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The American Revolution: Events and Dates

The taxes, protests, battles and documents that led the colonies to independence.

75 cardsGrades 3–5, Grades 6–8#revolution#independence#1776

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75 cards
  • Stamp Act (1765)Event or term
    A British tax on printed paper that colonists protested loudly
  • No taxation without representationEvent or term
    Colonial slogan: colonists had no voice in the Parliament that taxed them
  • Sons of LibertyEvent or term
    Colonial protest group that opposed British taxes
  • Townshend Acts (1767)Event or term
    British taxes on goods like glass, paper, paint and tea
  • Boston Massacre (1770)Event or term
    British soldiers fired into a Boston crowd and killed five colonists
  • Crispus AttucksEvent or term
    A man of African and Native descent, the first person killed in the Boston Massacre
  • Tea Act (1773)Event or term
    British law that helped the East India Company sell tea in the colonies
  • Boston Tea Party (1773)Event or term
    Colonists dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor
  • Intolerable Acts (1774)Event or term
    Punishing British laws after the Tea Party; the colonists' name for them
  • First Continental Congress (1774)Event or term
    Delegates from twelve colonies met in Philadelphia to answer British actions
  • MinutemenEvent or term
    Colonial militia ready to fight at a minute's notice
  • Paul RevereEvent or term
    Rider who warned of British troops marching in April 1775
  • Lexington and Concord (1775)Event or term
    The first battles of the Revolutionary War, in Massachusetts
  • Shot heard 'round the worldEvent or term
    Famous poem phrase about the first shot at Concord
  • Second Continental CongressEvent or term
    Met in 1775; ran the war and later voted for independence
  • Battle of Bunker Hill (1775)Event or term
    A costly British win near Boston that showed colonists could fight well
  • George WashingtonEvent or term
    Chosen in 1775 to lead the Continental Army
  • Continental ArmyEvent or term
    The army formed by the Second Continental Congress
  • Common Sense (1776)Event or term
    Thomas Paine's pamphlet arguing for independence in plain language
  • Thomas PaineEvent or term
    Writer of Common Sense and The American Crisis
  • Declaration of IndependenceEvent or term
    Adopted July 4, 1776; explained why the colonies were free from Britain
  • Thomas JeffersonEvent or term
    Main writer of the Declaration of Independence
  • Committee of FiveEvent or term
    Group chosen to draft the Declaration: Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, Livingston
  • LoyalistsEvent or term
    Colonists who stayed loyal to the British king
  • PatriotsEvent or term
    Colonists who wanted independence
  • RedcoatsEvent or term
    Nickname for British soldiers because of their uniforms
  • HessiansEvent or term
    German soldiers hired by Britain to fight in America
  • Washington crossing the DelawareEvent or term
    A surprise Christmas night 1776 crossing before the Battle of Trenton
  • Battle of Trenton (1776)Event or term
    Washington's surprise win over Hessian troops in New Jersey
  • Battle of Saratoga (1777)Event or term
    American victory in New York that was the turning point of the war
  • Valley ForgeEvent or term
    Winter camp 1777-1778 in Pennsylvania where the army endured hardship and training
  • Baron von SteubenEvent or term
    Prussian officer who trained the Continental Army at Valley Forge
  • Marquis de LafayetteEvent or term
    French nobleman who joined Washington as a general
  • Alliance with France (1778)Event or term
    France joined the war on the American side after Saratoga
  • Battle of Yorktown (1781)Event or term
    Last major battle; British General Cornwallis surrendered
  • Lord CornwallisEvent or term
    British general who surrendered at Yorktown
  • Treaty of Paris (1783)Event or term
    Ended the war; Britain recognized American independence
  • Articles of ConfederationEvent or term
    First US plan of government, with a weak national government
  • Abigail AdamsEvent or term
    Wrote to John Adams asking him to 'remember the ladies' in new laws
  • John AdamsEvent or term
    Massachusetts leader who supported independence and later became the second president
  • Benjamin FranklinEvent or term
    Diplomat who won French support in Paris
  • Samuel AdamsEvent or term
    Boston leader and organizer of protests against British taxes
  • Patrick HenryEvent or term
    Virginian famous for 'Give me liberty, or give me death'
  • John HancockEvent or term
    Congress president whose signature on the Declaration was large and bold
  • Nathan HaleEvent or term
    Patriot spy who said he regretted having only one life to give for his country
  • Molly PitcherEvent or term
    Name for women who carried water to soldiers and sometimes helped load cannons
  • Deborah SampsonEvent or term
    A woman who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Continental Army
  • Haym SalomonEvent or term
    Jewish financier who helped raise money for the war
  • Phillis WheatleyEvent or term
    Enslaved poet in Boston whose poems were published in 1773
  • Sybil LudingtonEvent or term
    Teen who rode at night to call militia in 1777, as the story goes
  • Francis MarionEvent or term
    South Carolina leader nicknamed the Swamp Fox
  • Benedict ArnoldEvent or term
    American general who turned traitor and joined the British
  • John Paul JonesEvent or term
    Naval commander famous for 'I have not yet begun to fight'
  • Bernardo de GalvezEvent or term
    Spanish governor who helped the Americans by fighting the British in the Gulf region
  • Joseph BrantEvent or term
    Mohawk leader who sided with the British
  • BoycottEvent or term
    Refusing to buy goods as a protest; colonists used it against British goods
  • TaxationEvent or term
    Charging money to support a government
  • ParliamentEvent or term
    Britain's lawmaking body
  • RepealEvent or term
    To cancel a law; Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766
  • Quartering ActEvent or term
    British law requiring colonies to house soldiers
  • King George IIIEvent or term
    British king during the Revolution
  • IndependenceEvent or term
    Freedom from rule by another country
  • Committees of CorrespondenceEvent or term
    Groups that shared news and plans among the colonies
  • Olive Branch Petition (1775)Event or term
    Congress's last request to King George to avoid war
  • Battle of Long Island (1776)Event or term
    Major British win in New York at the start of the campaign for the city
  • Battle of Cowpens (1781)Event or term
    American victory in South Carolina
  • SiegeEvent or term
    Surrounding a place to force it to give up
  • TreatyEvent or term
    A written agreement between nations
  • Declaration signersEvent or term
    Fifty-six delegates signed the Declaration
  • July 4Event or term
    Date the Declaration was adopted, now Independence Day
  • Liberty BellEvent or term
    Famous bell in Philadelphia, a symbol of American freedom
  • Betsy RossEvent or term
    Philadelphia seamstress tradition says sewed an early American flag
  • Continental dollarEvent or term
    Paper money printed by Congress that lost value quickly
  • MilitiaEvent or term
    Citizen soldiers who served part time
  • Guerrilla warfareEvent or term
    Fighting with small surprise attacks, used by some Patriot forces

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