American Revolution Vocabulary

1. American Revolution Vocabulary Grade 5 Carver Elementary

2. Tax Definition: A charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes. Context: The British imposed a tax on the American colonists.

3. Duties • Definition: A tax, usually on imports. Context: The duties were placed on items imported to the colonies.

4. Militia • Definition: A body of citizens organized for military service. Context: The militia did not have enough supplies for the siege of Boston.

5. Treason • Definition: The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family. Context: Benedict Arnold committed treason when he betrayed his country.

6. Minutemen • Definition: A member of a group of armed men pledged to take the field at a minute's notice during and immediately before the American Revolution. Context: The minuteman pledged to be ready to fight in a minute's notice.

7. Debt • Definition: A state of owing. Context: England was in debt, and for the first time American colonists were expected to help pay Britain's bills.

8. Siege • Definition: A military blockade of a city or fortified place to compel it to surrender. Context: Outside Boston, Arnold found the newborn American Army laying siege with no siege weapons.

9. Ragamuffin • Definition: A person clothed in rags, often disreputable. Context: The group that captured Fort Ticonderoga was called a group of ragamuffins by a British officer.

10. Loyalist • Definition: One who is or remains loyal especially to a political cause, party, government, or sovereign. Context: Benjamin Franklin's son was a loyalist.

11. Patriot • Definition: the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who violently rebelled against British control during the American Revolution and in July 1776 declared the United States of America an independent nation. • The Patriots are also known as the Founding Fathers of our country.

12. Redoubt • Definition: A small, usually temporary, enclosed defensive work. Context: The rebels waited while the enemy neared the redoubt.

13. Seditious • Definition: Supporting or taking part in resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority. Context: The seditious Samuel Adams was a vocal advocate for independence from the British Empire.

14. Mercantilism • Definition: a system by which a nation increases its wealth and power by obtaining from its colonies gold and silver. It includes a favorable balance of trade. The colonies became a source of raw materials for the mother country. The colonies also are expected to be the purchasers of manufactured goods from the mother country. Mercantilism includes the idea that a colony exists for the economic benefit of the mother country.