{{Short description|Founding of the United States}}
{{About|political and social developments, and the origin and aftermath of the war|military actions|American Revolutionary War|other uses}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox historical event
| name = American Revolution
| logo = Flag of the United States (1776–1777).svg
| logo_size = 100
| image = Declaration of Independence (1819), by John Trumbull.jpg
| logo_caption = The [[Continental Union Flag]] (1775–1777)
| image_caption = The [[Committee of Five]] presenting its draft of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] to the [[Second Continental Congress]] in [[Philadelphia]] on June 28, 1776, depicted in [[John Trumbull]]'s 1818 portrait, ''[[Declaration of Independence (painting)|Declaration of Independence]]''
| also_known_as =
| part_of = the [[Atlantic Revolutions]]
| location = [[Thirteen Colonies]]
(1765–1775)
[[United Colonies]]
(1775–1776)
United States
(1776–ca.1800)
| date = 1765 to 1783
| outcome = * Independence of the [[United States]] of America from [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]
* Dissolution of [[British America]], formation of [[British North America]] and [[Spanish Florida]]
* End of the [[First British Empire]]
* Beginning of the [[Age of Revolution]]
* World's first [[federal republic]] founded on the [[consent of the governed]]
* First permanently successful overthrow of monarchical colonial rule
}}
{{American Revolution sidebar}}
{{Periods in US history}}
{{Revolution sidebar|expanded=History}}
The '''American Revolution''' (1765–1789) was a [[political movement]] in the [[Thirteen Colonies]] of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]. It began as a [[rebellion]] and turned into a [[revolution]] eventually creating the sovereign [[United States]], which was the outcome of the associated [[American Revolutionary War]] (1775–1783). The [[Second Continental Congress]], as the [[provisional government]], established the [[Continental Army]] and appointed [[George Washington]] as its [[Commanding General of the United States Army|commander-in-chief]] in 1775. The following year, the Congress passed the [[Lee Resolution]] on July 2nd and unanimously adopted the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] on [[Fourth of July|July 4th]]. Throughout most of the war, the outcome appeared uncertain, but a 1781 victory by Washington and the Continental Army in the [[Siege of Yorktown]] led [[George III|King George III]] and the [[Fox–North coalition]] in government to negotiate the cessation of [[British colonization of the Americas|colonial rule]] and the acknowledgment of American sovereignty, which was formalized in the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]], signed on September 3, 1783. The [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] took effect in 1789 and the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] was [[Ratification|ratified]] in 1791.
Discontent with colonial rule began shortly after the [[French and Indian War]], which ended in 1763. Although the colonies had fought and supported the war directly, the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]] imposed new [[Tax|taxes]] to compensate for wartime costs and transferred control of the colonies' western lands to British officials in [[Montreal]]. Representatives from several colonies convened in [[New York City]] for the [[Stamp Act Congress]] in 1765. Its [[Declaration of Rights and Grievances|declaration]] argued that [[taxation without representation]] and other policies violated their [[Rights of Englishmen|rights as Englishmen]]. In 1767, though the [[Stamp act|Stamp Act]] was repealed, tensions increased again following Parliament's passing of the [[Townshend Acts]]. In an effort to quell the mounting rebellion, King George III deployed [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British troops]] to the colony of [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]], where there was a conflict in the 1770 [[Boston Massacre]]. In December 1773, the local faction of the [[Sons of Liberty]] orchestrated the [[Boston Tea Party]], during which they dumped chests of taxed tea owned by the British [[East India Company]] into the [[Boston Harbor]]. Parliament responded by enacting a [[Intolerable Acts|series of punitive laws]], called the Intolerable Acts. These were intended to end self-government in Massachusetts but instead increased American support for revolution.
In 1774, 12 of the Thirteen Colonies sent [[Delegate (American politics)|delegates]] to the [[First Continental Congress]] (the [[Province of Georgia]] joined in 1775). The First Continental Congress began coordinating [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] resistance through [[Committees of Correspondence|underground networks of committees]] largely built on the foundations of the Sons of Liberty network. In August 1775, King George III [[Proclamation of Rebellion|proclaimed Massachusetts to be in rebellion]]. The British attempted to disarm the colonists, resulting in the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], starting the Revolutionary War. The [[Second Continental Congress]] convened in May of 1775 and created the Continental Army, which then [[Siege of Boston|surrounded Boston]], forcing the British to withdraw by sea in March 1776 and leaving Patriots in control in every colony. In May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of [[The Crown|Crown authority]] to be replaced by locally created authority, and each colony created a state constitution. On July 2, the Congress passed the [[Lee Resolution]], affirming their support for joint independence. On July 4, 1776, they unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming that "[[all men are created equal]]". After that, Congress began drafting the [[Articles of Confederation]], an effort to establish a multi-state self-governing coordinating body capable of negotiating international treaties and prosecuting the war.
The Revolutionary War continued for another five years, during which [[France in the American Revolutionary War|France eventually entered]]. On September 28, 1781, Washington commanded the Continental Army's capture of a British army under [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|General Cornwallis]] at the [[Siege of Yorktown]], leading to the collapse of King George's control of Parliament. Consensus in Parliament soon shifted to the war ending on American terms. On September 3, 1783, the British signed the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]], recognizing the sovereign independence of the United States, and ceding to the new nation nearly all the territory east of the [[Mississippi River]] and south of the [[Great Lakes]]. The United States became the first nation to establish a federal republic with a written constitution based on the principles of [[Natural law|universal natural rights]], [[consent of the governed]], and [[equality under the law]], although with significant democratic limitations compared to later evolution of the concept.
==Origins==
{{more citations needed section|date=September 2025}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of the American Revolution}}
{{further|Colonial history of the United States}}
{{also|List of 18th-century wars involving the Thirteen Colonies}}
After the [[Glorious Revolution]] in [[Kingdom of England|England]], the British adopted a policy of "[[salutary neglect]]," whereby the Thirteen Colonies were largely left to govern themselves.{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|p=30}} As a result of this new policy, as well as the ideals of [[liberty]] which had been borne out of the Glorious Revolution, there emerged new government systems (as exemplified by [[William Penn]]'s [[Frame of Government of Pennsylvania]] and the [[Massachusetts Charter|Massachusetts Charter of 1691]]); religious institutions (as exemplified by the democratic nature of [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational Protestantism]] in New England and the [[First Great Awakening]] across the colonies); and occasionally, [[Abolitionism in the United States#In Colonial America|attitudes towards slavery]] (as [[History of slavery in Massachusetts#Law 1641–1703|exemplified by Massachusetts]] and, [[Georgia Experiment|at least initially, Georgia]] banning the practice), although the latter of these was less common. This British policy reverted significantly after the [[French and Indian War]]. The British political establishment, especially after taking massive swathes of land from the former territories of [[New France]], pursued a policy of greater control over colonial affairs, prompting the Thirteen Colonies to seek restoration of greater autonomy from Britain.[{{cite book |last1=Ellis |first1=Joseph J. |title=The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783 |date=2021 |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |location=New York |page=4}}] One Patriot, Capt. Levi Preston of [[Danvers, Massachusetts]], was asked why the Americans rebelled against England, and he responded: "...we always had governed ourselves, and we always meant to. They didn't mean we should."[Fischer, David Hackett. ''Paul Revere's Ride,'' 163–4, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1994.{{ISBN|0-19-508847-6}}.]
===1651–1763: Evolution of colonial policy===
{{Further|Colonial history of the United States}}
==== Development of colonial self-government ====
{{more|Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies}}
[[File:Map of territorial growth 1775.svg|thumb|A 1775 map of Eastern North America, including the [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Province of Quebec]], the [[Thirteen Colonies]] on the Atlantic Coast, and the [[Indian Reserve (1763)|Indian Reserve]] as defined by the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]]. The border between the red and pink areas represents the 1763 [[Proclamation line]], and the orange area represents [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonial claims]].]]
The [[Thirteen Colonies]] were established in the 17th century as part of the [[English Empire]] and became parts of the [[British Empire]] after the [[union of England and Scotland]] in 1707.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|p=17}}
The development of a unique American identity can be traced to the [[English overseas possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms|English Civil War]] (1642–1651) and its aftermath. In that period the [[History of the Puritans in North America|Puritan colonies]] of [[New England Colonies|New England]] supported the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]] government responsible for the [[execution of King Charles I]]. After the [[Stuart Restoration]] of 1660, [[Massachusetts Bay Colony|Massachusetts]] did not recognize [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] as the legitimate king for more than a year after his [[Coronation of the British monarch|coronation]].[{{Cite book|title=A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle Against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire|last=Weimer|first=Adrian Chastain|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2023|isbn=978-1-5128-2397-4|location=Philadelphia, PA|pages=70–71|chapter=Courts: Articulating Sedition and Loyalty}}] In [[King Philip's War]] (1675–1678), the New England colonies fought a coalition of a few [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes without military assistance from England, thereby contributing to the development of a uniquely American identity separate from that of the [[British people]].{{Sfn|Lepore|1999|pp=5–7}}
In the 1680s, Charles and his brother, [[James II of England|James II]], attempted to bring New England under direct English control.{{Sfn|Nettels|1938|p=297}} The colonists fiercely opposed this, and [[the Crown]] nullified their [[Colonial charters in the Thirteen Colonies|colonial charters]] in response.{{Sfn|Lovejoy|1987|pp=148–156, 155–157, 169–170}} In 1686, James finalized these efforts by consolidating the separate New England colonies along with [[Province of New York|New York]] and [[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]] into the [[Dominion of New England]]. [[Edmund Andros]] was appointed royal governor and tasked with governing the new Dominion under his [[direct rule]]. Colonial assemblies and [[town meeting]]s were restricted, new local taxes were levied, and rights were abridged. Dominion rule triggered bitter resentment throughout New England.{{Sfn|Barnes|1960|pp=169–170}} When James tried to rule without [[Parliament of England|Parliament]], the English aristocracy removed him from power in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|p=12}} This was followed by the [[1689 Boston revolt]], which overthrew Dominion rule.{{Sfn|Webb|1998|pp=190–191}}{{Sfn|Lustig|2002|p=201}} Colonial governments reasserted their control after the revolt. The new monarchs, [[William III of England|William]] and [[Mary II of England|Mary]], granted new charters to the individual New England colonies.{{Sfn|Palfrey|1864|p=596}}{{Sfn|Evans|1922|p=430}}
After the Glorious Revolution, the British Empire became a [[constitutional monarchy]] with sovereignty in the [[King-in-Parliament]]. [[Aristocrat]]s inherited seats in the [[House of Lords]], while the [[gentry]] and merchants controlled the elected [[House of Commons of Great Britain|House of Commons]]. The king ruled through [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|cabinet ministers]] who depended on majority support in the Commons to govern effectively. British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic proudly claimed that the unwritten [[British constitution]], with its guarantees of the [[rights of Englishmen]], protected personal liberty better than any other government.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|pp=12–13 & 32}}
The British constitution served as the model for [[Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies|colonial governments]]. The Crown appointed a [[Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies#Governor|royal governor]] in each colony to exercise [[Executive (government)|executive]] power, usually also appointing a [[Colonial_government_in_the_Thirteen_Colonies#Governor's_Council|Governor's Council]] largely to act as an unelected [[Upper house|upper chamber]] of the legislature.{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|p=46}} [[Property qualification|Property owners]] elected a colonial assembly amongst themselves with powers to legislate and levy taxes, but the British government reserved the right to [[veto]] colonial legislation.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|pp=12–13}}
The British government lacked the resources and information necessary for close supervision of the colonies. Instead, British officials negotiated and compromised with colonial leaders to gain compliance with imperial policies. The colonies defended themselves with [[Colonial American military history|provincial troops and colonial militias]] of locals, and the British government rarely sent military forces to America before 1755.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|pp=31–32}} According to historian [[Robert Middlekauff]], "Americans had become almost completely self-governing" before the American Revolution, a practice that was consistent with the British monarchy's practice of [[salutary neglect]].{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|p=30}}
====Mercantilism====
{{main|Mercantilism}}
With little industry except shipbuilding, the colonies exported agricultural products in return for manufactured goods. They also imported molasses, rum, and sugar from the [[British West Indies]]. In 1651, Parliament passed the first in a series of [[Navigation Acts]], which restricted colonial trade with foreign countries.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|pp=19 & 23}} The British government pursued this policy of [[mercantilism]] in order to grow its economic and political power. According to mercantilism, the colonies existed for the [[Homeland#Motherland|mother country]]'s economic benefit, and the colonists' economic needs were largely inconsequential.{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|p=28}} The Thirteen Colonies could trade with the rest of the empire but only ship certain commodities like tobacco to Britain. Any European imports bound for British America had to first pass through an English port and pay customs duties.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|p=23}} Other laws regulated the developing colonial industries to prevent competition with industries in Britain, such as the [[Wool Act 1698]], the [[Hat Act 1731]], and the [[Iron Act 1750]].[{{cite book |author=John A. Garraty |url=http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/uhs/WebSite/Courses/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Garraty%20Short%20History%20Chapters%201-18/chapter_threei.htm |title=A Short History of the American Nation |author2=Mark C. Carnes |publisher=Longman |year=2000 |isbn=0-321-07098-4 |edition=8th |chapter=Chapter Three: America in the British Empire |chapter-url=http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/uhs/WebSite/Courses/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Garraty%20Short%20History%20Chapters%201-18/chapter_threei.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517130635/http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/uhs/WebSite/Courses/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Garraty%20Short%20History%20Chapters%201-18/chapter_threei.htm |archive-date=May 17, 2008 }}][Max Savelle, [[iarchive:empirestonations00maxs/page/93|Empires to Nations: Expansion in America, 1713–1824]], p. 93 (1974)]
Colonial reactions to these policies were mixed. The [[Molasses Act 1733]], for example, placed a duty of six [[History of the British penny (1714–1901)|pence]] per gallon upon foreign molasses imported into the colonies. This act was particularly egregious to the New England colonists, who protested it as unconstitutional taxation without representation in the British parliament. The act increased the smuggling of foreign molasses, and the British government ceased enforcement efforts after the 1740s.{{Sfn|Miller|1943|pp=98–99}}
On the other hand, certain merchants and local industries benefited from the restrictions on foreign competition. The limits on foreign-built ships greatly benefited the colonial shipbuilding industry, particularly in New England.{{Sfn|Thomas|1964|p=632}} Some argue that the economic impact was minimal on the colonists,{{Sfn|Whaples|1995|p=140}}{{Sfn|Thomas|1964}} but the political friction that the acts triggered was more serious, as the merchants most directly affected were also the most politically active.{{Sfn|Walton|1971}}
====British military presence after 1754====
During the [[French and Indian War]] (1754–1763), the British government fielded 45,000 soldiers, half [[British Regulars]] and half [[Provincial troops in the French and Indian Wars|colonial volunteers]]. The colonies also contributed funds and materiel to the war effort; though, two-fifths of this spending was reimbursed by the British government. Great Britain defeated France and acquired [[New France|that nation's territory]] east of the Mississippi River.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|pp=45 & 47}}
In order to allow approximately 1,500 [[Social background of officers and other ranks in the British Army, 1750–1815|politically well-connected British Army officers]] to remain on active duty in America with full pay after the war, the [[Bute ministry]] decided in early 1763 to permanently garrison 10,000 soldiers in North America.{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|p=55}}{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|p=51}} Due to long-established [[English resistance to a standing army]], stationing these officers in Great Britain during peacetime was a politically unacceptable alternative.[Shy, ''Toward Lexington'' pp. 73–78] The excuse made for a standing army in America was defense against French troops stationed in the West Indies,[Dull, Jonathan. ''The Miracle of the American Revolution''. Potomac Books, 2015, 42] and foreign populations in newly acquired territories (the French in [[History of Canada (1763–1867)|Canada]] and the Spanish in [[British Florida|Florida]]). In addition, British soldiers were supposed to help collect customs duties and prevent colonists from instigating conflict with Native Americans.{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|pp=55–56}}
Instead, increased British migration beyond the [[Appalachian Mountains]] and Native American anger over the policies of General [[Jeffery Amherst]] caused [[Pontiac's War]] (1763–1766).[Dull, ''The Miracle of the American Revolution'', 42] In response, the [[Grenville ministry]] issued the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]], designating the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River an [[Indian Reserve (1763)|Indian Reserve]] closed to colonial settlement. The Proclamation angered settlers, fur traders, and land speculators; however, it failed to stop westward migration.{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|p=60}}
===1764–1766: Sugar Act and Stamp Act Crisis leads to organized resistance===
{{Main|Sugar Act|Currency Act|Quartering Acts|Stamp Act 1765|Declaratory Act}}
{{Further|No taxation without representation|Virtual representation}}
[[File:Parliament Stamp Act1765.jpg|thumb|Notice of the [[Stamp Act 1765]] in a [[Early American publishers and printers|colonial newspaper]]]]
According to historian Middlekauff, "the need for money played a part in every important decision made by Prime Minister [[George Grenville]] regarding the colonies—and for that matter by the ministries that followed up to 1776."{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|pp=60–61}} The national debt had grown to £133 million with annual debt payments of £5 million (out of an £8 million annual budget). Stationing troops in North America on a permanent basis would cost another £360,000 a year. On a [[per capita]] basis, Grenville claimed Americans paid 1 [[Shilling (British coin)|shilling]] in taxes directly to the empire (not including local taxes) compared to 26 shillings paid by the English.{{Sfn|Taylor|2016|p=51}} The enslaved, a near majority of the population in some colonies, did not pay any taxes and therefore skewed this comparison.
