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Unit 2: The Founding Documents

Terms in this set (59)

King James I
Author of the Virginia Company Charter.
Virginia Company Charter
Allowed the colonists in Virginia to establish a colonial government.
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
Allowed for freedom of religion in Virginia.
Unalienable
Means cannot be taken away.
Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
Three "unalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence.
Declaration of Independence
Document that declared the 13 colonies' independence from Britain.
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Document that influenced the writing of the Bill of Rights.
Articles of Confederation
Our nation's first government.
Tax
The Articles of Confederation lacked this important power.
Rule of Law
Laws apply to everyone equally.
Magna Carta
Document that limited the powers of the king/queen of England.
Monarchy
A government ruled by a king or queen.
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
Trial by Jury
The right to have a jury decide a person's innocence or guilt.
Parliament
England's legislative branch.
Taxation with Representation
The government must ask its citizens before it can raise taxes.
George Mason
Author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
Jamestown
First permanent English settlement in the New World.
King John I
King of England who was forced to sign the Magna Carta.
Roanoke
England's "lost colony" that disappeared.
Powhatan
Indian tribe that lived around the Jamestown colony.
Tobacoo
Crop that saved the Jamestown colony.
Williamsburg
Capital of the Virginia colony.
House of Burgesses
Made laws and passed taxes for the Virginia colony.
"The Starving Time"
When the Jamestown colonists almost starved to death.
13 colonies
England's colonies on the Eastern seaboard.
Pocahantas
Chief Powhatan's daughter who married John Rolfe.
Stamp, Sugar, Townshend, and Tea Acts
Series of taxes placed on the colonists by King George III.
Boston Tea Party
When the colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor.
Boston Massacre
When British troops fired on and killed five American colonists.
Battle of Lexington and Concord
First battle of the American Revolution.
Battle of Yorktown
Last battle of the American Revolution.
France
Country that helped the colonists defeat England in the American Revolution.
Paul Revere
His famous horse ride helped to warn the colonists about the British army.
Loyalists
Colonists who wanted to remain a part of England.
Patriots
Colonists who wanted the colonies to break away from England.
July 4, 1776
Date the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Crispus Attucks
Freed slave who was killed in the Boston Massacre.
Alter or Abolish
Two options citizens can do if the government fails to protect their rights.
King George III
King of England whose actions caused the American Revolution.
Patrick Henry
Patriot who said, "Give me liberty or give me death!"
American Revolution
War between the 13 colonies and England.
Divine Right of Kings
Belief that God had selected a king to rule over his subjects.
George Washington
Selected as the general to lead the 13 colonies during the American Revolution.
John Locke
English philosopher who influenced Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
French and Indian War
War that put England into debt causing them to tax the colonies.
Proclamation of 1763
Law that stopped colonists from settling the Ohio Valley.
Tar and Feather
What colonists would do to British tax collectors.
Benjamin Franklin
Patriot who helped with the Declaration of Independence and who had a loyalist son.
John Rolfe
Brought tobacco to Jamestown; married Pocahontas.
John Smith
Leader of the Jamestown colony who Chief Powhatan respected.
John Adams
Patriot who helped Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin with the Declaration of Independence.
Battle of Saratoga
Turning point in the American Revolution when France finally joined with the colonists.
Charles Cornwallis
British general who was defeated at the Battle of Yorktown.
Quartering Act of 1765
Required colonists to provide food and housing for British troops.
Colony
A territory controlled by a mother country.
Friederich von Steuben
German officer who helped turn the colonial troops into a professional army.
1783 Treaty of Paris
Treaty that ended the American Revolution.
"The rights of Englishmen"
Name for the rights in the Magna Carta.
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