AMERICAN REVOLUTION VOCABULARY #3

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 and adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776

DELEGATE

• A person authorized or sent as a representative of others, such as the delegates to the Second Continental Congress

DIPLOMACY

• The artful handling of international relations, a skill necessary to negotiate a successful treaty

INDENTURED SERVANT

• A person, who in exchange for free passage to the American Colonies, worked for a master for a period of from four to seven years
• Many Americans came to the British Colonies as indentured servants

LOYALIST

• An American who did not support revolution against Great Britain and was loyal to the King, George III
• Approximately one third of all American colonists during the Revolution were Loyalists

TRAITOR

• A person who betrays his country such as Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War

TRICORN

• Three sided hat of both civilian and military fashion during the Colonial and Revolutionary Eras

TYRANNY

• An oppressive and unjust government ruled by a tyrant or absolute ruler
• Americans believed that the British Government was a tyranny

YANKEE

• Slang term used to describe a person from New England
• Later this term was used to describe an inhabitant of the United States

“WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS...”

“WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF EVIDENT, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL...”

“I ONLY REGRET THAT I HAVE BUT ONE LIFE TO GIVE FOR MY COUNTRY”

“THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN’S SOULS”

“YOU MIGHT HAVE TRACKED THE ARMY... TO VALLEY FORGE BY THE BLOOD OF THEIR

THE END