On March 9, 1764, Grenville proposed the [[Sugar Act]], which was enacted by Parliament in April. It lowered the duty on foreign molasses from 6 pence to 3 pence per gallon. The [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] believed it would generate £78,000. To ensure this money could be collected, the act strengthened efforts against smuggling. Customs officials could choose whether to prosecute violators in colonial courts or [[vice admiralty court]]s. Unlike colonial courts where there was a [[presumption of innocence]] and cases were decided by local juries who frequently acquitted accused smugglers, vice admiralty courts operated on a [[presumption of guilt]] and cases were decided by Crown-appointed judges. On the same day he introduced the Sugar Act in Parliament, Grenville stated it might be necessary to levy [[Stamp duty in the United Kingdom|stamp duties]] on the colonies to raise additional revenue, but he delayed action to give the colonies time to propose another way to raise the revenue.{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|pp=62, 65 & 74}}
Parliament passed the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]] in March 1765, which imposed [[direct taxes]] on the colonies for the first time. All official documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets were required to have the stamps—even decks of playing cards. The colonists did not object that the taxes were high; they were actually low.{{efn|[[Lord North]] claimed that Englishmen paid an average 25 shillings annually in taxes, whereas Americans paid only sixpence.[Miller, ''Origins of the American Revolution'' (1943) p. 89]}}[Middlekauff p. 62] They argued that the colonies were legally [[Chartered company|British corporations]] subordinate to the British Parliament.[Lecky, William Edward Hartpole, [https://archive.org/stream/historyofengland03leck#page/297/mode/1up A History of England in the Eighteenth Century] (1882) pp. 297–298] Parliament insisted that the colonists effectively enjoyed a "[[virtual representation]]", as most British people did, since only a small minority of the British population were eligible to elect representatives to Parliament.[Lecky, William Edward Hartpole, [https://archive.org/stream/historyofengland03leck#page/173/mode/1up A History of England in the Eighteenth Century] (1882) p. 173] However, Americans such as [[James Otis, Jr.|James Otis]] maintained that there was no one in Parliament responsible specifically to any colonial constituency, so they were not "virtually represented" by anyone in Parliament.[{{cite book|author=Bryan-Paul Frost and Jeffrey Sikkenga|title=History of American Political Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w81L1qAhNjoC&pg=PA55|year=2003|publisher=Lexington Books|pages=55–56|isbn=978-0-7391-0624-2}}]
The [[First Rockingham ministry|Rockingham government]] came to power in July 1765, and Parliament debated whether to repeal the stamp tax or to send an army to enforce it. Benjamin Franklin appeared before them to make the case for repeal, explaining that the colonies had spent heavily in manpower, money, and blood defending the empire, and that further taxes to pay for those wars were unjust and might bring about a rebellion. Parliament agreed and repealed the tax on February 21, 1766, but they insisted in the [[Declaratory Act]] of March 1766 that they retained full power to make laws for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever".[{{cite book|author=Miller|title=Origins of the American Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/originsamericanrevolutionmiller|year=1966|orig-date=1959|pages=181–|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-0593-6}}][Thomas P. Slaughter, "The Tax Man Cometh: Ideological Opposition to Internal Taxes, 1760–1790". ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1984). 41 (4): 566–591. {{doi|10.2307/1919154}}] The repeal nonetheless caused widespread celebrations in the colonies.
===1767–1773: Townshend Acts, Tea Act and the escalation of violence===
{{Main|Townshend Acts|Tea Act}}
{{Further|Crisis of 1772|Massachusetts Circular Letter|Boston Massacre|Boston Tea Party}}
[[File:Dickinson's Letter III in The Pennsylvania Chronicle.jpg|thumb|Letter III of [[John Dickinson]]'s ''[[Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania]]'', published in the ''[[Pennsylvania Chronicle]]'', December 1767]]In 1767, the British Parliament passed the [[Townshend Acts]], which placed duties on several staple goods, including paper, glass, and tea, and established a [[HM Customs|Board of Customs]] in Boston to more rigorously execute trade regulations. The new taxes were enacted on the belief that Americans only objected to internal taxes and not to external taxes such as custom duties. [[John Dickinson]] however, in his widely read pamphlet ''[[Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania]]'', argued against the constitutionality of the acts because their purpose was to raise revenue and not to regulate trade.[Melvin I. Urofsky and Paul Finkelman, ''A March of Liberty: A Constitutional History of the United States'' (Oxford UP, 2002) v. 1 p. 52.] Colonists responded to the taxes by organizing new boycotts of British goods. These boycotts were less effective, however, as the goods taxed by the Townshend Acts were widely used.
In February 1768, the Assembly of [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] issued [[Massachusetts Circular Letter|a circular letter]] to the other colonies urging them to coordinate resistance. The governor dissolved the assembly when it refused to rescind the letter. In June 1768 a riot broke out in Boston over the seizure of the sloop ''Liberty'', owned by [[John Hancock]], for alleged smuggling. Customs officials were forced to flee, prompting the British to deploy troops to Boston. A Boston town meeting declared that no obedience was due to parliamentary laws and called for the convening of a convention. A convention assembled but only issued a mild protest before dissolving itself. In January 1769, Parliament responded to the unrest by reactivating the [[Treason Act 1543]] which called for subjects outside the realm to face trials for treason in England. The governor of Massachusetts was instructed to collect evidence of said treason, and the threat caused widespread outrage, though it was not carried out.{{Citation needed|date=July 2026}}
On March 5, 1770, a large crowd gathered around a group of British soldiers on a Boston street. The crowd grew threatening, throwing snowballs, rocks, and debris at them. One soldier was clubbed and fell.[Hiller B. Zobel, ''The Boston Massacre'' (1996)] There was no order to fire, but the soldiers panicked and fired into the crowd. They hit 11 people; three civilians died of wounds at the scene of the shooting, and two died shortly after. The event quickly came to be called the [[Boston Massacre]]. The soldiers were tried and acquitted (defended by American patriot [[John Adams]]), but the widespread descriptions soon began to turn colonial sentiment against the British. This accelerated the downward spiral in the relationship between Britain and the province of Massachusetts, and other colonies were becoming increasingly empathetic.[{{Cite book |last=Whiteley |first=Peter |title=Lord North: The Prime Minister Who Lost America |date=1 July 1996 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-8264-3493-7 |language=en}}] and Parliament repealed most of the Townshend duties, except the tax on tea.[{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Mark |first=Harrison W. |date=30 November 2023 |title=Intolerable Acts |encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Intolerable_Acts/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250718183303/https://www.worldhistory.org/Intolerable_Acts/ |archive-date=2025-07-18 |access-date=2025-07-18}}] This temporarily resolved the crisis, and the boycott of British goods largely ceased, with only the more radical patriots such as [[Samuel Adams]] continuing to agitate.[{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=John Kurt |title=Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2002 |isbn=0-7425-2115-X |location=Lanham, Maryland |page=249}}][{{Cite book |last1=Fowler |first1=William M. |title=Samuel Adams: Radical Puritan |last2=Fowler |first2=Lillian M. |date=January 1, 1997 |publisher=Longman |isbn=0-673-99293-4 |edition=Handlin, Oscar |location=New York |page=190}}]
[[File:Destruction of the schooner Gaspé in the waters of Rhode Island 1772 (NYPL b12349146-422875) (cropped).jpg|thumb|On June 9, 1772, the [[Sons of Liberty]] [[Gaspee Affair|burned HMS ''Gaspee'']], a British customs schooner in [[Narragansett Bay]].]]
In June 1772, American patriots, including [[John Brown (Rhode Island politician)|John Brown]], burned a British warship that had been vigorously enforcing unpopular trade regulations, in what became known as the [[Gaspee Affair|''Gaspee'' Affair]]. The affair was investigated for possible treason, but no action was taken.{{Citation needed|date=July 2026}}
In 1773, [[Hutchinson letters affair|private letters were published]] in which Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson claimed that the colonists could not enjoy all English liberties, and in which Lieutenant Governor [[Andrew Oliver]] called for the direct payment of colonial officials, which had been paid by local authorities. This would have reduced the influence of colonial representatives over their government. The letters' contents were used as evidence of a systematic plot against American rights, and discredited Hutchinson in the eyes of the people; the colonial Assembly petitioned for his recall. Benjamin Franklin, [[postmaster general]] for the colonies, acknowledged that he leaked the letters, which led to him being removed from his position.{{Citation needed|date=July 2026}}
From Boston Samuel Adams set about creating new [[Committees of Correspondence]], built largely on the foundations of the underground Sons of Liberty network, linking Patriots in all 13 colonies and eventually providing the framework for a [[provisional government]]. Virginia, the largest colony, set up its Committee of Correspondence in early 1773, on which Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson served.[Greene and Pole (1994) chapters 22–24] A total of about 7,000 to 8,000 Patriots served on these Committees; Loyalists were excluded. The committees became the leaders of the American resistance to British actions, and later largely determined the war effort at the state and local level. When the [[Continental Association|First Continental Congress resolved to boycott British products]], the colonial and local Committees took charge, examining merchant records and publishing the names of merchants who attempted to defy the boycott by importing British goods.[Mary Beth Norton et al., ''A People and a Nation'' (6th ed. 2001) vol 1 pp. 144–145
]
[[File:Boston Tea Party w.jpg|thumb|The December 16, 1773 [[Boston Tea Party]], led by [[Samuel Adams]] and [[Sons of Liberty]], has become a mainstay of American patriotic lore.]]Meanwhile, Parliament passed the [[Tea Act]] lowering the price of taxed tea exported to the colonies, to help the British [[East India Company]] undersell smuggled untaxed Dutch tea. Special consignees were appointed to sell the tea to bypass colonial merchants. The act was opposed by those who resisted the taxes and also by smugglers who stood to lose business.[{{Cite book |last=Ketchum |first=Richard |title=Divided Loyalties: How the American Revolution came to New York |date=2002-10-14 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co. |isbn=0-8050-6120-7}}][{{Cite book |last=Unger |first=Harlow Giles |title=Unger, Harlow, John Hancock, Merchant King and American Patriot |date=2000-09-01 |publisher=Wiley & Sons |isbn=0-7858-2026-4 |location=Somerset, New Jersey}}] In every colony demonstrators warned merchants not to bring in tea that included the hated new tax. In most instances, the consignees were forced by the Americans to resign and the tea was turned back, but Massachusetts governor Hutchinson refused to allow Boston merchants to give in to pressure.
A town meeting in Boston determined that the tea would not be landed, and ignored a demand from the governor to disperse. On December 16, 1773, a group of men, led by Samuel Adams and dressed to evoke the appearance of Indigenous people, boarded the ships of the East India Company and dumped £10,000 worth of tea from their holds (approximately £636,000 in 2008) into [[Boston Harbor]]. Decades later, this event became known as the [[Boston Tea Party]] and remains a significant part of American patriotic lore.[{{cite book |last=Carp |first=B.L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=upd6d3UDfTgC |title=Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-300-16845-7 |pages=1–3 |access-date=May 29, 2023}}]
===1774–1775: Intolerable Acts and the unifying First Continental Congress ===
{{Main|Intolerable Acts|First Continental Congress}}
{{Further|Quebec Act|Continental Association}}
[[File:The able doctor, or America swallowing the bitter draught (NYPL Hades-248165-425086) (cropped).jpg|thumb|A 1774 illustration from ''[[The London Magazine]]'' depicts [[Frederick North, Lord North|Prime Minister Lord North]], author of the [[Boston Port Act]], pouring tea from a teapot labelled "[[Intolerable Acts]]" down the throat of [[Personification of the Americas|America]], whose arms are restrained by [[William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield|Lord Chief Justice Mansfield]] with a tattered "Boston Petition" trampled on the ground beside her. [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|Lord Sandwich]] pins down her feet and peers up her robes; behind them, [[Britannia|Mother Britannia]] turns away and weeps while [[National personification|personifications]] of France and Spain look on with smug expressions.]]
