An outline, era by era

American Revolution (1775 – 1783); United States founded

Early Modern Era · ~1500 – ~1800

The American Revolution was the war and political upheaval through which thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America broke away from Great Britain and became the United States of America. Fighting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The colonies declared independence on 4 July 1776, and the war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, in which Britain recognised the new country.

The conflict grew out of disputes over taxation, representation and the authority of Parliament after the costly Seven Years' War. It became a world war when France, Spain and the Dutch Republic joined against Britain. The new states first governed themselves under the Articles of Confederation, and in 1787 wrote a federal Constitution, which took effect in 1789. The Revolution mattered because it created a large republic founded on written constitutions and the claim that governments rest on the consent of the governed, and it inspired later revolutions. It also left slavery in place and excluded many people from political rights.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Seven Years' War and the Proclamation of 1763

    Event

    What happened

    Britain wins the Seven Years' War in North America, and the Treaty of Paris of 1763 gives it French Canada and lands east of the Mississippi. The war leaves Britain with a very large national debt. In October 1763 the Crown issues a Proclamation forbidding colonial settlement west of the Appalachian crest, partly to avoid new wars with Native nations.

    The rest is history

    Many colonists, who had hoped to settle the western lands, resented the line. Britain also decided to keep an army in America and to make the colonies help pay for it. This policy of imperial reorganisation set the stage for the taxes and quarrels of the next dozen years. Historians broadly agree that the new debts and the removal of the French threat changed the relationship between Britain and its colonies. The Proclamation line itself was soon adjusted by treaties with the Native nations.

    Sources

    1. BookAnderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
    2. PrimaryRoyal Proclamation of 1763. Proclamation of King George III, 7 October 1763.Sets the boundary for settlement west of the Appalachians.

  2. The Stamp Act crisis

    Event

    What happened

    In March 1765 Parliament passes the Stamp Act, a tax on printed paper in the colonies, to raise money for the army. Colonial assemblies protest that they cannot be taxed without their own consent, and the Stamp Act Congress meets in New York in October. Crowds attack tax officials, and merchants organise boycotts of British goods.

    The rest is history

    Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March 1766, but in the Declaratory Act it asserted its right to legislate for the colonies in all cases. The crisis created intercolonial cooperation and the slogan of no taxation without representation. It began a pattern in which each new British measure met organised resistance. Many historians see it as the first major step toward the break of 1776.

    Sources

    1. BookMorgan, Edmund S., and Helen M. Morgan. The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1953.
    2. PrimaryDeclaratory Act. Act of the British Parliament, 18 March 1766.

  3. The Townshend duties and the Boston Massacre

    Event

    What happened

    In 1767 Parliament passes the Townshend duties on imports such as glass, paper, lead and tea. Colonists respond with boycotts, and Britain sends troops to Boston in 1768. On 5 March 1770 a crowd confronts soldiers on King Street, and the soldiers fire, killing five people.

    The rest is history

    Captain Thomas Preston and most of the soldiers were tried in Boston and acquitted, defended by John Adams, while two were convicted of manslaughter. Most of the duties were repealed in 1770, but the tax on tea remained. Colonial writers and engravers used the shootings as propaganda against the standing army. The episode deepened mistrust between Boston and the Crown.

    Sources

    1. BookZobel, Hiller B. The Boston Massacre. New York: W. W. Norton, 1970.
    2. PrimaryTrial of the British Soldiers, 1770. Court records of the trial in Boston, published as The Trial of William Wemms et al., 1770.

  4. The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party

    Event

    What happened

    The Tea Act of 1773 lets the East India Company sell tea in the colonies directly at a low price, while keeping the tea duty. On 16 December 1773 men in Boston board three ships and throw 342 chests of tea into the harbour. Parliament answers in 1774 with the Coercive Acts, closing the port of Boston until the tea is paid for and reducing the self-government of Massachusetts.

    The rest is history

    Colonists called these measures the Intolerable Acts. In September 1774 the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, with delegates from twelve colonies, and agreed to a boycott of British trade. The Coercive Acts turned a local quarrel into a shared colonial cause. Within months of the Congress, Massachusetts militias were drilling and storing weapons.

    Sources

    1. BookLabaree, Benjamin Woods. The Boston Tea Party. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.
    2. PrimaryBoston Port Act. Act of the British Parliament, 31 March 1774.

  5. Lexington and Concord

    Event

    What happened

    On 19 April 1775 British troops march from Boston to seize military stores at Concord. At Lexington they meet local militia and shots are fired, and at Concord's North Bridge more fighting follows. Militia from many towns attack the column on its retreat to Boston.

    The rest is history

    The British suffered about 270 casualties that day and the colonists fewer than a hundred. Thousands of militia then gathered around Boston and besieged the city. The Second Continental Congress met in May and in June named George Washington commander of a new Continental Army. The war had begun, though many colonists still hoped for reconciliation.

    Sources

    1. BookFischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
    2. PrimaryDeposition of Lexington militia and other witnesses on the battle of 19 April 1775, published by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, 1775.

  6. Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence

    Event

    What happened

    In January 1776 Thomas Paine publishes the pamphlet Common Sense, which attacks monarchy and argues for independence, and it sells widely. On 2 July 1776 the Continental Congress votes for independence. On 4 July it adopts the Declaration of Independence, drafted chiefly by Thomas Jefferson.

