All Vocab For American Revolution
Published on Nov 30, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Apprentice
A person under a legal agreement to work for a specific time to learn a craft or skill from a master craftsman. Most apprentice were boys, 10-18 years of age.
Bounty
A payment of $10 to $200 to recruits in return for enlisting in the army or militia during the American revolution.
Broadside
A large sheet of paper, printed on one side and used to publicly advertise, announce, or offer political opinions during the late colonial period.
Campaign
A series of military maneuvers lasting a few weeks or months against an opposing army.
Continental
A soldier of the American army during the revolution. It was also the useless paper money issued by congress to help pay for the war (hence the phrase, not worth a continental.
Continental congress
An assembly of representatives from the American colonies witch operated as the legislative body during the revolutionary period.
Declaration of Independence
The formal statement that declared the United States free and independent of control by Great Britain. It was written by Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1776.
Delegate
A person authorized or sent as a representative of others, such as the delegates of the second continental congress on July 4, 1776.
Diplomacy
The artful handling of international relations, a skill necessary to negotiate a successful treaty.
Facsimile
A reproduction of a document, book, painting, or item.
Fife
A high pitched flute that both armies users for military style music. Soldiers who played the fife were known as pipers.
Firecake
The sparse food item made of water and flour, cooked on a flat rock near a campfire. Many continentals were reduced to eating only fire cake during the revolution.
Flintlock musket
A muzzle loading musket or long firearm that uses a flint in the hammer to strike a spark and ignite the black powder. Many flintlocks in the revolutionary war were British "Brown Bess" muskets.
Fortnight
Old English term meaning 14 days or two weeks in time.
Gentlemen
A man born belonging to the upper classes of polite society or a man of high social standing.
Hunting shirt
Linen fringed shirt or light jacket worn by most American soldiers during the revolutionary war. Replacement for military wool jackets of regulation.
Indentured servant
A,person, who in exchange for free passage to the American colonies, worked for a master for a period of from 4 to 7 years. Many Americans came to the British colonies as indentured servants.
Liberty
To be free of government interference. To the patriots, liberty was freedom from control by Great Britain.
Liberty pole or tree
A centrally located pole or tree that patriots used to post announcements or rally to for protest.
Loyalist/Tory
An American who did not support the revolution against Great Britain and was loyal to the king, George |||. Approximately one third of all American colonists during the revolution were loyalists.
Mechanic
A tradesmen or other craftsmen who worked with his or her hands, such as a printer, bricklayer, or silversmith.
Memorabilia
A collection of memorable or valued items from the past.
Merchant
A person who's business was trading with other countries such as Great Britain. Many loyalists were merchants.
Militia
Citizen soldiers who were called out for emergencies to defend their homes and villages. Militias were first formed in New England to guard against Indian attacks. The minutemen were militia.
Minutemen
Colonial militia who had pledged to fight the British "at a minutes notice." They fought the British at Lexington and concord in the April of 1775 to begin the American revolution.
Mob
An undisciplined group of protesters who often take the law into their own hands.
Parliament
The official governing body of Great Britain made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
Patriot
An American during the war who supported the cause of the revolution. Only about one third of Americans were patriots. Sometimes these people were called Whigs.
Privateer
Small, privately owned merchant ships that were fitted out with weapons to capture British merchant shipping.
Rebel
British slang term for an American or patriot not loyal to Britain during the war.
Redcoats
Slang term for British soldiers who wore scarlet red uniform jackets.
Smallpox
Deadly and very contagious measles like disease that kills or scarred many people during the eighteenth century. Many soldiers were inoculated against smallpox.
Sons of liberty
Secret group of radicals formed by Sam Adams to protest the stamp act. They used violence such as tarring and feathering to punish loyalists and to protest British policies.
Strategy
The art of military command such as to an overall plan of war. How to deploy troops and were to deploy troops are parts of strategic planning.
Tavern
An inn or meeting place that offered lodging and sold food and drink for both travelers and regular customers in the colonial era. Many political discussions and plans were debated at taverns.
"The shot heard round the world"
Famous phrase from Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem about the first shot of the revolutionary war at Lexington and concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775.
Time capsule
A collection of historical items intentionally hidden or buried to be saved and recovered by a later generation.
Tomahawk
The light ax carried by continental soldiers, partly because of the lack of bayonets for their muskets.
Traitor
A person who betrays his country such as Benedict Arnold during the revolutionary war.
Treason
The act of betraying your country to the enemy.
Treaty
A formal, blinding agreement between two or more countries usually sealed by signatures of representatives.
Tricorn
Three sided hat of both civilian and military fashion during the colonial revolutionary eras.
Tyranny
An oppressive and unjust government ruled by a tyrant, or absolute ruler. Americans believed that the British government was a tyranny.
Victuals
Common eighteenth century term for food, or rations.
Winter quarters
The static winter camp of armies during the winter months. The most famous American winter quarters during the revolution was at valley forge, Pennsylvania, during the winter of 1777-1778.
Yankee
Slang term used to describe a person from New England. Later this term was used to describe an inhabitant of the United States.
HERE ARE SOME WORDS THAT MADE A REVOLUTION
JOHN PAUL JOHNS (1779)
I HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT.
GENERAL NATHANAEL GREEN (1781)
WE FIGHT, GET BEAT, RISE, AND FIGHT AGAIN
LAFAYETTE AT YORKTOWN (1781)
THE PLAY SIR, IS OVER
GENERAL CHARLES CORNWALLIS (1781)
THE LATE AFFAIR HAS ALMOST BROKE MY HEART
LORD NORTH (1781)
OH GOD, IT'S ALL OVER
JAMES OTIS (1783)
WHERE LIBERTY IS, THERE IS MY COUNTRY