The British government responded by passing four laws that came to be known as the [[Intolerable Acts]], further darkening colonial opinion towards England.[Miller (1943) pp. 353–376] The first was the [[Massachusetts Government Act]] which altered the Massachusetts charter and restricted town meetings. The second was the [[Administration of Justice Act 1774|Administration of Justice Act]] which ordered that all British soldiers to be tried were to be arraigned in Britain, not in the colonies. The third was the [[Boston Port Act]], which closed the [[port of Boston]] until the British had been compensated for the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party. The fourth was the [[Quartering Acts|Quartering Act of 1774]], which allowed royal governors to house British troops in the homes of citizens without permission of the owner.[Carp, ''Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America'' (2010) ch 9]
In response, "Starting in August 1774, each time a court was slated to meet in some Massachusetts town, great numbers of angry citizens made sure it did not".[{{Harv|Raphael|2002}}] The next month Patriots issued the [[Suffolk Resolves]] and formed an alternative [[shadow cabinet]] known as the [[Massachusetts Provincial Congress]], which began training militia outside British-occupied Boston.[{{cite book|author=John K. Alexander|title=Samuel Adams: The Life of an American Revolutionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKxy6CQT3zUC&pg=PA187|year=2011|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|pages=187–194|isbn=978-0-7425-7035-1}}] In September 1774, the [[First Continental Congress]] convened in Pennsylvania, consisting of representatives from each colony, to serve as a vehicle for deliberation and collective action. During secret debates, conservative [[Joseph Galloway]] proposed the [[Galloway's Plan of Union|creation of a colonial Parliament]] that would be able to approve or disapprove acts of the British Parliament, but his idea was tabled in a vote of 6 to 5 and was subsequently removed from the record. [[Continental Association|Congress called for a boycott]] beginning on December 1, 1774, of all British goods; it was enforced by [[Committee of safety (American Revolution)|new local committees]] authorized by the Congress that were largely built upon the earlier Committees of Correspondence.[{{cite book|author=Mary Beth Norton|title=A People and a Nation: A History of the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eT-HM6ruYTwC&pg=PA143|year=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|page=143|display-authors=etal|isbn=978-0-495-91525-6}}
] It also began coordinating Patriot resistance by militias in each colony, including many veterans who had gained military experience in the French and Indian War. For the first time, the Patriots were armed and unified against Parliament.
==Military hostilities begin==
{{Main|American Revolutionary War}}
{{Further|Shot heard round the world|Boston campaign|Invasion of Quebec (1775)}}
King [[George III]] declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion in February 1775[Cogliano, Francis D. Revolutionary America, 1763–1815: A Political History. Routledge, 1999, p. 47.] and the British garrison received orders to seize the rebels' weapons and arrest their leaders, resulting in the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]] on April 19, 1775. The Patriots assembled a militia 15,000 strong and [[Siege of Boston|laid siege to Boston]], occupied by 6500 British soldiers. The [[Second Continental Congress]] convened in Philadelphia on June 14, 1775. The congress was divided on the best course of action. They authorized formation of the [[Continental Army]], appointing George Washington as its commander-in-chief, while producing the [[Olive Branch Petition]] in which they attempted to come to an accord with King George. The king, however, would issue a [[Proclamation of Rebellion]] in August which declared that all the states were "in rebellion" and the members of Congress were traitors. Meanwhile, the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]] on June 17, 1775 was a British victory—but at a great cost: about 1,000 British casualties from a garrison of about 6,000, as compared to 500 American casualties from a much larger force.[Harvey. ''"A few bloody noses"'' (2002) pp. 208–210][Urban p. 74]
As [[Benjamin Franklin]] wrote to [[Joseph Priestley]] in October 1775: {{blockquote|Britain, at the expense of three millions, has killed 150 Yankees this campaign, which is £20,000 a head ... During the same time, 60,000 children have been born in America. From these data his mathematical head will easily calculate the time and expense necessary to kill us all.[{{cite book|title=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|date=2003|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-80761-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa_0/page/303 303]|url=https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00isaa_0/page/303}}]}}
In the winter of 1775, the Americans [[Invasion of Quebec (1775)|invaded northeastern Quebec]] under generals [[Benedict Arnold]] and [[Richard Montgomery]].[[[Invasion of Quebec (1775)#KingsfordV|Kingsford (vol 5)]], p. 391] The attack was a failure; many Americans were killed, captured, or died of smallpox.[[[Invasion of Quebec (1775)#Lanctot|Lanctot]]]
==From rebellion to revolution==
Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, the Patriots had control of Massachusetts outside Boston's city limits, and the Loyalists suddenly found themselves on the defensive with no protection from the British army. In each of the Thirteen Colonies, American patriots overthrew their existing governments, closed courts, and drove out British colonial officials. They held elected conventions and established [[Provincial Congress|their own legislatures]], which existed outside any legal parameters established by the British. New constitutions were drawn up in each state to supersede royal charters. They proclaimed that they were now ''[[Sovereign state|states]]'', no longer ''[[Colony|colonies]]''.[Nevins (1927); Greene and Pole (1991) chapter 29]
===Creating new state constitutions===
{{Main|State constitution (United States)}}
[[File:Samuel Adams by John Singleton Copley.jpg|thumb|[[Samuel Adams]] points at the [[Explanatory charter|Massachusetts Charter]], which he viewed as a constitution that protected the people's rights, in this {{circa|1772}} portrait by [[John Singleton Copley]].[Alexander, ''Revolutionary Politician'', 103, 136; Maier, ''Old Revolutionaries'', 41–42.]]]
On January 5, 1776, [[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]] ratified the first state constitution. In May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of Crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. [[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]], [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]], and [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]] created their constitutions before July 4. [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]] and [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]] simply took their existing [[royal charter]]s and deleted all references to the Crown.[Nevins (1927)] The new states were all committed to republicanism, with no inherited offices. On May 26, 1776, John Adams wrote [[James Sullivan (governor)|James Sullivan]] from Philadelphia, warning against extending [[the franchise]] too far:
{{blockquote|Depend upon it, sir, it is dangerous to open so fruitful a source of controversy and altercation, as would be opened by attempting to alter the qualifications of voters. There will be no end of it. New claims will arise. Women will demand a vote. Lads from twelve to twenty one will think their rights not enough attended to, and every man, who has not a farthing, will demand an equal voice with any other in all acts of state. It tends to confound and destroy all distinctions, and prostrate all ranks, to one common level[.][''Founding the Republic: A Documentary History'', edited by John J. Patrick][''Reason, Religion, and Democracy'', Dennis C. Muelle. p. 206]}}
The resulting constitutions in states, including those of [[Constitution of Delaware|Delaware]], [[Constitution of Maryland|Maryland]], [[Constitution of Massachusetts|Massachusetts]], [[Constitution of New York|New York]], and [[Constitution of Virginia|Virginia]]{{Efn|Massachusetts' constitution is still in force in the 21st century, continuously since its ratification on June 15, 1780}} featured:
* Property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lowered property qualifications)[Wood, ''The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' (1992)]
===Declaration of Independence===
{{Main|Committee of Five|Lee Resolution|United States Declaration of Independence}}
In March 1776, aided by the [[fortification of Dorchester Heights]] with cannons recently [[Capture of Fort Ticonderoga|captured at Fort Ticonderoga]], the Continental Army led by George Washington forced the British to [[Evacuation Day (Massachusetts)|evacuate Boston]]. The revolutionaries now fully controlled all thirteen states and ready to declare joint independence. There still were many Loyalists, but they were no longer in control anywhere by July 1776, and all of the royal officials had fled.[Miller (1948) p. 87]
In April 1776, the [[North Carolina Provincial Congress]] issued the [[Halifax Resolves]] explicitly authorizing its delegates to vote for independence.[Jensen, ''The Founding of a Nation'' (1968) pp. 678–679] By June, nine state legislatures supported independence from Britain, and Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New York followed. [[Richard Henry Lee]] was instructed by the Virginia legislature to propose independence, and he did so on June 7, 1776.
[[File:William Walcutt statue George III.png|thumb|350px|''Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C.'', depicting American patriots tearing down a statue of King [[George III]] in New York City on July 9, 1776, immediately after Commander-in-Chief George Washington had the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] read aloud to the Continental Army and the public on the [[City Hall Park|city's common green]] five days after it was issued in Philadelphia.]]
Gathered at Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, later renamed [[Independence Hall]], 56 of the nation's [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] representing the [[United Colonies]] adopted and issued to King [[George III]] the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. It had been drafted largely by [[Thomas Jefferson]], and was edited and presented by the [[Committee of Five]] which was charged with authoring it. The Congress struck several provisions of the Committee's draft, and then adopted it unanimously on July 4.[Maier, ''American Scripture'' (1997) pp. 41–46] The Declaration embodied [[Natural law|universal rights]] expressed through the political philosophies of [[Liberalism in the United States|liberalism]] and [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]], rejected [[monarchy]] and [[aristocracy]], and famously proclaimed that "[[all men are created equal]]". What had begun as a rebellion demanding the rights of Englishmen had now evolved into a revolution to overthrow and replace the political and social order in America based on universal rights.
===“Perpetual Union”===
{{main|Articles of Confederation}}
With the new state constitutions and the issuance of the Declaration of Independence, each former colony began operating as an independent and sovereign state. The next step was to form a [[Political union|union]] to facilitate international relations and alliances.[Armitage, David. ''The Declaration of Independence: A Global History''. Harvard University Press, London. 2007. "The Articles of Confederation safeguarded it for each of the thirteen states in Article II ("Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence"), but confined its international expression to Congress alone."][Tesesis, Alexander. ''Self-Government and the Declaration of Independence''. Cornell Law Review, Volume 97 Issue 4. May 2012. ''(applying the Declaration in the context of state sovereignty while dealing with personal liberty laws, noting that "after the declaration of independence in 1776, each state, at least before the confederation, was a sovereign, independent body")''.]
On November 5, 1777, the Congress approved the [[Articles of Confederation|Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union]] and sent it to each state for ratification. The Congress immediately began operating under the Articles' terms, providing a structure of [[Confederation|shared sovereignty]] during prosecution of the Revolutionary War. The Articles were fully ratified on March 1, 1781. At that point, the Continental Congress was dissolved and a new government of the [[Congress of the Confederation|United States in Congress Assembled]] took its place the following day, with [[Samuel Huntington (statesman)|Samuel Huntington]] leading the Congress as presiding officer.[Greene and Pole (1991) chapter 30][Klos, ''President Who? Forgotten Founders'' (2004)] It remained a [[unicameral]] body, where each state retained one vote.
==Defending the revolution==
{{Main|American Revolutionary War}}
===British return: 1776–1777===
{{Further|Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War|New York and New Jersey campaign|Staten Island Peace Conference|Saratoga campaign|Philadelphia campaign}}
[[File:The British fleet in the lower bay 1876.jpg|left|thumb|The British fleet amassed off [[Staten Island]] in [[New York Harbor]] in the summer of 1776, as depicted in ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' in 1876]]
According to British historian [[Jeremy Black (historian)|Jeremy Black]], the British had significant advantages, including a highly trained army, the world's largest navy, and an efficient system of public finance that could easily fund the war. However, they seriously misunderstood the depth of support for the American Patriot position, misinterpreting the situation as merely a large-scale riot. The British government believed that they could overawe the Americans by sending a large military and naval force:
{{blockquote|“Convinced that the Revolution was the work of a full few miscreants who had rallied an armed rabble to their cause, they expected that the revolutionaries would be intimidated .... Then the vast majority of Americans, who were loyal but cowed by the terroristic tactics ... would rise up, kick out the rebels, and restore loyal government in each colony.”[Jeremy Black, ''Crisis of Empire: Britain and America in the Eighteenth Century'' (2008) p. 140]}}
In the [[Siege of Boston]], Washington forced the British out of the city in the spring of 1776, and neither the British nor the Loyalists controlled any significant areas. The British, however, were amassing forces at their naval base at [[Halifax Regional Municipality|Halifax, Nova Scotia]]. They returned in force in July 1776, landing in New York and defeating Washington's Continental Army toe-to-toe in August at the [[Battle of Long Island|Battle of Brooklyn]], the largest battle of the war. Following that victory, and poised to take New York City, they requested a meeting with representatives from Congress to negotiate an end to hostilities.[Schecter, Barnet. ''The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution''. (2002)][McCullough, ''1776'' (2005)]
[[File:Us unabhaengigkeitskrieg.jpg|thumb|[[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessian]] troops hired out to the British by their German sovereigns]]
A delegation including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin met British admiral [[Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe|Richard Howe]] on [[Staten Island]] in [[New York Harbor]] on September 11 in what became known as the [[Staten Island Peace Conference]]. Howe demanded that the Americans retract the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], which they refused to do, and negotiations ended. The British then [[Battle of Kip's Bay|seized New York City]] and nearly captured Washington's army. They made the city their main political and military base of operations, holding the strategic harbor and port until [[Evacuation Day (New York)|November 1783]]. The city became the destination for Loyalist refugees and a focal point of Washington's [[Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War|intelligence network]].[Alan Valentine, ''Lord George Germain'' (1962) pp. 309–310] The dilemma was that tens of thousands of Loyalists were under American control and American retaliation would have been easy. The British built much of their strategy around using these Loyalists.[Larry G. Bowman, ''Captive Americans: Prisoners During the American Revolution'' (1976)] The British maltreated the prisoners whom they held, resulting in more American deaths in the prisons than all the American battlefield mortalities, combined.[John C. Miller, ''[https://archive.org/details/triumphoffreedommiller Triumph of Freedom, 1775–1783]'' (1948) p. 166.]
===American alliances after 1778===
{{Main|Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War}}
{{Further|France in the American Revolutionary War|Spain in the American Revolutionary War|Carlisle Peace Commission}}
{{See also|First League of Armed Neutrality}}
[[File:Conrad Alexandre Gérard portrait (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|[[Conrad Alexandre Gérard de Rayneval]], first French representative to the United States and signatory to the alliance treaties.]]
The capture of a British army at Saratoga encouraged the French to formally enter the war in support of Congress, and Benjamin Franklin negotiated a permanent military alliance in early 1778; France thus became the first foreign nation to officially recognize the Declaration of Independence. On February 6, 1778, the United States and France signed the [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (USA–France)|Treaty of Amity and Commerce]] and the [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|Treaty of Alliance]].[Hamilton, ''The Papers of Alexander Hamilton'' (1974) p. 28] [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]] spoke out in Parliament urging Britain to make peace with the Americans and to unite against France, while British politicians who had sympathized with colonial grievances now turned against the Americans for allying with Britain's rival and enemy.[Stanley Weintraub, ''Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783'' (2005) p. 151]
The Spanish and the Dutch became allies of the French in 1779 and 1780 respectively, forcing the British to fight a global war without major allies, and requiring it to slip through a combined blockade of the Atlantic. The Dutch Republic, also at war with Britain, was the next country after France to sign a treaty with the United States, on October 8, 1782.[Mackesy, ''The War for America'' (1993) p. 568] and the British chose to withdraw troops from America to reinforce the British colonies in the Caribbean, which were under threat of Spanish or French invasion. British commander Sir [[Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)|Henry Clinton]] evacuated Philadelphia and returned to New York City. Washington intercepted him in the [[Battle of Monmouth|Battle of Monmouth Court House]], the last major battle fought in the north. After an inconclusive engagement, the British retreated to New York City. The northern war subsequently became a stalemate, as the focus of attention shifted to the smaller southern theater.[Higginbotham, ''The War of American Independence'' (1983) p. 83]
The [[British Royal Navy]] blockaded ports and held New York City for the duration of the war, and other cities for brief periods, but failed in their effort to destroy Washington's forces. The British strategy now concentrated on a campaign in the [[Southern Colonies|southern states]]. Due to a lack of regular troops at their disposal compared to the Americans,{{what?|date=January 2026}} the British commanders saw the "southern strategy" as a more viable plan. They perceived the Southern Colonies as strongly Loyalist, with a large population of recent British immigrants, and large numbers of slaves who might be tempted to run away from their Patriot masters to join the British and gain their freedom.[Crow and Tise, ''The Southern Experience in the American Revolution'' (1978) pp. 157–159]
[[File:Cowpens.jpg|thumb|left|The Battle of Cowpens, depicting [[Battle of Cowpens|the 1781 battle in South Carolina]], painted by William Ranney in 1845.]]
