Before and during the French and Indian War, from about 1650 to 1763, Britain essentially left its American colonies to run themselves in an age of salutary neglect. Given relative freedom to do as they pleased, the North American settlers turned to unique forms of government to match their developing new identity as Americans.
The American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence was fought between Great Britain and the thirteen British colonies between the years 1775 and 1783. The mutinous colonists declared themselves no longer allied with the crown and kicked off an eight year struggle against the political and economic policies of the British Empire. The Declaration of Independence was signed during the revolution in 1776 and declared the thirteen colonies, now to be separately chartered and governed, the United States of America.
In May of 1765, the news of the impending Stamp Act reached Boston. Starting November 1, 1765, all printed documents would be required by law to carry a stamp. Over the course of the summer of 1765, colonists grew increasingly agitated with the idea of the Stamp Act. On August 14, tensions finally reached a boiling point.
During the period from 1763 to 1775, in the twelve years after the French and Indian War and before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, colonial distrust of Britain grew markedly, and the emerging united national identity in America became more prominent.
In 1772, Samuel Adams of Boston created the first Committee Of Correspondence, which was primarily an exchange of ideas in letters and pamphlets among members. Within a few years, this one committee led to dozens of similar discussion groups in towns throughout the colonies.
Unlike the previous wars between European powers in the 1700s, the French And Indian War was begun in North America—in the heartland of the Ohio Valley, where both France and Britain held claims to land and trading rights.
At a meeting of the Second Continental Congress in the summer of 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, proposed that the American colonies should declare their independence from Britain
Parliament wasted little time invoking its right to “bind” the colonies under the Declaratory Act. The very next year, in 1767, it passed the Townshend Acts
When war erupted in 1775, it seemed clear that Britain would win. It had a large, well-organized land army, and the Royal Navy was unmatched on the sea. Many of the British troops in the Revolutionary War were veterans who had fought in the French and Indian War.
Training the Continental Army As the colonies prepared themselves for war, new militias were formed throughout America, primarily to defend local communities from British aggression. Other units, however, rushed to join their comrades in Boston as soon as every man had a musket. Under the strict command of George Washington, Nathanael Greene, and the German Baron Von Steuben,…
