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| Second Continental Congress |
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| Representative body of delegates from all 13 colonies. Drafted the Declaration of Independence & managed the colonial war effort. |
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| Fought on the outskirts of Boston, on Breed's Hill, the battle ended in the colonial militia's retreat, though at a heavy cost to the British. |
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| Conciliatory measure adopted by the Continental Congress, professing American loyalty & seeking an end to the hostilities. King George rejected the petition & proclaimed the colonies in rebellion. |
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| Germans hired from their princes by George III to aid in putting down the colonial insurrection. This hardened the result of American colonists, who resented the use of paid foreign fighters. |
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| Thomas Paine's pamphlet urging the colonies to declare independence & establish a republican government. The widely read pamphlet convinced colonists to support the Revolution. |
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| Declaration of Independence |
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| Formal pronouncement of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson & approved by Congress. The declaration allowed Americans to appeal for foreign aid & served as an inspiration for later revolutionary movements worldwide. |
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| Declaration of the Rights of Man |
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| Declaration of rights adopted during the French Revolution. Modeled after the American Declaration of Independence. |
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| American colonists who opposed the Revoultion & maintained their loyalty to the King; sometimes referred to as Tories. |
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| Colonists who supported the American Revolution; they were also known as Whigs. |
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| Battle for the control of New York. British troops overwhelmed the colonial militias & retained control of the city for most of the war. |
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| George Washington surprised & captured a garrison of sleeping German Hessians, raising the morale of his crestfallen army & setting the stage for his victory at Princeton a week later. |
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| Decisive colonial victory in upstate New York, which helped secure French support for the Revolutionary cause. |
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| Sample treaty drafted by the Continental Congress as a guide for American diplomats. Reflected the Americans' desire to foster commercial partnerships rather than political or military entanglements. |
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| Loose alliance of nonbelligerent naval powers, organized by Russia's Catherine the Great, to protect neutral trading rights during the war for American Independence. |
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| Treaty signed by the United States & the pro-British Iroquois granting Ohio country to the Americans. |
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| Privately owned armed ships authorized by Congress to prey on enemy shipping during the Revolutionary War. Privateers, often more numerous than the tiny American navy, inflicted heavy damages on British shippers. |
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| George Washington, with the aid of the French Army, besieged Cornwallis at Yorktown, while the French navy prevented British reinforcements from coming ashore. Cornwallis surrendered, dealing a heavy blow to the British war effort & paving the way for eventual peace. |
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| Peace treaty signed by Britain & the United States, ending the Revolutionary War. The British formally recognized American Independence & ceded territory easy of the Mississippi, while the Americans, in turn, promised to restore Loyalist property & repay debts to British creditors. |
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| Led a small group of forces & captured British Forts in New York, notably Ticonderoga. |
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| Led his men the hard way to Canada, barely surviving; later became a traitor to the United States. |
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| Irish General who swapped sides & captured Montreal for the Americans. |
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| A radical who wrote about how America should be independent & Republican in his widely read pamphlet Common Sense. |
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| His resolution was the forerunner to the Declaration of Independence. |
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| General of British forces; his surrender at Yorktown ultimately ended the war. |
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| Lazy British Army general who prevented the end of the war by sitting back in pleasure & not joining the main attack. |
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| John ("Gentleman Johnny") Burgoyne |
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| Actor/playwright/general of the British Army who led the three-prong attack into the Hudson River Valley but failed. |
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| American diplomat to France for the Treaty of Paris negotiations; odd persona. |
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| Commander of the first set of French troops in America; arrived in 1780. |
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| Quaker general who waited, then retreated, exhausting his enemy without even fighting. Also known as the "fighting Quaker." |
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| Mohawk chief who was pro-British, wanting to prevent American expansion with a British war victory. |
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| Captured three British forts in succession quickly & stealthily on the Frontier. |
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| Collaborating with George Washington & Rochambeau, they forced Cornwallis to surrender at Yorktown. |
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