Beginning in late December 1778, the British captured [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]] and controlled the [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]] coastline. In 1780, they launched a fresh invasion and [[Siege of Charleston|took Charleston]]. A significant victory at the [[Battle of Camden]] meant that royal forces soon controlled most of Georgia and South Carolina. The British set up a network of forts inland, hoping that the Loyalists would rally to the flag.[Henry Lumpkin, ''From Savannah to Yorktown: The American Revolution in the South'' (2000)] Not enough Loyalists turned out, however, and the British had to fight their way north into North Carolina and Virginia with a severely weakened army. Behind them, much of the territory that they had already captured dissolved into a chaotic [[guerrilla war]], fought predominantly between bands of Loyalists and American militia, which negated many of the gains that the British had previously made.[Brendan Morrissey, ''Yorktown 1781: The World Turned Upside Down'' (1997)] The fleet did arrive, but so did a larger French fleet. The French were victorious in the [[Battle of the Chesapeake]], and the British fleet returned to New York for reinforcements, leaving Cornwallis trapped. In October 1781, the British surrendered their second invading army of the war under a siege by the combined French and Continental armies commanded by Washington.[Harvey pp. 493–515]
===End of the war===
Washington did not know if or when the British might reopen hostilities after Yorktown. They still had 26,000 troops occupying New York City, Charleston, and Savannah, together with a powerful fleet. The French army and navy departed, so the Americans were on their own in 1782–83.[Jonathan R. Dull, ''The French Navy and American Independence'' (1975) p. 248] The American treasury was empty, and the unpaid soldiers were growing restive, almost to the point of mutiny or possible [[coup d'etat]]. Washington dispelled the unrest among officers of the [[Newburgh Conspiracy]] in 1783, and Congress subsequently created the promise of a five years bonus for all officers.[Richard H. Kohn, ''Eagle and Sword: The Federalists and the Creation of the Military Establishment in America, 1783–1802'' (1975) pp. 17–39]
Historians continue to debate whether the odds were long or short for American victory. [[John E. Ferling]] says that the odds were so long that the American victory was "almost a miracle".[John Ferling, ''Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence'' (2009)] On the other hand, [[Joseph Ellis]] says that the odds favored the Americans, and asks whether there ever was any realistic chance for the British to win. He argues that this opportunity came only once, in the summer of 1776, where Admiral Howe and his brother General Howe "missed several opportunities to destroy the Continental Army .... Chance, luck, and even the vagaries of the weather played crucial roles." Ellis's point is that the strategic and tactical decisions of the Howes were fatally flawed because they underestimated the challenges posed by the Patriots. Ellis concludes that, once the Howe brothers failed, the opportunity "would never come again" for a British victory.[{{cite book|author=Joseph J. Ellis|title=Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4RqZJzho1QC&pg=PR11|year=2013|publisher=Random House|page=11|isbn=978-0-307-70122-0}}]
Public support for the conflict had never been strong in Britain, where many sympathized with the Americans, but now it reached a new low.[Harvey p. 528] King George wanted to fight on, but his supporters lost control of Parliament and the British launched no further offensives in America on the eastern seaboard.[Martin I. J. Griffin, ''The Story of Commodore John Barry'' (2010) pp. 218–223]}}
==Paris peace treaty==
{{Main|Treaty of Paris (1783)}}
{{Further|Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War|Peace of Paris (1783)}}
[[File:Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West 1783.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Treaty of Paris (painting)|Treaty of Paris]]'' by [[Benjamin West]] portrays the American delegation about to sign the 1783 [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] ([[John Jay]], [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Henry Laurens]], [[William Temple Franklin|W. T. Franklin]]). The British delegation refused to pose and the painting was never completed.]]
During negotiations in Paris, the American delegation discovered that France supported American independence but no territorial gains, hoping to confine the new nation to the area east of the Appalachian Mountains. The Americans opened direct secret negotiations with London, cutting out the French. British Prime Minister [[William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne|Lord Shelburne]] was in charge of the British negotiations, and he saw a chance to make the United States a valuable economic partner, facilitating trade and investment opportunities.[Charles R. Ritcheson, "The Earl of Shelbourne and Peace with America, 1782–1783: Vision and Reality". ''International History Review'' 5#3 (1983): 322–345.] The US obtained all the land east of the Mississippi River, including [[Northwest Territory|southern Canada below the Great Lakes]], but Spain took control of Florida from the British. It gained fishing rights off Canadian coasts, and agreed to allow British merchants and Loyalists to recover their property. Prime Minister Shelburne foresaw highly profitable two-way trade between Britain and the rapidly growing United States, which did come to pass. The blockade was lifted and American merchants were free to trade with any nation anywhere in the world.[{{cite book|author=Jonathan R. Dull|title=A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W86WS9Z0ycYC&pg=PA144|year=1987|publisher=Yale up|pages=144–151|isbn=0-300-03886-0}}]
The British largely abandoned their Indigenous allies, who were not a party to this treaty and did not recognize it until they were defeated militarily by the United States. However, the British did sell them munitions and maintained forts in American territory until the [[Jay Treaty]] of 1795.[{{cite book|editor=William Deverell|title=A Companion to the American West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3q_0ZgquK4C&pg=PA17|year=2008|page=17|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4051-3848-2}}]
==Finance==
{{Main|Financial costs of the American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:Second Bank of the United States with Robert_Morris, Jr. statue, Philadelphia.jpg|thumb|[[Robert Morris (Bartlett)|Robert Morris statue]] honoring [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father]] and financier [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] at [[Independence National Historical Park]] in [[Philadelphia]]]]
[[File:Verso The United Colonies 5 dollars 1775 urn-3 HBS.Baker.AC 1142110.jpeg|alt=A five-dollar banknote issued by the Second Continental Congress in 1775.|thumb|A five dollar banknote issued by the [[Second Continental Congress]] in 1775]]
Britain's war against the Americans, the French, and the Spanish cost about £100 million. The Treasury borrowed 40 percent of the money that it needed.[Paul Kennedy, ''The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers'' (1987) pp. 81, 119] Britain had a sophisticated financial system based on the wealth of thousands of landowners who supported the government, together with banks and financiers in London. In London the British had relatively little difficulty financing their war, keeping their suppliers and soldiers paid, and hiring tens of thousands of German soldiers.[John Brewer, ''The sinews of power: war, money, and the English state, 1688–1783'' (1990) p. 91]
In sharp contrast, Congress and the American states had no end of difficulty financing the war.[Curtis P. Nettels, ''The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775–1815'' (1962) pp. 23–44] In 1775, there was at most 12 million dollars in gold in the colonies, not nearly enough to cover current transactions, let alone finance a major war. The British made the situation much worse by imposing a tight blockade on every American port, which cut off almost all trade. One partial solution was to rely on volunteer support from militiamen and donations from patriotic citizens.[Charles Rappleye, ''Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution'' (2010) pp. 225–252][Edwin J. Perkins, ''American public finance and financial services, 1700–1815'' (1994) pp. 85–106. [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=+%22war+of+1812%22+finance&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C27 Complete text line free]] Another was to delay actual payments, pay soldiers and suppliers in depreciated currency, and promise that it would be made good after the war. Indeed, the soldiers and officers were given land grants in 1783 to cover the wages that they had earned but had not been paid during the war.
Starting in 1776, the Congress sought to raise money by loans from wealthy individuals, promising to redeem the bonds after the war. The bonds were redeemed in 1791 at face value, but the scheme raised little money because Americans had little specie, and many of the richest merchants were supporters of the Crown. Beginning in 1777, Congress repeatedly asked the states to provide money, but it had no system of taxation to require funds, and the states were of little help. By 1780, Congress was making requisitions for specific supplies of corn, beef, pork, and other necessities, an inefficient system which barely kept the army alive.[Erna Risch, ''Supplying Washington's Army'' (1982)][E. Wayne Carp, ''To Starve the Army at Pleasure: Continental Army Administration and American Political Culture, 1775–1783'' (1990)]
Congress used four main methods to cover the cost of the war, which cost about 66 million dollars in specie (gold and silver).[Oliver Harry Chitwood, ''A History of Colonial America'' (1961) pp. 586–589] Significantly, the French secretly supplied the Americans with money, gunpowder, and munitions to weaken Great Britain; the subsidies continued when France entered the war in 1778, and the French government and Paris bankers lent large sums{{quantify|date=March 2021}} to the American war effort. Congress also made issues of paper money, known colloquially as "[[Continental currency banknotes|Continental Dollars]]", in 1775–1780 and in 1780–1781. The first issue amounted to 242 million dollars. This paper money would supposedly be redeemed for state taxes,{{what?|date=March 2026}} but the holders were eventually paid off in 1791 at the rate of one cent on the dollar{{cn|date=March 2026}}. By 1780, the paper money was so devalued that the phrase "not worth a Continental" became synonymous with valueless.[{{cite book|author=Terry M. Mays|title=Historical Dictionary of Revolutionary America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QAgEVl8wQmsC&pg=PA73|year=2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|pages=73–75|isbn=978-0-8108-5389-8}}] The skyrocketing inflation was a hardship on the few people who had fixed incomes, but 90 percent of the people were farmers and were not directly affected by it. Debtors benefited by paying off their debts with depreciated paper. The greatest burden was borne by the soldiers of the Continental Army whose wages were usually paid late and depreciated in value every month, weakening their morale and adding to the hardships of their families.[{{Cite journal|jstor=1838471|title=Aspects of Revolutionary Finance, 1775–1783|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=35|issue=1|pages=46–68|last1=Harlow|first1=Ralph Volney|year=1929|doi=10.2307/1838471}}]
The national government did not have a strong leader in financial matters until 1781, when [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] was named [[Superintendent of Finance of the United States]].[ E. James Ferguson, ''American Public Finance, 1775–1789'', (1961)] The national government was still operating under the Articles of Confederation and [[Northwest Ordinance|settled the issue of the western territories]], which the states ceded to Congress. American settlers moved rapidly into those areas, with Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee becoming states in the 1790s.[Greene and Pole, eds. ''Companion to the American Revolution'', pp. 557–624]
However, the national government had no authority to tax, no money either to pay the war debts owed to European nations and the private banks, or to pay Americans who had been given millions of dollars of promissory notes for supplies during the war. Nationalists led by Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and other veterans feared that the new nation was too fragile to withstand an international war, or even the repetition of internal revolts such as the [[Shays's Rebellion]] of 1786 in Massachusetts. They convinced the Congress of the Confederation to call the [[Philadelphia Convention]] in 1787.[Richard B. Morris, ''The Forging of the Union: 1781–1789'' (1987) pp. 245–266] The Convention adopted a new [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] which provided for a [[republic]] with authority to tax and a much stronger national government in a [[Federalism|federal]] framework, including an effective executive in a [[Separation of powers|check-and-balance]] system with the judiciary and legislature.[Morris, ''The Forging of the Union: 1781–1789'' pp. 300–313] The Constitution was ratified in 1788, after a fierce debate in the states over the proposed new government. The [[Presidency of George Washington|new administration]] under President George Washington took office in New York in March 1789 and the new bicameral [[Congress of the United States]] was seated.[Morris, ''The Forging of the Union, 1781–1789'' pp. 300–322] [[James Madison]] spearheaded Congressional legislation [[Article Five of the United States Constitution|proposing amendments to the Constitution]] as assurances to those cautious about federal power, guaranteeing many of the [[Natural law|inalienable rights]] that formed a foundation for the revolution. Rhode Island was the final state to ratify the Constitution in 1790, the first ten amendments were ratified in 1791 and became known as the [[United States Bill of Rights]].
===National debt===
{{Further|Financial costs of the American Revolutionary War|National debt of the United States|Alexander Hamilton}}
[[File:HAMILTON,_Alexander-Treasury_(BEP_engraved_portrait)_(cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Alexander Hamilton]], the first [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] during the [[Presidency of George Washington]]]]
The national debt fell into three categories after the Revolutionary War. The first was the $12 million owed to foreigners, mostly money borrowed from France. There was general agreement to pay the foreign debts at full value. The national government owed $40 million and state governments owed $25 million to Americans who had sold food, horses, and supplies to the Patriot forces. There were also other debts which consisted of [[promissory note]]s issued during the war to soldiers, merchants, and farmers who accepted these payments on the premise that the new nation would create a government that would pay these debts eventually.{{Citation needed|date=July 2026}}
The Americans struggled to pay off the French loans; they ceased making interest payments to France in 1785 and defaulted on installments due in 1787. In 1790, however, they resumed regular payments on their debts to the French.[E. James Ferguson, ''The power of the purse: A history of American public finance, 1776–1790'' (1961)] The war expenses of the individual states added up to $114 million, compared to $37 million by the central government.[Jensen, ''The New Nation'' (1950) p. 379] In 1790, Congress combined the remaining state debts with the foreign and domestic debts into one national debt totaling $80 million at the recommendation of first Secretary of the Treasury [[Alexander Hamilton]]. Everyone received face value for wartime certificates, so that the national honor would be sustained and the national credit established.[Joseph J. Ellis, ''His Excellency: George Washington'' (2004) p. 204]
Accounts with the French government were settled in 1795 when [[James Swan (financier)|James Swan]], an American banker acting as agent for France, helped refinance the United States’ remaining debt to France. The American government issued bonds in the amount of the remaining debt and sold them publicly, with the proceeds going to France through Swan.[Howard C Rice, “James Swan: Agent of the French Republic, 1784–1786”, The New England Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Sep., 1937), pp. 478–479.] The United States no longer owed money to foreign governments, although it continued to owe money to private investors both in the United States and in Europe..[{{cite web|author1=Office of the Historian|title=Milestones: 1784–1800|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/loans|website=history.state.gov|publisher=Department of State|access-date=January 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204233246/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/Loans|archive-date=February 4, 2009|date=2020|url-status=live}}] This allowed the young United States to place itself on a sound financial footing.
