Name: ______________________ Test Date:_______________________
Social Studies Test Study Guide
Exploration and Colonization/the American Revolution.
Please know the following definitions.
Missionary: A person who tries to spread their religious beliefs.
Trading post: Small colonial settlement founded by traders, centered on bartering.
Colony: Any settlement far away from the home country that rules it.
Pilgrims: Group of Separatist Protestants who broke away from the Church of
England
French and Indian War: War in which English soldiers and American colonists
fought together to force the French out of eastern North America.
Sugar Act: Tax on sugar and molasses imposed by the British on the American
colonies.
Stamp Act: Tax on newspapers and legal papers imposed by the British on
American colonists.
Sons of Liberty: Secret clubs formed by American colonists to protest British taxes.
Boston Massacre: (1770) An event in which British troops fired into a crowd of
colonists in Boston.
Boston Tea Party: (1773) An event in which American colonists dumped British tea
into Boston Harbor to protest a tax on tea.
Intolerable Acts: British laws in 1774 that closed Boston Harbor in order to punish
American colonist for the Boston Tea Party; colonists had to house English soldiers
Minutemen: Volunteer colonial soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Continental Congress: Series of meetings of colonial leaders to guide the progress
of the Revolutionary War.
George Washington: General and Commander – in-Chief of the Continental Army;
first president of the United States.
Thomas Paine: American Revolutionary War leader who wrote Common Sense.
Thomas Jefferson: Writer of the Declaration of Independence; third president of
the United States.
Declaration of Independence: A document approved on July 4, 1776, in which the
American colonist declared their independence from England.
Loyalist: American colonist who remained loyal to England during the
Revolutionary War.
Patriot: A colonist who wanted the colonies to separate from England during the
American Revolution.
General Charles Cornwallis English General during the Revolutionary War
Treaty of Paris: An agreement that officially ended the Revolutionary War
Continental Congress: Series of meetings of colonial leaders to guide the progress
of the Revolutionary War.