Abigail Adams (1744 – 1818): the wife of John Adams and a talented letter writer

John Adams (1735 – 1826): a very influential politician and a president of the United States

Samuel Adams (1722 – 1803): an influential politician, especially in Massachusetts

Breeches: Knee length trousers

Breech cloth: Material draped over the body and tied at the waist

Calenda – a black dance looked down upon by whites because of its shock value. Men and women faced each other in two lines, then approached each other, jumping and turning, then retreating again. Once more they would approach each other, then kiss, slap thighs together, and each time the two lines came together after a retreat, the touches would become more inappropriate. Many slave-owners banned this dance, although it was very popular in Louisiana. This was also known as the Kalenda, Jo-and-Johnny, Joan and Johnny, and the Caleinda.

Caleinda – version of the Calenda where there were topless males fake fighting with big sticks.

cockfighting: a fight between gamecocks, often fitted with metal gaffs, that is arranged as a spectacle

Country dance: a style of dance from English origin where two lines of people face each other when dancing

cricket: an outdoor game played with bats, a ball, and wickets by two teams of 11 players each

Crinole: petticoat stiffened with horsehair

John Dickinson (1732 – 1808): an influential politician and an opponent to the Declaration of Independence

Deism: The belief that the universe is orderly and good, that humans can be perfected through reason and logic, and that God has made it possible to discover natural laws through rational thought.

Doublet: short jacket

Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895): a well-known orator, abolitionist, newspaper editor, and writer

Asher Durand (1796 - 1886):a well-known painter and sketcher or landscapes in the Hudson River School style

Dutch realism: painting style characterized by more modeling, greater psychological insight, and stiff poses

English courtly style: painting style influenced by Flemish Baroque techniques, very regal and dignified

Jonathon Edwards (1703 – 1758): a well know revivalist preacher during the Great Awakening

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882): a well-known transcendentalist author and lecturer

Falsetto: a male voice in an upper tone of resonance, above the normal range

Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790): an influential inventor, publisher, writer, and polititician

Georgian mansion: large houses, usually made of brick, with pilasters beside doorways and at corners, and large central staircases

Sanford Gifford (1823 – 1880): a well-known landscape painter and sketcher in the Luminist style

Ulysses S. Grant (1822 – 1885): a Civil War general and a president of the United States

Greek Revival: Greek influences on colonial-period American architecture

Harmony: singing or playing a combination of notes in a chord at the same time

Martin Heade (1819 – 1904): a well-known artist in the Luminist style

Patrick Henry (1736 – 1799): an influential politician and orator

Hudson River School: a group of landscapists starting in the 1820s who painted the Hudson River valley, mountainous Northeast, and New England coast.

Andrew Jackson (1767 – 1845): an army general and politician

Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826): an influential politician, writer of the Declaration of Independence, and a president of the United States

Jerkin: Jacket that falls at mid-hip

John Kensett (1816 – 1872): a well-known painter in the Luminist school

Landscapist: artist who paints landscapes (yeah, this is kind of stupid. Leave it out if you have enough other stuff)

Luminist School: group of painters starting in the 1850s who were concerned with painting light

Fitz Hugh Lane (1804 – 1865): a well-known painter in the Luminist school

Lely-Kneller style: refined painting style characterized by little paint application

Limners: artisans for the masses

Linear style: colonial style that developed from English modes of painting

Cotton Mather (1663 – 1728): instrumental in the Salem witch trials

Mezzotints: black and white copies of European paintintgs

Moccasin: A strong leather shoe

Neoclassicism: artistic style based on Greek and Roman styles as well as Rennaissance masters like Michelangelo; focused on dignity and nobility of human spirit

Pannier: A loop of cane or whalebone that shaped the gown to extend the hips. The Pannier created the fashionable illusion of a small waist.

Pantalets: long pant-like undergarments

Parasol: an umbrella made of cloth or paper intended to shield the sun.

William Penn (1644 – 1718): founder of Pennsylvania

Petticoat: Underskirt

Pinafore: apron hung from the shoulder to protect clothing

Quadroon – someone who is one quarter black and three quarters white

Rationalism - A school of thought upholding reason and logic as paramount, with a fixed social and existential hierarchy (the Great Chain of Being) - connected to pragmatism

Realism - An Industrial- and Reconstruction-era movement, reacting against Romanticism, involving realistic depictions and a return to science and reason.

Refrain: a repeated theme, sometimes referred to as a chorus

Romanticism - A 19th-century American literary and artistic movement focusing on the power of imagination, the beauty of nature, and the triumph of the individual.

Saltbox: a style of house that resembled the traditional English cottage, but with a lean-to addition.

John Smith (1580 – 1631): brought order to and aided the survival of the Jamestown Colony

Shakers: people who followed a religion branching off of Christianity and were celibate. When they danced, they would shake their bodies as if to shake the sin away.

tavern: A public house where travelers and other transient guests are accomodated with rooms and meals; a public house licensed to sell liquor in small quantities

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862): a well-known transcendentalist author.

Transcendentalism - A Romantic movement founded in the 1830s by Ralph Waldo Emerson, based on the idea of a new consciousness or “Over-Soul” and principles which transcended human existence.

Trunkhose: padded short trousers

Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883): a well-known abolitionist
Thomas Cole (1801 – 1848): a well-known landscape artist of the Hudson River School

Unison: singing or playing the same tones at the same time

George Washington (1732 – 1799): the commander in chief during the American Revolution, president of the Constitutional Convention and the first president of the United States

Benjamin West (1738 – 1820): the first American artist to be well known in Europe

Phyllis Wheatley (1753 – 1784): a well known slave poet

George Whitefield (1714 – 1770): an influential preacher in the Great Awakening

Gilbert Stuart(1755 – 1828): a famous portrait painter, sometimes referred to as the "Father of American Portraiture"

Eli Whitney (1765 - 1825): a significant inventor, credited with the invention of the cotton gin