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U.S. History

Key Terms

U.S. HistoryKey Terms
confiscation acts
state-wide acts that made it legal for state governments to seize Loyalists’ property
Continental currency
the paper currency that the Continental government printed to fund the Revolution
Dunmore’s Proclamation
the decree signed by Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, which proclaimed that any enslaved or indentured servants who fought on the side of the British would be rewarded with their freedom
Hessians
German mercenaries hired by Great Britain to put down the American rebellion
Mecklenburg Resolves
North Carolina’s declaration of rebellion against Great Britain
minutemen
colonial militias prepared to mobilize and fight the British with a minute’s notice
popular sovereignty
the practice of allowing the citizens of a state or territory to decide issues based on the principle of majority rule
republicanism
a political philosophy that holds that states should be governed by representatives, not a monarch; as a social philosophy, republicanism required civic virtue of its citizens
thirteen colonies
the British colonies in North America that declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, which included Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, the province of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, South Carolina, and Virginia
Yorktown
the Virginia port where British General Cornwallis surrendered to American forces
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