==Ideology and factions==
The population of the Thirteen States was not homogeneous in political views and attitudes. Loyalties and allegiances varied widely within regions and communities and even within families, and sometimes shifted during the Revolution.{{Citation needed|date=July 2026}}
===Ideology behind the revolution===
{{Main|Age of Enlightenment|American Enlightenment}}
The American Enlightenment was a critical precursor of the American Revolution. Chief among the ideas of the American Enlightenment were the concepts of [[natural law]], natural rights, consent of the governed, [[Self-determination|self-determination]], [[Equality before the law|equality under the law]],
liberalism, republicanism, and intolerance of political corruption. A growing number of American colonists embraced these views and fostered an intellectual environment which led to a new sense of political and social identity.[Robert A. Ferguson, ''The American Enlightenment, 1750–1820'' (1997).]
====Liberalism====
{{Main|Liberalism in the United States}}
{{See also|Social contract|Natural law}}
[[File:LockeTreatiseAmerica.png|thumb|left|200px|The only edition of Locke's ''Treatises'' published in colonial America during the 18th century (1773)]]
{{Liberalism sidebar}}
[[John Locke]] is often referred to as "the philosopher of the American Revolution" due to his work in the [[Social Contract]] and [[Natural law|Natural Rights]] theories that underpinned the Revolution's political ideology.[{{cite book|author=Jeffrey D. Schultz|title=Encyclopedia of Religion in American Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dy1MNv8ou-0C&pg=PA148|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood|page=148|display-authors=etal|isbn=978-1-57356-130-3}}] Locke's ''[[Two Treatises of Government]]'' published in 1689 was especially influential. He argued that all humans were created equally free, and governments therefore needed the "[[consent of the governed]]". This contrasted and conflicted sharply with the British system of inherited political power and hierarchy.[{{Cite book|last=Waldron|first=Jenny|title=God, Locke, and Equality|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2002|page=136|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511613920|isbn=978-0-521-81001-2 }}] In late eighteenth-century America, belief was still widespread in "equality by creation" and "rights by creation".[Thomas S. Kidd (2010): ''God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution'', New York, pp. 6–7] Locke's ideas on liberty influenced the political thinking of English writers such as [[John Trenchard (writer)|John Trenchard]], [[Thomas Gordon (writer)|Thomas Gordon]], and [[Benjamin Hoadly]], whose political ideas in turn also had a strong influence on the American Patriots.[Middlekauff (2005), pp. 136–138] His work also inspired symbols used in the American Revolution such as the "Appeal to Heaven" found on the [[Pine Tree Flag]], which alludes to Locke's concept of the [[right of revolution]].[{{Cite web|title=Right of Revolution: John Locke, Second Treatise, §§ 149, 155, 168, 207–10, 220–31, 240–43|url=https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch3s2.html|access-date=June 7, 2024|website=press-pubs.uchicago.edu}}]
The theory of the social contract influenced the belief among many of the Founders that the [[Right of revolution|right of the people to overthrow their leaders]], should those leaders betray the historic [[rights of Englishmen]], was one of the "natural rights" of man.[Charles W. Toth, ''Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite: The American Revolution and the European Response''. (1989) p. 26.][Philosophical Tales, by Martin Cohen, (Blackwell 2008), p. 101] The Americans heavily relied on [[Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu|Montesquieu]]'s analysis of the wisdom of the "balanced" British Constitution ([[mixed government]]) in writing the state and national constitutions.
====Republicanism====
{{Main|Republicanism in the United States}}
{{Republicanism sidebar}}
The American interpretation of [[republicanism]] was inspired by the [[Whig (British political party)|Whig party]] in Great Britain which openly criticized the corruption within the British government.[Stanley Weintraub, ''Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783'' (2005) chapter 1] Americans were increasingly embracing republican values, seeing Britain as corrupt and hostile to American interests.[Bailyn,'' The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1992) pp. 125–137] [[Radical Whig]] ideology profoundly influenced colonial American political philosophy with its love of liberty and opposition to tyrannical government.{{Sfn|Middlekauff|2005|p=51}} The American revolutionaries associated political corruption with ostentatious luxury and inherited aristocracy.[Wood, ''The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' (1992) pp. 35, 174–175]
The Founding Fathers were strong advocates of republican values, particularly [[Samuel Adams]], [[Patrick Henry]], [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Thomas Paine]], [[George Washington]], [[James Madison]], and [[Alexander Hamilton]],[Shalhope, ''Toward a Republican Synthesis'' (1972) pp. 49–80] which required men to put civic duty ahead of their personal desires. Men were [[Honour|honor bound]] by civic obligation to be prepared and willing to fight for the rights and liberties of their countrymen. John Adams wrote to [[Mercy Otis Warren]] in 1776, agreeing with some classical Greek and Roman thinkers: "Public Virtue cannot exist without private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics." He continued:
{{blockquote|There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honour, Power, and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty. And this public Passion must be Superior to all private Passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves, and be happy to sacrifice their private Pleasures, Passions, and Interests, nay their private Friendships and dearest connections, when they Stand in Competition with the Rights of society.[Adams quoted in Paul A. Rahe, ''Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution. Volume: 2'' (1994) p. 23.]}}
====Protestant dissenters and the Great Awakening====
{{Main|English Dissenters|First Great Awakening}}
{{See also|List of clergy in the American Revolution|Quakers in the American Revolution}}
Protestant churches that had separated from the [[Church of England]], called "dissenters", were the "school of democracy", in the words of historian Patricia Bonomi.[Bonomi, p. 186, Chapter 7 "Religion and the American Revolution"] Before the Revolution, the [[Southern Colonies]] and three of the [[New England Colonies]] had official [[established church]]es: [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational]] in [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay]], [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]], and [[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]], and the Church of England in [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]], [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]], [[Province of North-Carolina|North-Carolina]], [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]], and [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]]. The colonies of [[Province of New York|New York]], [[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]], [[Province of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]], [[Delaware Colony|Delaware]], and the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]] had no officially established churches.[{{cite book|first1=Oscar T.|last1=Barck|first2=Hugh T.|last2=Lefler|title=Colonial America|publisher=Macmillan|place=New York|year=1958|page=404}}] Church membership statistics from the period are unreliable and scarce,[{{cite book|first1=John Mack|last1=Faragher|title=The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara/page/359 359]|isbn=978-0-306-80687-2|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara/page/359}}] but what little data exists indicates that the Church of England was not in the majority, not even in the colonies where it was the established church, and they probably did not comprise even 30 percent of the population in most localities (with the possible exception of Virginia).[William H. Nelson, ''The American Tory'' (1961) p. 186] Religious motivation for fighting tyranny transcended socioeconomic lines.[ The Declaration of Independence also referred to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" as justification for the Revolution: the signers of the Declaration professed their "firm reliance on the Protection of divine Providence", and they appealed to "the Supreme Judge for the rectitude of our intentions".][Kidd (2010), p. 141]
Historian [[Bernard Bailyn]] argues that the evangelicalism of the era challenged traditional notions of natural hierarchy by preaching that the Bible teaches all men are equal, and the true value of a man therefore lies in his moral behavior, not in his class.[Bailyn'', The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1992) p. 303] Kidd argues that religious [[Disestablishmentarianism|disestablishment]], belief in God as the source of human rights, and shared convictions about sin, virtue, and divine providence, worked together to unite rationalists and evangelicals and thus encouraged a large proportion of Americans to fight for sovereignty outside the Empire. Bailyn, on the other hand, denies that religion played such a critical role.[Thomas S. Kidd, ''God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution'' (2010)] Alan Heimert argues that New Light anti-authoritarianism was essential to furthering democracy in colonial American society, and set the stage for a confrontation with British monarchical and aristocratic rule.[Alan Heimert, ''Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.]
===Class and psychology of the factions===
{{Main|Political culture of the United States}}
{{Further||Social class in the United States|Culture of the United States}}
Historians in the early 20th century such as [[J. Franklin Jameson]] examined the class composition of the Patriot cause, looking for evidence of a class war inside the revolution.[J. Franklin Jameson, ''The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement'' (1926); other historians pursuing the same line of thought included [[Charles A. Beard]], [[Carl L. Becker|Carl Becker]], and [[Arthur Schlesinger, Sr.]]] More recent historians have largely abandoned that interpretation, emphasizing instead the high level of ideological unity.[Wood, ''Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution'' (1966) pp. 3–32] Both Loyalists and Patriots were a "mixed lot",[Nash (2005)][Resch (2006)] but ideological demands always came first.
====King George III====
{{Main|George III}}
{{See also|Monarchy of the United Kingdom|Royal prerogative in the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Portrait of George III by Johann Heinrich von Hurter.jpg|thumb|King [[George III]] depicted in a 1781 portrait]]
The revolution became a personal issue for [[George III|the king]], fueled by his growing belief that British leniency would be taken as weakness by the Americans. He also sincerely believed that he was defending [[British constitution|Britain's constitution]] against usurpers, rather than opposing patriots fighting for their natural rights.[Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, "'If Others Will Not Be Active, I must Drive': George III and the American Revolution". ''Early American Studies'' 2004 2(1): pp. 1–46. P. D. G. Thomas, "George III and the American Revolution". ''History'' 1985 70(228)] King George III is often accused of obstinately trying to keep Great Britain at war with the revolutionaries in America, despite the opinions of his own ministers.[O'Shaughnessy, ch 1.] In the words of the British historian [[Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet|George Otto Trevelyan]], the King was determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal."[Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 4.] The king wanted to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse".[Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 5.] Later historians defend George by saying in the context of the times no king would willingly surrender such a large territory,[{{Cite ODNB|first=John|last=Cannon|title=George III (1738–1820)|date=September 2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10540|access-date=October 29, 2008|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10540}}][Cannon and Griffiths, pp. 510–511.] and his conduct was far less ruthless than contemporary monarchs in Europe.[Brooke, p. 183.] After the surrender of a British army at Saratoga, both Parliament and the British people were largely in favor of the war; recruitment ran at high levels and although political opponents were vocal, they remained a small minority.[Brooke, pp. 180–182, 192, 223.]
With the early setbacks in America, [[Lord North]] asked to transfer power to [[Lord Chatham]], whom he thought more capable, but George refused to do so; he suggested instead that Chatham serve as a subordinate minister in North's administration, but Chatham refused. He died later in the same year.[{{Cite book|last=Hibbert|first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Hibbert|title=[[Redcoats and Rebels]]|publisher=[[Grafton Books]]|year=1990|pages=156–157}}] Lord North was allied to the "King's Friends" [[Political faction |faction]] in Parliament and believed George III had the right to exercise extensive powers.[Willcox & Arnstein, p. 157.] In early 1778, [[Early modern France|Britain's chief rival France]] signed a [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|treaty of alliance]] with the United States, and the confrontation soon escalated from a "rebellion" to something that has been characterized as "world war".[Willcox & Arnstein, pp. 161, 165.] The French fleet was able to outrun the British naval blockade of the Mediterranean and sailed to North America.[ The conflict now affected North America, Europe and [[Colonial India|India]].][ The United States and France were joined by [[Enlightenment in Spain|Spain]] in 1779 and the [[Dutch Republic]], while Britain had no major allies of its own, except for the Loyalist minority in America and German auxiliaries (i.e. ''Hessians''). [[Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford|Lord Gower]] and [[Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath|Lord Weymouth]] both resigned from the government. Lord North again requested that he also be allowed to resign, but he stayed in office at George III's insistence.][{{Cite book|last=Ayling|first=Stanley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPtu4yoZ5TkC&q=george%20the%20third%20stanley%20ayling|title=George the Third|publisher=[[Knopf]]|year=1972|pages=275–284|isbn=978-0-394-48169-2 }}] Opposition to the costly war was increasing, and in June 1780 contributed to disturbances in London known as the [[Gordon riots]].[''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994) p. 129.] In late 1781, the news of Cornwallis's surrender at the siege of Yorktown reached London; Lord North's parliamentary support ebbed away and he resigned the following year. The king drafted an abdication notice, which was never delivered,[Brooke, p. 221.] finally accepted the defeat in North America, and authorized peace negotiations. The [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Treaties of Paris]], by which Britain recognized the sovereignty of the United States and [[Spanish Florida|returned Florida]] to Spain, were signed in 1782 and 1783 respectively.[U.S. Department of State, [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/treaty Treaty of Paris, 1783]. Retrieved July 5, 2013.] In early 1783, George III privately conceded "America is lost!" He reflected that the former colonies had developed into Britain's "successful rivals" in commercial trade and fishing as the United States.[Bullion, ''George III on Empire, 1783'', p. 306.]
When [[John Adams]] was appointed [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|American Minister to London]] in 1785, George had become resigned to the new relationship between his country and the former colonies. He told Adams, "I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power."[{{Citation|title=The works of John Adams, second president of the United States|date=1850–1856|volume=VIII|pages=255–257|editor-last=Adams|editor-first=C.F.}}, quoted in Ayling, p. 323 and Hibbert, p. 165.]
====Patriots====
{{Main|Patriot (American Revolution)}}
{{Further|Sons of Liberty}}
[[File:Commonsense.jpg|thumb|left|The U.S. motto ''[[Novus ordo seclorum]]'', meaning "A New Age Now Begins", is paraphrased from [[Thomas Paine]]'s ''[[Common Sense]]'', published January 10, 1776. "We have it in our power to begin the world over again," Paine wrote.]]
