3 The American Revolution

Imperial authority and colonial resistance

After the Seven Years’ War ended in 1763, Britain sought both more revenue and tighter control over its North American empire. Parliament imposed the Stamp Act in 1765, taxing printed materials, and later placed duties on imported goods through the Townshend Acts of 1767.

Many colonists argued that Parliament was taxing them without their consent because they had no elected representatives in Parliament. British officials maintained that Parliament had authority over the empire. The disagreement therefore concerned both taxation and who had the right to govern.

From protest to organized resistance

Colonists responded with boycotts, petitions, public demonstrations, and groups such as the Sons of Liberty. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766 but asserted its authority in the Declaratory Act. In 1770, British soldiers killed five people in a confrontation in Boston remembered as the Boston Massacre. Tensions eased temporarily, but the underlying disagreement remained.

In 1773, Parliament’s Tea Act gave the East India Company an advantage in selling tea while retaining the existing tea tax. On December 16, protestors in Boston dumped tea into the harbor. Parliament responded with the Coercive Acts in 1774, punishing Massachusetts and restricting its self-government. Colonists called these measures the Intolerable Acts.

Delegates from twelve colonies met in the First Continental Congress in 1774 to coordinate resistance and petition the king.

The move toward independence

Fighting began on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, when British troops and colonial militia clashed. The Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander.

Many colonists initially hoped to restore their rights within the British Empire. Armed conflict and the king’s rejection of reconciliation strengthened support for independence. Thomas Paine’s 1776 pamphlet Common Sense made the case for breaking with monarchy accessible to a wide audience.

The Declaration and its claims

On July 2, 1776, Congress approved Richard Henry Lee’s resolution declaring the colonies independent. Two days later, it adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted chiefly by Thomas Jefferson and revised by Congress.

The Declaration argued that people possess rights, that governments derive their authority from the consent of the governed, and that people may change a government that violates their rights. It listed grievances against King George III and announced that the colonies were “free and independent States.” Its universal language existed alongside slavery and other profound exclusions from political equality.

A divided population at war

The war pitted the Continental Army and state militias against Britain’s professional military. Patriots faced internal divisions: Loyalists remained committed to the Crown, while many people tried to avoid choosing either side.

Enslaved and free African Americans pursued freedom and security in varied ways. Some fought for the Patriots; others sought liberty by escaping to British lines, especially after British officials offered freedom to enslaved people who joined them.

Turning points and French assistance

The Patriots suffered defeats early in the war. Washington’s victories at Trenton and Princeton at the end of 1776 helped revive the army. In 1777, American forces defeated a British army at Saratoga, a victory that helped persuade France to ally with the United States in 1778. French money, troops, and naval power became crucial to the American cause.

Fighting later shifted south. In 1781, American and French forces, supported by the French fleet, surrounded British General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, where his army surrendered. Yorktown effectively ended major fighting.

Independence and unresolved conflicts

The war formally concluded with the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783. Britain recognized American independence.

The Revolution established a new nation but did not resolve conflicts over slavery, political equality, or the rights and lands of Indigenous peoples. Independence was achieved without settling these conflicts.