| A | B |
|---|
| Thomas Paine | English philosopher who published the pamphlet Common Sense in 1776, encouraging Americans to declare their independence |
| George Washington | led the colonial army to victory, presided over the Constitutional Convention; served as the first President of the U.S. |
| General Cornwallis | British general who surrrendered to Washington at Yorktown |
| General Horatio Gates | led patriot forces to victory over General Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga |
| Benedict Arnold | patriot leader who turned traitor and plotted to surrender the fort at West Point |
| Prohibitory Act | act of Parliament in December 1775 which prohibited all trade with the colonies and provided for the confiscation of their ships |
| Hessians | German mercenaries from the state of Hesse hired by George III to fight the colonists |
| Declaration of Independence | America's official declaration of independence from Britain; issued July 4, 1776, by the Continental Congress |
| Whigs | nickname for patriots; borrowed from those in Britain who opposed a strong monarchy |
| Loyalists | also called Tories; those who remained loyal to the king |
| Treaty of Paris | officially ended the American War for Independence in 1783 |
| Valley Forge | (Pennsylvania) where Washington and his men spent the winter of 1777-1778 |
| Yorktown | (Virginia) where Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in October 1781 |
| the date the Declaration of Independence was adopted | July 4, 1776 |
| Alexander Hamilton | a delegate of New York who attended the Annapolis Convention and the Constitutional Convention |
| James Madison | a delegate of Virginia who attended the Annapolis Convention and the Constitutional Convention; remembered as the Father of the Constitution |
| Articles of Confederation | a plan for union adopted by Congress in November of 1777; had several weaknesses, but did accomplish a successful land policy for the Northwest Territory |
| Northwest Territory | the area bound by the Ohio River, Mississippi River and the Great Lakes |
| Constitutional Convention | held in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to revise the Articles; produced the Constitution of the United States |
| Independence Hall | where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed |
| Great Compromise | established a bicameral legislature to satisfy both the large and small states; often called the Connecticut Compromise |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | determined that 3/5 of a state's slave population would be counted for both taxation and representation |
| Federalists | those who wanted the new Constitution adopted |
| Anti-Federalists | those who opposed the Constitution |
| democratic republic | rule by the people with a written constitution to protect the basic rights of the minority from being infringed upon by the majority |
| Bill of Rights | the first 10 ammendments to the Constitution |
| checks and balances | a system devised to check the power of the various branches of the national government; protects citizens against tyranny |