Those who fought for independence were called "Revolutionaries", "Continentals", "Rebels", "Patriots", "Whigs", "Congress-men", or "Americans" during and after the war. They included a full range of social and economic classes but were unanimous regarding the need to defend the natural rights of Americans and uphold the principles of republicanism in rejecting monarchy and aristocracy, while emphasizing civic virtue by citizens. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were overwhelmingly—with definite exceptions—well-educated, of British stock, and of the Protestant faith.[[[Caroline Robbins]], "Decision in '76: Reflections on the 56 Signers". ''Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society''. Vol. 89 pp. 72–87, quote at p. 86.][See also Richard D. Brown, "The Founding Fathers of 1776 and 1787: A collective view". ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1976) 33#3: 465–480. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1921543 online]] [[Early American publishers and printers|Newspapers were strongholds of patriotism]] (although there were a few Loyalist papers) and printed many pamphlets, announcements, patriotic letters, and pronouncements.[Carol Sue Humphrey, ''The American Revolution and the Press: The Promise of Independence'' (Northwestern University Press; 2013)]
According to historian Robert Calhoon, 40 to 45 percent of the white population in the Thirteen Colonies supported the Patriots' cause, 15 to 20 percent supported the Loyalists, and the remainder were neutral or kept a low profile.[Robert M. Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in {{cite book|author1=Jack P. Greene|author2=J.R. Pole|title=A Companion to the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xK1NuzpAcH8C&pg=PA235|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|page=235|isbn=978-0-470-75644-7}}] Mark Lender concludes that ordinary people became insurgents against the British because they held a sense of rights which the British were violating, rights that stressed local autonomy, fair dealing, and government by consent. They were highly sensitive to the issue of tyranny, which they saw manifested in the British response to the Boston Tea Party. The arrival in Boston of the British Army heightened their sense of violated rights, leading to rage and demands for revenge. They had faith that God was on their side.[Mark Edward Lender, review of ''American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People'' (2010) by T. H. Breen, in ''The Journal of Military History'' (2012) 76#1 pp. 233–234]
The Patriots viewed independence as a means to gain freedom from British oppression and initially to reassert their rights on par with subjects in Britain. Most yeomen farmers, craftsmen, and small merchants joined the Patriot cause to demand more political equality. They were especially successful in Pennsylvania but less so in New England, where John Adams attacked Thomas Paine's ''Common Sense'' for the "absurd democratical notions" that it proposed.[Ferguson, ''The Commonalities of Common Sense'' (2000) pp. 465–504] Paine presented the Revolution as the solution for Americans alarmed by the threat of tyranny.[Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in Greene and Pole, eds. ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (1980) at [https://books.google.com/books?id=xK1NuzpAcH8C&pg=PA235 p. 235]] Those who actively supported the king were known at the time as "Loyalists", "Tories", or "King's men". The Loyalists never controlled territory unless the British Army occupied it. They were typically older, less willing to break with old loyalties, and often connected to the Church of England; they included many established merchants with strong business connections throughout the Empire, as well as royal officials such as Thomas Hutchinson of Boston.[Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in Greene and Pole, eds. ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (1980) pp. 235–247,]
In the mid-20th century, historian [[Leonard Woods Labaree]] identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative, opposite to the characteristics of the Patriots.[Labaree, ''Conservatism in Early American History'' (1948) pp. 164–165] Loyalists tended to feel that resistance to the Crown was morally wrong, while the Patriots thought that morality was on their side.[Hull et al., ''Choosing Sides'' (1978) pp. 344–366][Burrows and Wallace, ''The American Revolution'' (1972) pp. 167–305] Loyalists were alienated when the Patriots resorted to violence, such as burning houses and [[tarring and feathering]]. Many Loyalists wanted to take a centrist position and resisted the Patriots' demand to declare their opposition to the Crown. Numerous Loyalists had maintained strong and long-standing relations with Britain, especially merchants in port cities such as New York and Boston.[Mary BethNorton, "The fate of some Black Loyalists of the American Revolution". ''Journal of Negro History'' 58.4 (1973): 402–426 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2716747 online].]
The revolution could divide families, such as [[William Franklin]], son of Benjamin Franklin and royal governor of the [[Province of New Jersey]] who remained loyal to the Crown throughout the war. He and his father never spoke again.[[[Sheila L. Skemp]], ''Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist'' (1994)] Recent immigrants who had not been fully Americanized were also inclined to support the King.[{{cite book|author=Joan Magee|title=Loyalist Mosaic: A Multi-Ethnic Heritage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GsENbI3JIo0C&pg=PA137|year=1984|publisher=Dundurn|pages=137ff|isbn=978-1-4597-1142-6}}]
After the war, the great majority of the half-million Loyalists remained in America and resumed normal lives. Some became prominent American leaders, such as [[Samuel Seabury (1729–1796)|Samuel Seabury]]. Approximately 46,000 Loyalists relocated to Canada; others moved to Britain (7,000), Florida, or the West Indies (9,000). The exiles represented approximately two percent of the total population of the colonies.[Greene and Pole (1994) chapters 20–22] Nearly all Black Loyalists left for Nova Scotia, Florida, or England, where they could remain free.[{{cite web|url=http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/exile/chaos.htm|title=Chaos in New York|access-date=October 18, 2007|work=Black Loyalists: Our People, Our History|publisher=Canada's Digital Collections|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117073405/http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/exile/chaos.htm|archive-date=November 17, 2007}}] Loyalists who left the South in 1783 took thousands of enslaved persons with them as they fled to the [[British West Indies]].[Gottlieb (2005)]{{full citation needed|date=October 2024}} Most Quakers remained neutral, although [[Quakers in the American Revolution|a sizeable number]] participated to some degree.
====Roles of women====
{{Main|Women in the American Revolution}}
{{See also|Republican motherhood}}
[[File:Mrs James Warren (Mercy_Otis), by John Singleton Copley.jpg|thumb|[[Mercy Otis Warren]] published poems and plays that attacked royal authority and urged colonists to resist British rule.]]
Women contributed to the American Revolution in many ways and were involved on both sides. Formal politics did not include women, but ordinary domestic behaviors became charged with political significance as Patriot women confronted a war which permeated all aspects of political, civil, and domestic life. They participated by boycotting British goods, spying on the British, following armies as they marched, washing, cooking, and mending for soldiers, delivering secret messages, and even fighting disguised as men in a few cases, such as [[Deborah Samson]]. [[Mercy Otis Warren]] held meetings in her house and cleverly attacked Loyalists with her creative plays and histories.[{{cite book|author=Eileen K. Cheng|title=The Plain and Noble Garb of Truth: Nationalism & Impartiality in American Historical Writing, 1784–1860|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9-dg5Zh8n4wC&pg=PA210|year=2008|publisher=University of Georgia Press|page=210|isbn=978-0-8203-3073-0}}] Many women also acted as nurses and helpers, tending to the soldiers' wounds and buying and selling goods for them. Some of these [[camp followers]] even participated in combat, such as Madam John Turchin who led her husband's regiment into battle.[{{cite journal|last1=Pauw|first1=Linda Grant De|title=Roles of Women in the American Revolution and the Civil War|journal=Social Education|date=1994|volume=58|issue=2|page=77}}] Above all, women continued the agricultural work at home to feed their families and the armies. They maintained their families during their husbands' absences and sometimes after their deaths.[Berkin, ''Revolutionary Mothers'' (2006) pp. 59–60]
American women were integral to the success of the boycott of British goods,[Greene and Pole (1994) chapter 41] as the boycotted items were largely household articles such as tea and cloth. Women had to return to knitting goods and to spinning and weaving their own cloth—skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in [[Middleton, Massachusetts|Middletown, Massachusetts]] wove {{convert|20522|yd|m|0}} of cloth.[{{cite journal|last1=Cometti|first1=Elizabeth|title=Women in the American Revolution|journal=The New England Quarterly|date=1947|volume=20|issue=3|pages=329–346|doi=10.2307/361443|jstor=361443}}] A woman's loyalty to her husband could become an open political act, especially for women in America committed to men who remained loyal to the King. Legal divorce, usually rare, was granted to Patriot women whose husbands supported the King.[Kerber, ''Women of the Republic'' (1997) chapters 4 and 6][Mary Beth Norton, ''Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women'' (1980)]
===Other participants===
{{Further|Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War}}
====France and Spain====
{{Main|France in the American Revolutionary War|Spain and the American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:LouisXVI-France1.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Louis XVI]], King of France and Navarre]]
In early 1776, France set up a major program of aid to the Americans, and the Spanish secretly added funds. Each country spent one million "livres tournaises" to buy munitions. A [[dummy corporation]] run by [[Pierre Beaumarchais]] concealed their activities. American Patriots obtained some munitions from the Dutch Republic as well, through the French and Spanish ports in the [[West Indies]].[Jonathan Dull, ''A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution'' (1985) pp. 57–65] Heavy expenditures and a weak taxation system pushed France toward bankruptcy.[David Patrick Geggus, "The effects of the American Revolution on France and its empire". in ''A Companion to the American Revolution'', ed. Jack P. Greene and J.R. Pole (Blackwell, 2000) pp: 523–530.{{ISBN|978-0-631-21058-0}}]
In 1777, [[Charles François Adrien le Paulmier]], Chevalier d'Annemours, acting as a [[Espionage|secret agent]] for France, made sure General [[George Washington]] was privy to his mission. He followed Congress around for the next two years, reporting what he observed back to France.[{{Cite web|title=Founders Online: To George Washington from d'Annemours, 15 February 1789|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-01-02-0224|access-date=May 26, 2021|website=founders.archives.gov}}] The [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|Treaty of Alliance]] between the French and the Americans followed in 1778, which led to more French money, [[matériel]] and troops being sent to the United States.
Spain did not officially recognize the United States, but it was a French ally and it separately declared war on Britain on June 21, 1779. [[Bernardo de Gálvez]], general of the Spanish forces in [[New Spain]] bordering the Americans, also served as governor of Louisiana. He led an expedition of colonial troops to capture Florida from the British and to keep open a vital conduit for supplies going to the Americans.[Thompson, Buchanan Parker, ''Spain: Forgotten Ally of the American Revolution'' North Quincy, Mass.: Christopher Publishing House, 1976.]
====Germans====
{{Main|Germans in the American Revolution|Hessian (soldier)}}
[[File:Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben by Ralph Earl.jpg|right|thumb|[[Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben]] was a former [[Prussian Army]] officer who served as [[Office of the Inspector General of the United States Army|inspector general]] of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with teaching the Continental Army [[Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States|the essentials of military drill and discipline]] beginning at [[Valley Forge]] in 1778, considered a turning point for the Americans.]]
Ethnic Germans served on both sides of the American Revolutionary War. As George III was also the [[Elector of Hanover]], many supported the Loyalist cause and served as allies of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]; most notably rented [[auxiliaries|auxiliary troops]][{{cite book|last1=Atwood|first1=Rodney|title=The Hessians: Mercenaries from Hessen-Kassel in the American Revolution|date=1980|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England}}] from German states such as the [[Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel]].
American Patriots tended to represent such troops as [[Mercenary|mercenaries]] in propaganda against the British Crown. Even American historians followed suit, in spite of Colonial-era jurists drawing a distinction between auxiliaries and mercenaries, with auxiliaries serving their prince when sent to the aid of another prince, and mercenaries serving a foreign prince as individuals.[Greene and Pole (2004) chapters 19, 46, and 51]{{sfnp|Calloway|1995}} Those tribes closely involved in trade tended to side with the Patriots, although political factors were important as well. Some tried to remain neutral, seeing little value in joining what they perceived to be a "white man's war", and fearing reprisals from whichever side they opposed.
The great majority of indigenous people did not participate directly in the war, with the notable exceptions of warriors and bands associated with four of the [[Iroquois|Haudenosaunee Confederacy]] (''also'' Iroquois) tribes in New York and Pennsylvania which allied with the British,{{sfnp|Calloway|1995}} and the [[Oneida people|Oneida]] and [[Tuscarora people|Tuscarora]] tribes among the Iroquois of central and western New York who supported the American cause.[Joseph T. Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin, ''Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution'' (2007)] The British did have other indigenous allies, particularly in the [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|regions of southwest Quebec]] on the Patriot's frontier. The British provided arms to Indigenous people who were led by Loyalists in war parties to raid frontier settlements from the [[Province of Carolina|Carolinas]] to New York. These war parties killed many settlers on the frontier, especially in western Pennsylvania and New York's Mohawk Valley.[Karim M. Tiro, "A 'Civil' War? Rethinking Iroquois Participation in the American Revolution". ''Explorations in Early American Culture'' 4 (2000): 148–165.]
In 1776, [[Cherokee]] war parties attacked American settlers all along the southern Quebec frontier of the uplands throughout the [[Washington District, North Carolina]] (now Tennessee) and the Kentucky wilderness area.[Tom Hatley, ''The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South Carolinians through the Era of Revolution'' (1993); James H. O'Donnell, III, ''Southern Indians in the American Revolution'' (1973)] The [[Chickamauga Cherokee]] under [[Dragging Canoe|Tsiyu Gansini]] (''also'' Dragging Canoe) allied themselves closely with the British, and fought on for an additional decade after the Treaty of Paris was signed. They launched raids with roughly 200 warriors, as seen in the [[Cherokee–American wars]]; they could not mobilize enough forces to invade settler areas without the help of allies, most often the [[Muscogee|Creek]].
[[Joseph Brant]] (''also'' Thayendanegea), from the powerful [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] tribe of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, was the most prominent Indigenous leader against the Patriot forces.[{{Cite book|last=Cornelison|first=Pam|title=The great American history fact-finder: the who, what, where, when, and why of American history|date=2004|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|others=Ted Yanak|isbn=1-4175-9441-1|edition=2nd|location=Boston|oclc=60414840}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}] In 1778 and 1780, he led 300 Iroquois warriors and 100 white Loyalists in multiple attacks on small frontier settlements in New York and Pennsylvania, killing many settlers and destroying villages, crops, and food stockpiles.[{{cite DCB|last=Graymont|first=Barbara|title=Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant)|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thayendanegea_5E.html|volume=5}}]
In 1779, the [[Sullivan Expedition|Continental Army forced the hostile Indigenous people out of upstate New York]] when Washington sent an army under [[John Sullivan (general)|John Sullivan]] which destroyed 40 evacuated Iroquois villages in central and western New York. The [[Battle of Newtown]] proved decisive, as the Patriots had an advantage of three-to-one, and it ended significant resistance; there was little combat otherwise. Facing starvation and homeless for the winter, the Iroquois that allied with the British fled to Canada.[Joseph R. Fischer, ''A Well-Executed Failure: The Sullivan Campaign against the Iroquois, July–September 1779'' (1997).]
At the peace conference following the war, the British ceded indigenous lands without consultation with their allies that inhabited them. They transferred control to the United States of all the land south of the Great Lakes, east of the Mississippi, and north of Florida. Calloway concludes:
{{Blockquote|Burned villages and crops, murdered chiefs, divided councils and civil wars, migrations, towns and forts choked with refugees, economic disruption, breaking of ancient traditions, losses in battle and to disease and hunger, betrayal to their enemies, all made the American Revolution one of the darkest periods in American Indian history.{{sfnp|Calloway|1995|p=290}}}}
====Black Americans====
{{Main|African Americans in the Revolutionary War}}
{{Further|Black Patriot|Black Loyalist|Book of Negroes}}
[[File:"Crispus Attucks," by Herschel Levit, mural at the Recorder of Deeds building, built in 1943. 515 D St., NW,_Washington, D.C LCCN2010641712.tif|thumb|upright|''Crispus Attucks'', a ({{Circa|1943}}) portrait by [[Herschel Levit]] depicts [[Crispus Attucks|Attucks]], who is considered to be the first American to die for the cause of independence in the Revolution.]]
