| A | B |
|---|
| Battle of Bunker Hill | This battle resulted in more than 1,000 British and 400 casualties; it demonstrated that American could fight |
| Olive Branch Petition | Peace request sent by the Second Continental COngress to King George III, who rejected it |
| Patriots | Colonists who fought for independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War |
| Loyalists | Colonists who sided with Britain |
| mercenaries | hired foreign soldiers |
| Battle of Trenton | Battle fought in New Jersey where Patriots captured more than 900 Hessian troops fighting for Great Britain |
| guerilla warfare | a type of fighting in which soldiers use swift hit and run attacks against the enemy |
| continental army | Army organized and funded by the Second Continental Congress of 1775 to defend the American colonies from Britain |
| Treaty of Paris of 1783 | Peace agreement that officially ended the Revolutionary War and estabilished British recognitionof the U.S. |
| First Continental Congress | statement by the 2nd Continental Congress that defined the colonists' rights and their complaints against Great Britain and declared the colonies freedom |
| Declaration of Independence | meeting of colonial delegates in Philidelphia to decide how to handle increased taxes and abuses by British authorities, sent a petition to Britain for rights to life, liberty, and property |
| seige | military blockade of a fort |
| Minutemen | American colonial militia members who were supposed to be ready to fight in a minutes notice |
| Redcoats | British soldiers who fought against the colonists in the American Revolution |
| Common Sense | Anti-monarchy pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that convinced many Americans colonists of the need to break away from Britain |
| Second Continental Congress | meeting of colonial delegates in Philidelphia to decide how to react to fighting at Lexington and Concord |
