Essays on American Revolution

22 March 1765 – 14 January 1784

Thirteen Colonies (United States)

Dutch Republic, France, Loyalist, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, American colonies

Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Bunker Hill, Battle of Monmouth, Battles of Saratoga, Battle of Bemis Heights

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Jane McCrea, George Washington

United States War of Independence, American Revolutionary War

After the British won the French and Indian War, they gained possession of France’s North American territories east of the Mississippi River. Attempts by the British government to raise revenue by taxing the colonies met with heated protest among many colonists. The Stamp Act and Townshend Acts provoked colonial opposition and unrest, leading to the 1770 Boston Massacre and 1773 Boston Tea Party.

By June 1776, a growing majority of the colonists had come to favor independence from Britain. On July 4, the Continental Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson.

The war was initiated by delegates from thirteen American colonies of British America, which fought over the issue of U.S. independence from the British Empire. The Americans suffered a number of setbacks from 1779 to 1781. However, the British fight against the U.S. ended with the Battle of Yorktown.

On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by Great Britain and by the United States of America, officially ended the American Revolutionary War.

Britain recognized the United States of America as an independent country. The Constitution was written in 1787 to amend the weak Articles of Confederation and it organized the basic political institutions and formed the three branches of government: judicial, executive, and legislative.