Ch.8 Vocab

Vocab ch. 8 Hessians- refers to eighteenth century German regiments in service with the British Empire that fought against the American colonists during the American Revolutionary War. William Howe- was a British General who was Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American Revolutionary War, one of the three Howe brothers. He was knighted after his successes in 1775 and was henceforth Sir William, inheriting the viscountcy only upon his brother Richard's death in 1799. Howe's record in the war was marked by the costly assault on Breed's Hill known as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the successful capture of New York City and Philadelphia - the latter of which would have significant strategic implications. John Burgoyne- was a British army officer, politician and dramatist. During the American Revolutionary War, on October 17, 1777, at Saratoga he surrendered his army of 9,000 men. Charles Cornwallis- was a British military commander and colonial governor. In the United States, he is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the American Revolutionary War. His 1781 defeat by a combined American-French force at the Siege of Yorktown is generally considered the end of the war, as the bulk of British troops surrendered with Cornwallis. Thomas Paine- was an English pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, inventor, and intellectual. He lived and worked in Britain until age 37, when he emigrated to the British American colonies, in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contribution was the powerful, widely-read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), advocating colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and of The American Crisis (1776–1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. Richard Henry Lee- was an American statesman from Virginia best known for proposing the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson - was the third President of the United States, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States. Major events during his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Admiral de Grasse- was a French admiral.

Marquis de Lafayette- was a French military officer born in the Haute-Loire. Lafayette was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution.In the American Revolution, Lafayette served in the Continental Army under George Washington. Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine, he still managed to organize a successful retreat. He served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war, he returned to France to negotiate an increased French commitment.

Patrick Henry- was a prominent figure in the American Revolution, known and remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is remembered as one of the most influential and radical advocates of the American Revolution and republicanism, especially in his denunciations of corruption in government officials and his defense of historic rights. Rochambeau- was a French aristocrat, soldier, and a Marshal of France who participated in the American Revolutionary War. John Jay- was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Supreme Court Chief Justice, and a Founding Father of the United States. Jay served in the Continental Congress and was elected President of that body. During and after the American Revolution, he was a minister (ambassador) to Spain and France, helping to fashion American foreign policy and to secure favorable peace terms from the British and French. He co-wrote the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Mercenary- is a person who takes part in an armed conflict, who is not a national or a party to the conflict, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party" Human rights refers to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled."Examples of rights and freedoms which are often thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education. privateer was a private warship authorized by a country's government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping. Privateering is often described as a form of state-supported piracy. Strictly, a privateer was only entitled by its state to attack and rob enemy vessels during wartime. However, states often encouraged attacks on opposing powers while at peace, or on neutral vessels during time of war, blurring the line between privateering and piracy. The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning in May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after shooting in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved slowly towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. By raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties, the Congress acted as the de facto national government of what became the United States. With the ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1781, the Congress became known as the Congress of the Confederation. Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution. Common Sense presented the American colonists with an argument for independence from British rule at a time when the question of independence was still undecided. Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood; forgoing the philosophy and Latin references used by Enlightenment era writers, Paine structured Common Sense like a sermon and relied on Biblical references to make his case

to the people.Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as, “the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era. The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress. The Whigs Party- are often described as one of two political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid-19th centuries. It is more accurate to describe the original two ideas as loose groupings, or more precisely, tendencies. While the Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule, both might be termed conservative by modern parameters. Party politics did not begin to coalesce until at least 1784, with the ascension of Charles James Fox as the leader of a reconstituted "Whig" party ranged against the governing party of the new "Tories" under William Pitt the Younger. Patriots- was the name the colonists of the British Thirteen Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution called themselves. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation. Their rebellion was based on the political philosophy of republicanism, as expressed by pamphleteers such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine. The World Turned Upside Down- Tradition has it that when Lord Cornwallis surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown (1781) the British band played this tune. The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, and approved by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784, formally ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the thirteencolonies or the United States of America, which had rebelled against British rule starting in 1775. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of these see Peace of Paris (1783).