    The rest is history

    The Declaration listed grievances against George III and stated that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. Copies were printed and read aloud across the states. Most signers put their names to the engrossed copy in August. The document later became a model for independence movements elsewhere, and its words about equality have been debated ever since, given that slavery continued.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryDeclaration of Independence. Adopted by the Continental Congress, 4 July 1776.
    2. BookMaier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

  7. Saratoga and the French alliance

    Event

    What happened

    In October 1777 a British army under John Burgoyne surrenders to American forces under Horatio Gates at Saratoga, New York. Benjamin Franklin, in Paris, then negotiates with the French government. In February 1778 France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States.

    The rest is history

    France entered the war against Britain, and Spain joined in 1779 and the Dutch Republic in 1780, turning the conflict into a wider war. French money, supplies, troops and a navy gave the Americans vital help. Britain had to defend the Caribbean, Gibraltar and the home islands as well as America. Historians generally see Saratoga as the turning point in diplomacy rather than in the fighting alone.

    Sources

    1. BookDull, Jonathan R. A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.
    2. PrimaryTreaty of Alliance between the United States and France. Signed at Paris, 6 February 1778.

  8. Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris

    Event

    What happened

    In 1781 a French fleet blocks the Chesapeake Bay while Washington and the French general Rochambeau march south. Lord Cornwallis, besieged at Yorktown, Virginia, surrenders his army of about 8,000 on 19 October 1781. After peace talks in Paris, the treaty is signed on 3 September 1783.

    The rest is history

    Britain recognised American independence and agreed to borders running to the Mississippi. The treaty gave little protection to Native nations who had fought on either side, and it left loyalists to be dealt with by the new states. Many thousands of loyalists left for Canada, Britain and the Caribbean. The Constitution was written in Philadelphia in 1787 and took effect in 1789, with Washington as first president.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryDefinitive Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and the United States. Signed at Paris, 3 September 1783.
    2. BookMiddlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

  9. Paul Revere's midnight ride

    Popular belief

    The legend

    On the night of 18 April 1775 Paul Revere gallops alone through the countryside shouting 'The British are coming!' to wake every village. His ride saves the militia and starts the Revolution.

    The rest is history

    The story owes most to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem 'Paul Revere's Ride', published in 1861. In fact Revere was one of several riders, including William Dawes and Samuel Prescott. Revere was stopped by a British patrol near Lincoln and never reached Concord. Colonists still thought of themselves as British, so the cry would have been about the 'Regulars'. Revere's own 1798 account describes how he was captured and later released.

    Sources

    1. BookFischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
    2. PrimaryRevere, Paul. Letter to Jeremy Belknap, c. 1798, account of the ride of 18 April 1775. Massachusetts Historical Society.

  10. Washington and the cherry tree

    Folk tale

    The legend

    As a boy, George Washington chops down his father's cherry tree with a new hatchet. When his father asks who did it, he answers, 'I cannot tell a lie', and confesses. His father is so moved that he forgives him.

    The rest is history

    The tale first appears in the fifth edition of Mason Locke Weems's biography The Life of Washington, published around 1806, after Washington's death in 1799. Weems said it came from an elderly woman who knew the family, and no earlier source for it has been found. Weems wrote to make Washington a model of virtue for young readers. The story is now regarded as an invention, though it shaped Washington's image as an honest founder.

    Sources

    1. BookWeems, Mason Locke. The Life of George Washington. Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1806.
    2. BookSchwartz, Barry. George Washington: The Making of an American Symbol. New York: Free Press, 1987.

  11. Betsy Ross and the first flag

    Popular belief

    The legend

    In June 1776 George Washington and two colleagues visit the Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross. She suggests a five-pointed star and sews the first Stars and Stripes flag.

    The rest is history

    The story was first told publicly in 1870 by her grandson William Canby, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, nearly a century after the supposed event. No contemporary document confirms the visit. Betsy Ross was a real Philadelphia flag maker, and records show she was paid in 1777 for making flags for the Pennsylvania navy. Congress adopted the flag design in a resolution of 14 June 1777, and the designer is unknown. Francis Hopkinson has also been suggested as the designer.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryJournals of the Continental Congress, resolution of 14 June 1777 on the flag of the United States.
    2. BookMiller, Marla R. Betsy Ross and the Making of America. New York: Henry Holt, 2010.

  12. Signers who pledged their lives

    Popular belief

    The legend

    On 4 July 1776 all the delegates sign the Declaration at once, in a single dramatic scene, and John Hancock writes his name large so that King George can read it without spectacles. Many signers are said to have been hanged or ruined for it.

    The rest is history

    Congress approved the text on 4 July, but the engrossed copy was signed mostly on 2 August 1776, and some delegates signed later. The painting by John Trumbull shows a scene that never happened. Hancock's large signature is real, but the spectacles remark is a later anecdote. No signer was executed by the British, though some lost property or were captured and a few suffered real hardship. The signers' names were first printed in January 1777.

    Sources

    1. BookMaier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
    2. PrimaryDeclaration of Independence, engrossed copy signed from 2 August 1776. National Archives, Washington, DC.

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