Study Guide Starting with O and P
.Olive Branch Petition (1775) - The Second Continental Congress issued an Olive Branch Petition to the King George III of England (1738-1820) as a last-ditch effort to reconcile with Britain. In November of 1775, the Congress learned that the petition had been ignored, and that Britain was assembling an army to crush the American rebellion.

Parliament - This is the legislative body of the British government, which meets in London. Parliament has two houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Prime Minister, head of the British government, is chosen by Parliament. In the eighteenth century, the two major parties in Parliament were the Whigs and Tories.

Patriots - This is the term for Americans who favored independence from Britain, also called Whigs.

Paul Revere's Ride (1775) - On the night of April 18, 1775, Joseph Warren (1741-1775) of the Committee of Safety sent patriots Paul Revere (1735-1818) and William Dawes on an important errand. They were to ride to Lexington to warn colonists that the British were heading toward Lexington and Concord to confiscate military supplies. In 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) described that night in a poem called "Paul Revere's Ride," although the event did not occur exactly the way it is depicted in the poem.. For example, Revere was not alone in his ride: in addition to William Dawes, Samuel Prescott joined the ride. Revere and Dawes did not make it all the way to Concord. After they warned the patriots at Lexington, they were captured by a British patrol, although Prescott reached Concord safely. Paul Revere's Ride is also called the Midnight Ride.

Pontiac's Rebellion (1763-1765) - Pontiac (1720-1769) was an Ottawa war leader credited with leading western tribes of American Indians against the British in North America. His attempts to stop the expansion of the British, called Pontiac's Rebellion, were part of a larger struggle by Native Americans to win autonomy. After the defeat of Pontiac, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763.

Privateers - Privateers were privately-owned vessels whose owners were given official permission by the government to capture and plunder enemy vessels. Any booty obtained could be retained by the owners of the privateers. During the Revolutionary War, hundreds of American privateers preyed upon British ships, collecting large profits and interrupting British commerce.

Proclamation of 1763 - Issued as a result of Pontiac's Rebellion, the British wished to minimize conflict between the settlers and the Native Americans. Thus, the proclamation ordered all settlers in the Ohio Valley to move back east, forbade settlers from establishing new settlements west of the Appalachians, and prevented traders from venturing west of the Appalachians without government approval.

Prohibitory Act (1775) - In reaction to the Second Continental Congress' Olive Branch Petition, Britain began assembling an army to put down the rebellion and issued the Prohibitory Act, which closed the colonies to all overseas trade and offered pardon to any repentant rebels.