American Revolution Vocabulary

Continental

• A soldier of the American Army during the Revolution.
• It was also the useless piece of 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 which operated as the legislative body during the Revolutionary period.

Facsimile

• A reproduction of a document, book, painting, or item.

Militia

• Citizen soldiers who were called out for emergencies to defend their homes and villages. Militias were first formed in New England to guard the against Indian attacks. The minutemen were militia.

Minutemen

• Colonial militia who had pledged to fight the British “at a minute’s notice.” They fought the British at Lexington and Concord in April of 1775to begin the American Revolution.

Mob

• An undisciplined group of protesters who often law into their own hands.

Parliament

• The official government body of Great Britain made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

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.

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 Loyalist and to protect British policies.

“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.

American Revolution Quotes #2

Patriot leaders

George Washington

Paul Revere

Colonel John Parker

Sam Adams