The Story of the American Revolution

The American Revolution fought between 1775 and 1783 was one of the most momentous battles in the modern world. It was more than a colonial resistance to the imperial control: it was when the revolutionary new state of the United States of America was shaped. The Revolution presented a vision of radical popular sovereignty, personal freedom, and representative government that would have an enormous impact well beyond the boundaries of North America.

Colonial Life in the Rule of the British

The thirteen colonies were the American states that lived during the eighteenth century under the British rule of the Crown. Though separated in distance, the colonies were integrated to the mercantile and political system of British Empire at large. They had to follow the laws of Britain and pay taxes to London but were denied effective representation in Parliament.

British economic policies fueled tensions between the US colonies and Great Britain. The Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts (all of which were imposed by the parliament) resulted in the taxation of everyday goods. To most of the colonists, the taxes were a representation of a much bigger injustice, which was subjugation without agreement. Their war cry, no taxation without representation, reflected the solid belief that government ought to be based on consent of the governed which imperial practice was.

The Break Out of Revolutionary War

Simmering unrest of decades finally boiled over into open warfare in April 1775, at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. The struggles led to the onset of a long and a difficult struggle to gain independence.

Colonial leaders went bold by taking steps of breaking all political connections with Britain by the summer of 1776. Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence to formally declare US independence from the colonies. This was an expression of Enlightenment values: all men are by nature endowed with rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

It was not a foregone conclusion of war that ensued. The British army, which was one of the strongest armies in the world, dwarfed the young republic in number of individuals, provisions and training in a huge way. But with the dogged stewardship of its general George Washington the American forces managed to persevere and suffer atrocities under the fire until a relentless desire to rule itself could no longer be held back.

Foreign Intervention and the changing tide

The American colonies alone could have been easily swept by the might of the British military. Nonetheless, the Revolution could not have been as successful without the dramatic foreign aid, primarily by France, and to second degree by Spain. Rivalry with Britain powered France to breathe life into the American cause that resulted in the provision of essential funds, weapons, shipping, and expeditionary forces. The French interference turned the war into the international one and moved the points towards the colonies.

The most important event of change occurred in 1781 during the Siege of Yorktown in Virginia. It was there where conjoint American and French troops surrounded the British army led by General Cornwallis, forcing it to surrender. This victory quite-truly doomed the British military effort. Treaty of Paris in 1783 marked the end of the long-lasting struggle, and formal acknowledgement of American independence was made.