best-seller in the colonies and urged the colonies to seek complete independence from Great Britain.

Please copy the following words in your vocabulary notebook: 4) Declaration of Independence: The document written by the Second Continental Congress that announced American independence and the reasons for it. 5) Primary Source: A document that was written by the people and in the language of a certain time period. 6) 2nd Continental Congress: The assembly of delegates that represented every colony and were the temporary government of the colonies during the American Revolution.

Please copy the following words in your vocabulary notebook: 7) Continental Army: The army that represented the colonies during the Revolutionary War. 8) Militia: Trained citizens that act as soldiers during an emergency. 9) Mercenary: A professional soldier who is paid to fight in a foreign army. 10) Loyalist: A colonist who remained loyal to the British during the American Revolution.

Please copy the following words in your vocabulary notebook: 11) Valley Forge: The location in Pennsylvania where Washington’s army spent a difficult winter in 1777-78. 12) Saratoga: Revolutionary War battle that is considered to be the turning point in the war because the Patriot win convinced the French to aid the United States. 13) Yorktown: The site in Virginia where Cornwallis’ British army surrendered to Washington’s Continental Army.

Please copy the following words in your vocabulary notebook: 14) George Washington: Commander of the Continental Army in the fight against the British for independence during the Revolutionary War. 15) Marquis de Lafayette: The French general who came to the American colonies to work with George Washington and help train the Continental Army. 16) Paul Revere: Famous Patriot, a member of the Sons of Liberty, and the man who warned Boston of the British invasion that led to the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Please copy the following words in your vocabulary notebook: 17) Minutemen: The name given to the colonial militia because they could be ready to fight in a minute’s notice. 18) Treaty of Paris, 1783: The peace treaty that officially ended the Revolutionary War and affirmed American independence.