-
John Locke
Born in 1632. He was a silversmith and an industrialist who set up a lantern system to warn the American colonists of incoming British. He is known for riding to warn the colonial militia that the British were coming before the Battle of Lexington. -
Charles Montesquieu
Born in 1689. He was a French judge and a famous political philosopher. His ideas influenced the Founding Fathers with his theory that the powers of the government should be separated into 3 groups between legislative, executive, and judicial branches. -
Sam Adams
Born in 1722. He united the 13 colonies to fight for their independence from the British and was also one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a political philosopher and signed the Declaration of Independence. -
Paul Revere
Born in 1735. He was a silversmith and an industrialist who set up a lantern system to warn the American colonists of incoming British. He is known for riding to warn the colonial militia that the British were coming before the Battle of Lexington. -
Benedict Arnold
Born in 1741. He was part of the Continental Army. He was hired to capture British troops at Fort Ticonderoga in New York. At first, he was considered a hero of America until he betrayed the Americans and joined the British army. -
Thomas Jefferson
Born in 1743. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a philosopher and a statesman, and one of the main writers of the Declaration of Independence, so his ideas were influential in beginning the revolutionary war and motivating others to join in the fight for freedom. He also became the vice president for John Adams and the 3rd president of the United States. -
Alexander Hamilton
Born in 1757. He shared his writing and beliefs and became one of America's Founding Fathers. He also became a military commander during the revolutionary war and helped write the U.S. Constitution. -
George and Martha Washington
Their marriage went from 1759-1799. George Washington was the first president of the United States after the American Revolution ended. He was also the general of the Continental Army during the war. His wife Martha was the First Lady which meant that she was the wife of the president. Martha helped manage George's estates and also took care of their kids. She was considered George Washington's “worthy partner” for almost 40 years. -
Hessians
The Hessians were a group of German people that were hired by the British to fight in the revolutionary war as auxiliary troops. Around 30,000 Hessians fought with the British against the colonists in the revolutionary war. -
¨Give me liberty or give me death" Speech
Patrick Henry did this speech at the Virginia Convention to encourage the American colonists to fight harder for their independence. Historians think that the speech helped motivate the colonists to go to war. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was an important event that led up to the American revolutionary war because it showed how the British would treat the colonists. British soldiers shot into a crowd of colonists and killed 5 colonists. -
US Constitution
It was a list of laws that all the states agreed on after the Revolutionary War ended. To this day, it is basically the supreme law of the United States. It originally had 7 Articles and it divided the federal government into 3 main branches. -
Boston Tea Party
It was one of the colonists' first acts of protest leading to the American Revolution. The Sons of Liberty threw 342 chests of British tea from the British East India Company into the Boston Harbor to protest the tax on tea. -
Minutemen
Minutemen were colonists who were self-trained in weaponry, military strategies and tactics. They were known for how prepared they would be and how they would be ready to fight in battles in a small amount of time. -
Battle of Lexington
It was the first battle of the American revolutionary war fought in Massachusetts. Hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to Concord but the colonial militia had been warned by Paul Revere. The result was that the Americans wanted to show if there was bad behavior in America you would be punished and that it's not acceptable there. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was when delegates from all the 13 colonies made their final decision to declare independence against the British. They made George Washington the leader of the Continental Army. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a group of colonists from 12 of the 13 colonies who gathered to decide if they wanted to go to war against the British and declare their independence from Britain. They met in Pennsylvania after the British Navy built a blockade of the Boston Harbor and the British Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts. -
Articles of Confederation
The colonies wanted to write down all of the rules all of the states agreed upon, allowing them to form an army, print money, and create laws on their own. Later on it turned out that the articles were not enough for the new government and they needed to change it. -
French Alliance
An alliance was formed between France and the United States. To France the British were basically their enemies. The Americans also wanted to form an alliance just in case they needed backup support in the revolutionary war. -
The battle of Yorktown
The Battle of Yorktown was the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought in Yorktown, Virginia. The British General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington’s army.