The existence of [[Slavery in the colonial United States|slavery in the American colonies]] had attracted criticism from both sides of the Atlantic as many could not reconcile the existence of the institution with the egalitarian ideals espoused by leaders of the Revolution. The English writer [[Samuel Johnson]] wrote "how is it we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of the [[Negro]]es?" in a text opposing the grievances of the colonists.[Stanley Weintraub, ''Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783'' (2005) p. 7] Referring to this contradiction, the English writer and abolitionist [[Thomas Day (writer)|Thomas Day]] wrote in a 1776 letter that: {{blockquote|if there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.[(1) [https://books.google.com/books?id=X2QCAa27Zy4C&pg=PA77 Armitage, ''Global History'', 77.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510164328/https://books.google.com/books?id=X2QCAa27Zy4C&pg=PA77 |date=May 10, 2016 }}]
(2) {{cite book|last=Day|first=Thomas|url=https://archive.org/stream/fragmentoforigin00dayt#page/10/mode/2up|title=Fragment of an original letter on the Slavery of the Negroes, written in the year 1776|publisher=London - Printed for John Stockdale (1784). Boston - Re-printed by [[William Lloyd Garrison|Garrison]] and Knapp, at the office of "[[The Liberator (anti-slavery newspaper)|The Liberator]]" (1831)|page=10|access-date=February 26, 2014|quote=If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316112142/https://archive.org/stream/fragmentoforigin00dayt#page/10/mode/2up|archive-date=March 16, 2016|url-status=live}} At: [https://archive.org/ Internet Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304015927/https://archive.org/ |date=March 4, 2014 }}: [https://archive.org/details/Johns_Hopkins_University The Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423235217/https://archive.org/details/Johns_Hopkins_University |date=April 23, 2014 }}: [https://archive.org/details/birney James Birney Collection of Antislavery Pamphlets] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806025911/https://archive.org/details/birney |date=August 6, 2014 }}.}}
[[Crispus Attucks]], of mixed racial heritage, was one of the five people killed in the [[Boston Massacre]] in 1770 and is considered the first American casualty for the cause of independence. Free Blacks in the [[New England Colonies]] and [[Middle Colonies]] in the North as well as [[Southern Colonies]] fought on both sides of the War, but the majority fought for the Patriots. Gary Nash reports that there were about 9,000 Black veteran Patriots, counting the Continental Army and Navy, state militia units, privateers, wagoneers in the Army, servants to officers, and spies.[Gary B. Nash, "The African Americans Revolution", in ''Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution'' (2012) edited by Edward G Gray and Jane Kamensky pp. 250–270, at p. 254] [[Ray Raphael]] notes that thousands did join the Loyalist cause, but "a far larger number, free as well as slave, tried to further their interests by siding with the patriots."[Ray Raphael, ''A People's History of the American Revolution'' (2001) p. 281]
[[File:Soldiers at the siege of Yorktown (1781), by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine DeVerger (cropped).png|thumb|upright|A Black soldier of the [[1st Rhode Island Regiment]], widely regarded as the first Black battalion in [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] history]]
The effects of the war were more dramatic in the South. Tens of thousands of enslaved persons escaped to British lines throughout the South, causing dramatic losses to slaveholders and disrupting cultivation and harvesting of crops. For instance, [[South Carolina]] was estimated to have lost about 25,000 enslaved persons to flight, migration, or death which amounted to a third of its enslaved population.[Peter Kolchin, ''American Slavery: 1619–1877'', New York: Hill and Wang, 1993, p. 73] As noted by the historian Karen Cook Bell, during the Revolutionary War roughly one-third of all the escaped enslaved were women, even though prior to 1775 nearly 87% had been men.[{{cite book | title=Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America | date=July 2021 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-1-108-83154-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dG8yEAAAQBAJ }}]
During the war, British commanders attempted to weaken the Patriots by issuing proclamations of freedom to their enslaved.[[http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/amrev/homefrnt/homefrnt.html Revolutionary War: The Home Front], Library of Congress] In the November 1775 document known as [[Dunmore's Proclamation]] Virginia royal governor, [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore|Lord Dunmore]] recruited Black men for British military service with the promise of freedom, protection for their families, and land grants. Hundreds of Black men responded and were formed into the [[Royal Ethiopian Regiment]]. However, as noted by the historian James Corbett David, many Black people felt unable or unwilling to respond to these offers of freedom:
{{Blockquote|Under... discouraging circumstances, the vast majority of slaves were either unable or unwilling to take their chances with the British. Those who opted not to run (many never really had a choice) may have watched events unfold with a growing sense of vindication, for the slaves who did strike out for freedom, while exhibiting remarkable courage and ingenuity in the process, had an exceptionally hard road ahead.[ David (2013), p. 140 ]}}
Colonists, primarily Southern Patriots, were deeply angered by Dunmore's proclamation, which spread through all of the Thirteen Colonies and threatened to upturn the existing American racial hierarchy; it also played a major role in Southern support for American independence.[ Vanderford (2024), p. 29 ] Accusations that the British were encouraging slave rebellions were prominent features of Patriot propaganda, with Jefferson even accusing George III in the [[27 colonial grievances]] of having "excited domestic Insurrections among us". The historian [[Simon Schama]] argued that for Southern Patriots, "Theirs was a revolution, first and foremost, mobilized to protect slavery."[Schama pp. 28–30, 78–90]
The 1779 [[Philipsburg Proclamation]] expanded the promise of freedom for Black men who enlisted in the British military to all the colonies in rebellion. At the conclusion of the war, British forces gave transportation to 10,000 of the formerly enslaved when they evacuated [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]] and [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charles Town]], carrying through on their promise.[Kolchin, ''American Slavery'', p. 73] They evacuated and resettled more than 3,000 [[Black Loyalist]]s from New York to [[Nova Scotia]], [[Upper Canada]], and [[Lower Canada]]. Others sailed with the British to England or were resettled as freedmen in the [[West Indies]] of the Caribbean. But the enslaved carried to the Caribbean under control of Loyalist masters generally remained enslaved until the British abolition of slavery in its colonies in 1833–1838.
More than 1,200 of the Black Loyalists of Nova Scotia later resettled in the British colony of [[Sierra Leone]] in Africa, where they became leaders of the [[Sierra Leone Creole people|Krio]] ethnic group of [[Freetown]] and the later national government. Many of their descendants still live in Sierra Leone, as well as other African countries.[Hill (2007), see also [http://www.blackloyalist.com/ blackloyalist.com]]{{full citation needed|date=October 2024}} Despite the turmoil of the period, African-Americans contributed to the foundation of an American national identity during the Revolution. [[Phyllis Wheatley]], an African American poet, popularized the image of [[Columbia (name)|Columbia]] to represent America.[James G. Basker, "A Poem Links Unlikely Allies in 1775: Phillis Wheatley and George Washington" ''History Now: The Journal'' Issue 39 Spring 2014. [https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/poem-links-unlikely-allies-1775-phillis-wheatley-and-george-washington online]]
==Effects of the revolution==
{{Main|American nationalism|American civil religion}}
After the Revolution, genuinely democratic politics became possible in the former American colonies.[Gordon Wood. ''The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' (1992) pp. 278–279] The rights of the people were incorporated into state constitutions. Concepts of liberty, consent of the governed, individual rights, equality and due process under the law, and intolerance of corruption became incorporated as core values of liberal republicanism. The new United States government was empowered to undertake its own project of [[Expansionism|territorial expansion]] and [[settler colonialism]]. The greatest challenge to the old order in Europe was the challenge to inherited political power and the democratic idea that government rests on the [[consent of the governed]]. The example of the first successful revolution against a European empire, and the first successful establishment of a republican form of democratically elected government without monarchy or any inherited political authority, provided a model for many other colonial peoples who realized that they too could break away and become self-governing nations with directly elected representative government.[Palmer, (1959)]{{Page needed|date=May 2024}}
Losing the war and the Thirteen Colonies was a shock to Britain. The war revealed the limitations of Britain's [[fiscal-military state]] when they discovered that they suddenly faced powerful enemies with no allies, and they were dependent on extended and vulnerable transatlantic lines of communication. The defeat heightened dissension and escalated political antagonism to the king's ministers. The king went so far as to draft letters of abdication, although they were never delivered.[{{cite journal|date=August 9, 2022|title=The Abdication(s) of King George III|last=Ruppert|first=Bob|journal=Journal of the American Revolution|url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2022/08/the-abdications-of-king-george-iii/|access-date=August 9, 2022}}] Inside Parliament, the primary concern changed from fears of an over-mighty monarch to the issues of representation, parliamentary reform, and government retrenchment. Unable to accept loss of the war and the colonies as possibly due to anything else but widespread [[institutional corruption]], reformers sought to root it out, and the result was a crisis from 1776 to 1783. The crisis ended after 1784 confidence in the British constitution was restored during the administration of Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]].[William Hague, ''William Pitt the Younger'' (2004)][Jeremy Black, ''George III: America's Last King''(2006)]{{efn|Some historians suggest that loss of the American colonies enabled Britain to deal with the [[French Revolution]] with more unity and better organization than would otherwise have been the case.[Canny, p. 92.]}}
===Interpretations===
John Adams concluded in 1818:
{{Blockquote|The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people .... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.[John Ferling, ''Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution'' (2002) p. 281]}}
The American Revolution ended an age of monarchy, and it began a new age of freedom. As a result of the growing wave started by the Revolution, there are now more people around the world living in freedom than ever before, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the world's population.[McDonald, Forrest. ''Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution'', pp. 6–7, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1985. {{ISBN|0-7006-0284-4}}.][Smith, Duane E., general editor. ''We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution'', pp. 204–207, Center for Civic Education, Calabasas, California, 1995. {{ISBN|0-89818-177-1}}.][van Loon, Hendrik. ''The Story of Mankind'', p. 333, Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1921.][Wood, ''The American Revolution: A History'' (2003)] John Murrin, by contrast, argues that the definition of "the people" at that time was mostly restricted to free men who passed a property qualification.[{{cite book|last1=Murrin|first1=John M.|last2=Johnson|first2=Paul E.|last3=McPherson|first3=James M.|last4=Fahs|first4=Alice|last5=Gerstle|first5=Gary|title=Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People|date=2012|publisher=Wadsworth, Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-90499-1|page=296|edition=6th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FGSQOiy6uZUC&pg=PT337}}][{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/voting.html|title=U.S. Voting Rights|access-date=July 2, 2013}}]
Gordon Wood states:
{{Blockquote|The American Revolution was integral to the changes occurring in American society, politics and culture .... These changes were radical, and they were extensive .... The Revolution not only radically changed the personal and social relationships of people, including the position of women, but also destroyed aristocracy as it'd been understood in the Western world for at least two millennia.[Gordon Wood, ''The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' (1993) pp. 7–8.{{ISBN|0-679-73688-3}}]}}
Edmund Morgan has argued that, in terms of long-term impact on American society and values:
{{Blockquote|The Revolution did revolutionize social relations. It did displace the deference, the patronage, the social divisions that had determined the way people viewed one another for centuries and still view one another in much of the world. It did give to ordinary people a pride and power, not to say an arrogance, that have continued to shock visitors from less favored lands. It may have left standing a host of inequalities that have troubled us ever since. But it generated the egalitarian view of human society that makes them troubling and makes our world so different from the one in which the revolutionists had grown up.[{{cite book|author=Edmund S. Morgan|title=The Genuine Article: A Historian Looks at Early America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ve9u9pBeB0C&pg=PA246|year=2005|publisher=W. W. Norton|page=246|isbn=978-0-393-34784-5}}]}}
[[Leopold von Ranke]], a leading German historian, claimed in 1848 that revolutionary American republicanism played a crucial role in the development of European liberalism:
{{Blockquote|By abandoning English constitutionalism and creating a new republic based on [[Natural law|the rights of the individual]], the North Americans introduced a new force in the world. Ideas spread most rapidly when they have found adequate concrete expression. Thus republicanism entered our Romanic/Germanic world... Up to this point, the conviction had prevailed in Europe that monarchy best served the interests of the nation. Now the idea spread that the nation should govern itself. But only after a state had actually been formed on the basis of [[Consent of the governed|the theory of representation]] did the full significance of this idea become clear. All later revolutionary movements have this same goal... This was the complete reversal of a principle. Until then, [[Divine right of kings|a king who ruled by the grace of God had been the center around which everything turned]]. Now the idea emerged that [[Popular sovereignty|power should come from below]]... These two principles are like two opposite poles, and it is the conflict between them that determines the course of the modern world. In Europe the conflict between them had not yet taken on concrete form; with the French Revolution it did.[{{cite book|last=Adams|first=Willi Paul|title=The First American Constitutions: Republican Ideology and the Making of the State Constitutions in the Revolutionary Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTSMmWQSR7UC&pg=PA128|year=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|pages=128–29|isbn=978-0-7425-2069-1}}]}}
===Inspiring other independence movements and revolutions===
{{Main|Age of Revolution}}
{{Further|Atlantic Revolutions}}
[[File:Atlantic Revolutions.png|thumb|The American Revolution was first of the original wave of the [[Atlantic Revolutions]], an 18th and 19th century [[revolutionary wave]] in the [[Atlantic World]].]]
The first shot of the American Revolution at the Battle of Lexington and Concord is referred to as the [[Shot heard round the world|"shot heard 'round the world"]]. The Revolutionary War victory not only established the United States as the first nation founded on the consent of the governed, equality under the law, and modern constitutional republic, but marked the transition from an age of monarchy to a new age of freedom by inspiring similar movements worldwide.[Bailyn, Bernard. ''To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders'', pp. 35, 134–149, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003. {{ISBN|0-375-41377-4}}.] The American Revolution was the first of the [[Atlantic Revolutions]]: followed most notably by the [[French Revolution]], the [[Haitian Revolution]], and the [[Spanish American wars of independence|Latin American wars of independence]]. Aftershocks contributed to [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|rebellions in Ireland]], the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], and the Netherlands.[Greene and Pole (1994) ch. 53–55][Wim Klooster, ''Revolutions in the Atlantic World: A Comparative History'' (2009)][{{cite web|url=https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/on-using-the-us-constitution-as-model/|title=Taylor, Steven L. "On Using the US Constitution as a Model," Outside the Beltway, February 3, 2012, Retrieved October 13, 2020.|date=February 4, 2012}}] Some historians and scholars argue that the subsequent wave of independence and revolutionary movements has contributed to the continued expansion of democratic government; 144 countries, representing two-third of the world's population, are full or partially democracies of some form.[Smith, Duane E., general editor. ''We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution'', pp. 204–207, Center for Civic Education, Calabasas, California, 1995. {{ISBN|0-89818-177-1}}.][Wells, H. G. ''The Outline of History'', pp. 840–842, Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., Garden City, NY, 1920.][{{cite web|url=https://mashable.com/2015/02/14/world-freedom/|title=Petronzio, Matt. "Only 40% of the World's Population Live in Free Countries", Mashable.com, February 14, 2015, Retrieved October 13, 2020.|website=[[Mashable]]|date=February 15, 2015}}][{{cite web|url=https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores|title=Countries and Territories|website=Freedom House|access-date=October 13, 2020}}][R. B. McDowell, ''Ireland in the Age of Imperialism and Revolution, 1760–1801'' (1979)][Bailyn, Bernard. ''To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders'', pp. 134–137, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003. {{ISBN|0-375-41377-4}}.]
