Chapter 7

Question 1

Representative body of delegates from all thirteen colonies. Drafted the Declaration of Independence and managed the colonial war effort.

Answer 1

Second Continental Congress

Question 2

Fought on the outskirts of Boston, on Breed’s Hill, the battle ended in the colonial militia’s retreat, though at a heavy cost to the British.

Answer 2

Battle of Bunker Hill

Question 3

Conciliatory measure adopted by the Continental Congress, professing American loyalty and seeking an end to the hostilities. King George rejected the petition and proclaimed the colonies in rebellion.

Answer 3

Olive Branch Petition

Question 4

German troops hired from their princes by George III to aid in putting down the colonial insurrection. This hardened the resolve of American colonists, who resented the use of paid foreign fighters.

Answer 4

Hessians

Question 5

Thomas Paine’s pamphlet urging the colonies to declare independence and establish a republican government. The widely read pamphlet helped convince colonists to support the Revolution.

Answer 5

Common Sense

Question 6

Formal pronouncement of independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson and approved by Congress. The Declaration allowed Americans to appeal for foreign aid and served as an inspiration for later revolutionary movements worldwide.

Answer 6

Declaration of Independence

Question 7

Declaration of rights adopted during the French Revolution. Modeled after the American Declaration of Independence.

Answer 7

Declaration of the Rights of Men

Question 8

American colonists who opposed the Revolution and maintained their loyalty to the king; sometimes referred to as “Tories.”

Answer 8

Loyalists

Question 9

Colonists who supported the American Revolution; they were also known as “Whigs.”

Answer 9

Patriots

Question 10

Battle for the control of New York. British troops overwhelmed the colonial militias and retained control of the city for most of the war.

Answer 10

Battle of Long Island

Question 11

George Washington surprised and captured a garrison of sleeping German Hessians, raising the morale of his crestfallen army and setting the stage for his victory at Princeton a week later.

Answer 11

Trenton

Question 12

Decisive colonial victory in upstate New York, which helped secure French support for the Revolutionary cause.

Answer 12

Battle of Saratoga

Question 13

Sample treaty drafted by the Continental Congress as a guide for American diplomats. Reflected the Americans’ desire to foster commercial partnerships rather than political or military entanglements.

Answer 13

Model Treaty

Question 14

Treaty signed by the United States and the pro-British Iroquois granting Ohio Country to the Americans.

Answer 14

Treaty of Fort Stanwix

Question 15

Privately owned armed ships authorized by Congress to prey on enemy shipping during the Revolutionary War. More numerous than the tiny American navy, privateers inflicted heavy damages on British shippers.

Answer 15

Privateers

Question 16

George Washington, with the aid of the French army, besieged Cornwallis at Yorktown, while the French naval fleet prevented British reinforcements from coming ashore. Cornwallis surrendered, dealing a heavy blow to the British war effort and paving the way for an eventual peace.

Answer 16

Yorktown

Question 17

Peace treaty signed by Britain and the United States ending the Revolutionary War. The British formally recognized American independence and ceded territory east of the Mississippi while the Americans, in turn, promised to restore Loyalist property and repay debts to British creditors.

Answer 17

Treaty of Paris

Question 18

(1738-1789) Revolutionary War officer who, along with Benedict Arnold, fought British and Indian forces in frontier New York and Vermont.

Answer 18

Ethan Allen

Question 19

(1741-1801) Revolutionary War general turned traitor who valiantly held off a British invasion of upstate New York at Lake Champlain but later switched sides, plotting to sell out the Continental stronghold at West Point to the redcoats. His scheme was discovered and the disgraced general fled to British lines.

Answer 19

Benedict Arnold

Question 20

(1738-1775) Irish-born British army veteran who served as a general in the Continental army during the Revolution. He joined Benedict Arnold in a failed attempt to seize Québec in 1775.

Answer 20

Richard Montegomery

Question 21

(1737-1809) British-born pamphleteer and author of Common Sense, a fiery tract that laid out the case for American independence. Later an ardent supporter of the French Revolution, Paine became increasingly radical in his views, publishing the anti-clerical The Age of Reason in 1794, which cost him the support of his American allies.

Answer 21

Thomas Paine

Question 22

(1744-1818) The wife of President John Adams. Abigail had her own opinions about the course of the American Revolution and urged her husband to take the needs and rights of women into consideration in the construction of the new government.

Answer 22

Abigail Adams

Question 23

(1733-1794) Virginia planter and revolutionary who served as a member of the Continental Congress. He first introduced the motion asserting America’s independence from Britain, which was later supplanted by Thomas Jefferson’s more formal and rhetorically moving declaration. Lee went on to become the first U.S. senator from Virginia under the new constitution.

Answer 23

Richard Henry Lee

Question 24

(1738-1805) British general during the Revolutionary War who, having failed to crush Greene’s forces in South Carolina, retreated to Virginia, where his defeat at Yorktown marked the beginning of the end for Britain’s efforts to suppress the colonial rebellion.

Answer 24

Lord Cornwallis

Question 25

(1729-1814) British general who, despite victories on the battlefield, failed to deal a crushing blow to Washington’s Continental army. By attacking Philadelphia instead of reinforcing General Burgoyne at Saratoga, Howe also inadvertently contributed to that crucial American victory.

Answer 25

William Howe

Question 26

(1722-1792) British general who led an ill-fated invasion of upstate New York, suffering a crushing defeat and surrendered to the American general Horatio Gates at Saratoga.

Answer 26

John (“Gentleman Johnny”) Burgoyne

Question 27

(1706-1790) American printer, inventor, statesman, and revolutionary. Franklin first established himself in Philadelphia as a leading newspaper printer, inventor, and author of Poor Richard’s Almanac. Franklin later became a leading revolutionary and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. During the Revolutionary War, Franklin served as commissioner to France, securing that nation’s support for the American cause.

Answer 27

Benjamin Franklin

Question 28

(1725-1807) General in command of French forces during the American Revolution, he fought alongside George Washington at Yorktown.

Answer 28

Comte de Rochambeau

Question 29

(1742-1786) General in command of the Continental army in the Carolina campaign of 1781. The “Fighting Quaker” successfully cleared most of Georgia and South Carolina of British troops despite losing a string of minor battles.

Answer 29

Nathaneal Greene

Question 30

(1743-1807) Mohawk chief and Anglican convert who sided with the British during the Revolutionary War, believing that only a British victory could halt American westward expansion.

Answer 30

Joseph Brant

Question 31

(1752-1818) American frontiersman who captured a series of British forts along the Ohio River during the Revolutionary War.

Answer 31

George Rogers Clark

Question 32

(1722-1788) French admiral whose fleet blocked British reinforcements, allowing Washington and Rochambeau to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown.