| A | B |
|---|
| Thomas Jefferson | The primary author of the "Declaration of Independence" |
| John Locke | an Enlightenment English philosopher whose ideas, more than any others, influenced the American belief in self-government |
| Natural Rights | "life, liberty, and property" (later in the Dec. of Independence "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" |
| Social contract | According to this governmental concept, original power resides in the people, and they consent to enter into an agreement among themselves to form a government to protect their rights. In return, the people promise to obey the laws and rules established by their government, establishing a system of “ordered liberty.” |
| Thomas Paine | An English immigrant to America who produced a pamphlet known as Common Sense that challenged the rule of the American colonies by the King of England. |
| French and Indian War | The rivalry in North America between England and France that led to the French being driven out of Canada and their territories west of the Appalachian Mountains. |
| The Proclamation of 1763 | prohibited settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, a region that was costly for the British to protect. |
| Stamp Act | a tax on official paper documents that angered the American colonists |
| The Boston Tea Party | A protest led by the "Sons of Liberty" against the tax on tea. They dressed up like Indians and dumped tea off of British ships into Boston Harbor. |
| The First Continental Congress | The was the first time most of the colonies acted together to protest their treatment by the British monarch, King George III. |
| The Boston Massacre | an event in which British troops fired upon anit-British protestors leaving 5 Americans dead. |
| Lexington and Concord | The sites in Massachusetts where the first skirmishes occured between British and American "Minutemen". |
| Patriots | Those who believed in complete independence from England and who fought in the Revolutionary War. |
| Patrick Henry | The Virginian who said "give me liberty, or give me death" in a famous speech to inspire Virginians to join the cause for independence from England. |
| George Washington | Virginian who was the commanding general of the American patriots in their war of independence from England. |
| Loyalists, Tories | Those American colonists who remained loyal to the king of England |
| Neutrals | Those colonisits who took no position during the Revolutionary War. |
| Benjamen Franklin | He negotiated the treaty of alliance between France and the American colonists. |
| France | The country whose financial and troop support helped the Americans to win the Revolutionary War. |
| Yorktown | The site in Virginia where the French and American troops defeated the English in the Revolutionary War. |
| Georgia | The only colony who did not send a representative to the First Continental Congress. |
| A basic right of Englishmen | No taxation without representation |
| King George III | The king of England during the American Revolutionary War. |
| Treaty of Paris | The treaty negotiated by Benjamen Franklin that gave the American colonies their freedom from England. |