For many Europeans, such as the [[Marquis de Lafayette]], who later were active during the era of the [[French Revolution]], the American case along with the [[Dutch Revolt]] (end of the 16th century) and the 17th century [[English Civil War]], was among the examples of overthrowing an old regime. The American Declaration of Independence influenced the French [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] of 1789.[Palmer, (1959); Greene and Pole (1994) chapters 49–52][Center for History and New Media, ''Liberty, equality, fraternity'' (2010)] The spirit of the Declaration of Independence led to laws ending slavery in all the Northern states and the Northwest Territory, with New Jersey the last in 1804. States such as New Jersey and New York adopted gradual emancipation, which kept some people as slaves for more than two decades longer.[Greene and Pole pp. 409, 453–454][Bailyn, Bernard. ''To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders'', pp. 134–137, 141–142, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003. {{ISBN|0-375-41377-4}}.]
===Status of African Americans===
{{Main|African-American history}}
[[File:Prince Estabrook memorial close_up.jpg|thumb|A [[Lexington, Massachusetts]] memorial to [[Prince Estabrook]], who was wounded in the [[Battle of Lexington and Concord]] and was the first Black military casualty of the American Revolutionary War]]
[[File:00SalemPoor.jpg|thumb|A postage stamp, created at the time of the bicentennial, honors [[Salem Poor]], who was an enslaved African American man who purchased his freedom, became a soldier, and rose to fame as a war hero during the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]].[Hubbard, Robert Ernest. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XwPFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 Major General Israel Putnam: Hero of the American Revolution]'', p. 98, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 2017. {{ISBN|978-1-4766-6453-8}}.]]]
During the revolution, the contradiction between the Patriots' professed ideals of liberty and the institution of slavery generated increased scrutiny of the latter.[{{cite book|first=Bernard|last=Bailyn|title=The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|edition=3rd|isbn=978-0-674-97565-1|year=2017|orig-date=1967}}]{{rp|235}}[{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Christopher Leslie|title=Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8078-3034-5}}]{{rp|105–106}}[{{cite book|last=Wood|first=Gordon S.|title=The Radicalism of the American Revolution|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|year=1992|isbn=0-679-40493-7}}]{{rp|186}} As early as 1764, the Boston Patriot leader [[James Otis, Jr.]] declared that all men, "white or black", were "by the law of nature" born free.[Brown, Christopher. PBS Video "Liberty! The American Revolution," Episode 6, "Are We to be a Nation?," Twin Cities Television, Inc. 1997.][Brown, Christopher Leslie. ''Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism'', pp. 105–106. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-8078-3034-5}}.]
In the late 1760s and early 1770s, several colonies, including Massachusetts and Virginia, attempted to restrict the slave trade, but were prevented from doing so by royally appointed governors.[Arthur Zilversmit, ''The First Emancipation: The Abolition of Slavery in the North'' (1967) pp. 201–230]
No southern state abolished slavery. However, enslavers could grant freedom to individuals they enslaved. Numerous slaveholders who freed their enslaved cited Revolutionary ideals in their documents; others freed their enslaved as a reward for service. Records also suggest that some slaveholders were freeing their own mixed-race children, born to enslaved mothers. The number of free Blacks as a proportion of the Black population in the upper South increased from less than 1 percent to nearly 10 percent between 1790 and 1810 as a result of these actions.{{efn|Attributed to multiple sources:[Ketcham, Ralph. ''James Madison: A Biography'', pp. 625–626, American Political Biography Press, Newtown, Connecticut, 1971. {{ISBN|0-945707-33-9}}.][{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/franklin/|title=Benjamin Franklin Petitions Congress|date=August 15, 2016|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration}}][{{Cite web|title=Petition from the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery|url=http://www.ushistory.org:80/documents/antislavery.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521035446/http://www.ushistory.org/documents/antislavery.htm|archive-date=May 21, 2006|date=February 3, 1790|access-date=May 21, 2006|last=Franklin|first=Benjamin}}][{{cite book|author=John Paul Kaminski|title=A Necessary Evil?: Slavery and the Debate Over the Constitution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3SDQgfxsCIC&pg=PA256|year=1995|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=256|isbn=978-0-945612-33-9}}][{{cite book|last=Painter|first=Nell Irvin|title=Creating Black Americans: African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present|year=2007|page=72}}][Wood, Gordon S. ''Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson'', pp. 19, 132, 348, 416, Penguin Press, New York, 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-7352-2471-1}}.][{{cite web|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/28/wood-n28.html|title=Mackaman, Tom. "An Interview with Historian Gordon Wood on the New York Times 1619 Project,"|website=wsws.org|access-date=October 10, 2020|date=November 28, 2019}}][{{cite web|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/03/03/wood-m03.html|title=Mackaman, Tom. "Interview with Gordon Wood on the American Revolution: Part One", World Socialist Web Site, wsws.org, March 3, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2020.|date=March 3, 2015}}][Wood, Gordon S. ''The Radicalism of the American Revolution'', pp. 3–8, 186–187, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1992. {{ISBN|0-679-40493-7}}.][Bailyn, Bernard. ''Faces of Revolution: Personalities and Themes in the Struggle for American Independence'', pp. 221–224, Vintage Books, New York, 1992. {{ISBN|0-679-73623-9}}.]}} Nevertheless, slavery continued in the South, where it was protected as a "peculiar institution", setting the stage for future sectional conflict between North and South over the issue.[Hubbard, Robert Ernest. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XwPFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 Major General Israel Putnam: Hero of the American Revolution]'', p. 98, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 2017. {{ISBN|978-1-4766-6453-8}}; Hoock, Holger. ''Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth'', pp. 95, 300–303, 305, 308–310, Crown Publishing Group, New York, 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-8041-3728-7}}; O'Reilly, Bill and Dugard, Martin. ''Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence'', pp. 96, 308, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2017. {{ISBN|978-1-62779-064-2}}; {{cite web|url=https://www.historyisfun.org/learn/learning-center/african-americans-and-the-american-revolution-2/|title=Ayres, Edward. "African Americans and the American Revolution," Jamestown Settlement and American Revolution Museum at Yorktown website, Retrieved October 21, 2020. |work=History Is Fun }}; {{cite web|url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/revolution/revolution_slavery.cfm#:~:text=Slavery%2C%20the%20American%20Revolution%2C%20and%20the%20Constitution%20African,sensitivity%20to%20the%20opinion%20of%20southern%20slave%20holders|title="Slavery, the American Revolution, and the Constitution", University of Houston Digital History website, Retrieved October 21, 2020}}]
===Status of American women===
{{Main|History of women in the United States}}
{{Morerefs|section|date=January 2026}}
While women were entering a period in which they found themselves gaining more identity within society, they were still very much considered to be subordinate to men, as their role remained being a good wife and mother. Having a woman who was dressed well for her role as a good wife and mother, as well as fitting the social role, was a symbol of not only status, but a family devoted to the republic. As they continued to nurture social and political partnerships, their role in enabling the success of the revolution emphasized their changing role in society – leading to the post-revolutionary reconstruction of gender ideology.
In addition, the democratic ideals of the Revolution inspired changes in the roles of women.[{{Cite journal|jstor=1922356|title=Beyond Roles, Beyond Spheres: Thinking about Gender in the Early Republic|journal=The William and Mary Quarterly|volume=46|issue=3|pages=565–585|last1=Kerber|first1=Linda K.|last2=Cott|first2=Nancy F.|last3=Gross|first3=Robert|last4=Hunt|first4=Lynn|last5=Smith-Rosenberg|first5=Carroll|last6=Stansell|first6=Christine M.|author6-link=Christine Stansell|year=1989|doi=10.2307/1922356}}] Patriot women married to Loyalists who left the state could get a divorce and obtain control of the ex-husband's property.[Mary Beth Norton, ''Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750–1800'' (3rd ed. 1996)] [[Abigail Adams]] expressed to her husband, the president, the desire of women to have a place in the new republic: {{blockquote|I desire you would remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands.[{{cite book|author=Woody Holton|title=Abigail Adams|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ltgyHkFGF3EC&pg=PA172|year=2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=172|isbn=978-1-4516-0736-9}}]
}}
As discussions rose regarding the rights of man post-Revolutionary war, women began pushing for the rights of women as well. [[Mary Wollstonecraft]] pioneered the discussion regarding women's rights, and pushed those like Abigail Adams to begin expressing the desire to want a larger place in society. Wollstonecraft was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate for women's rights who published the ''Vindication of the Rights of Woman'' (1792) – challenging the idea that rights should only be granted to men. She was one of the first major advocates and foundational figures for women's rights and gender equality in a time when women were considered inferior to men. Wollstonecraft focused on equal education and social opportunities for women – believing that if women were educated the same as men, they would gain autonomy over their own lives and better contribute to society. Her ideas contributed to the conversation in allowing women to be bearers of rights alongside men. Inspired by the radical feminism in her work, women in the early republic would change their views on marriage, education, participation in public life, and autonomy. This laid the groundwork for the later women's suffrage movement, education opportunities, property rights, and more.
However, a gender hierarchy would continue to bind women's rights after the Revolution. Women in the early republic could not vote, hold political office, or earn fair wages. They also lacked opportunities for higher education and certain professions, as well as the right to own property independently of their husbands. In addition, they held little legal powers in subjects such as divorce, property rights, and child custody. A central legal concept that reinforced these restrictions was ''coverture'', a central legal doctrine that limited women's lives in all aspects – making a woman's legal identity a part of their husband's. The early national period of America would continue to struggle with the concept of rights and equality.
===Loyalist expatriation===
{{Main|United Empire Loyalist}}
{{See also|Expulsion of the Loyalists}}
[[File:Allegorical painting depicting the British Empire taking in American loyalists in 1783.jpg|thumb|[[Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in the Year 1783]], a painting by early American artist [[Benjamin West]] ]]
Tens of thousands of Loyalists left the United States following the [[American Revolutionary War|war]]; Philip Ranlet estimates 20,000, while [[Maya Jasanoff]] estimates as many as 70,000.[Maya Jasanoff, ''Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World'' (2011). Philip Ranlet, however, estimates that only 20,000 adult white Loyalists went to Canada. "How Many American Loyalists Left the United States?." ''Historian'' 76.2 (2014): 278–307.] Some migrated to Britain, but the great majority received land and subsidies for resettlement in British colonies in North America, especially [[Province of Quebec (1763-1791)|Quebec]] (concentrating in the [[Eastern Townships]]), [[Prince Edward Island]], and [[Nova Scotia]].[W. Stewart Wallace, ''The United Empire Loyalists: A Chronicle of the Great Migration'' (Toronto, 1914) [http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/1/9/7/11977/11977.htm online edition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329042740/http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/1/9/7/11977/11977.htm |date=March 29, 2012 }}] Britain created the colonies of Upper Canada ([[Ontario]]) and [[New Brunswick]] expressly for their benefit, and the Crown awarded land to Loyalists as compensation for losses in the United States. Nevertheless, approximately eighty-five percent of the Loyalists stayed in the United States as American citizens, and some of the exiles later returned to the U.S.[Van Tine, ''American Loyalists'' (1902) p. 307] Patrick Henry spoke of the issue of allowing Loyalists to return as such: "Shall we, who have laid the proud British lion at our feet, be frightened of its whelps?" His actions helped secure return of the Loyalists to American soil.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=265–268}}
===Commemorations===
{{Main|Commemoration of the American Revolution|United States Bicentennial}}
{{Further|American Revolution Statuary||Independence Day (United States)}}
{{See also|Minor American Revolution holidays}}
The American Revolution has a central place in the American memory[Michael Kammen, ''A Season of Youth: The American Revolution and the Historical Imagination'' (1978); Kammen, ''Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture'' (1991)] as the story of the nation's founding. It is covered in the schools, memorialized by two national holidays, [[President's Day|Washington's Birthday]] in February and [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]] in July, and commemorated in innumerable monuments. George Washington's estate at [[Mount Vernon]] was one of the first national pilgrimages for tourists and attracted 10,000 visitors a year by the 1850s.[{{Cite journal|jstor=4249931|title=Historical Memory, Sectional Strife, and the American Mecca: Mount Vernon, 1783–1853|journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|volume=109|issue=3|pages=255–300|last1=Lee|first1=Jean B.|year=2001}}]
The Revolution became a matter of contention in the 1850s in the debates leading to the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865), as spokesmen of both the [[Northern United States]] and the [[Southern United States]] claimed that their region was the true custodian of the legacy of 1776.[Jonathan B. Crider, "De Bow's Revolution: The Memory of the American Revolution in the Politics of the Sectional Crisis, 1850–1861," ''American Nineteenth Century History'' (2009) 10#3 pp. 317–332] The [[United States Bicentennial]] in 1976 came a year after the American withdrawal from the [[Vietnam War]], and speakers stressed the themes of renewal and rebirth based on a restoration of traditional values.[David Ryan, "Re-enacting Independence through Nostalgia – The 1976 US Bicentennial after the Vietnam War", ''Forum for Inter-American Research'' (2012) 5#3 pp. 26–48.]
Today, more than 100 [[:Category:American Revolutionary War sites|battlefields and historic sites of the American Revolution]] are protected and maintained by the government. The [[National Park Service]] alone manages and maintains more than 50 battlefield parks and many other sites such as [[Independence Hall]] that are related to the Revolution.[[https://web.archive.org/web/20021228090508/http://www.nps.gov/revwar/contact/park_info.html National Park Service Revolutionary War Sites.] Accessed January 4, 2018.] The private [[American Battlefield Trust]] uses government grants and other funds to preserve almost 700 acres of battlefield land in six states, and the ambitious private recreation/restoration/preservation/interpretation of over 300 acres of pre-1790 [[Colonial Williamsburg]] was created in the first half of the 20th century for public visitation.[[https://www.battlefields.org/preserve/saved-land] [[American Battlefield Trust]] "Saved Land" webpage. Accessed May 30, 2018.]
==See also==
* [[Influence of the American Revolution on the French Revolution]]
* [[International relations (1648–1814)]]
* [[List of films about the American Revolution]]
* [[List of George Washington articles]]
* [[List of plays and musicals about the American Revolution]]
* [[List of television series and miniseries about the American Revolution]]
* [[Museum of the American Revolution]]
* [[Timeline of the American Revolution]]
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Sources==
{{refbegin|30em}}
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* {{cite book |title=A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle Against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire |last=Weimer |first=Adrian Chastain |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-5128-2397-4 |location=Philadelphia, PA}}
* {{cite journal |last=Whaples |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Whaples |journal=[[The Journal of Economic History]] |volume=55 |issue=1 |jstor=2123771 |title=Where Is There Consensus Among American Economic Historians? The Results of a Survey on Forty Propositions |date=March 1995 |pages=139–154 |doi=10.1017/S0022050700040602 |citeseerx=10.1.1.482.4975 |s2cid=145691938 |issn=0022-0507}}
* {{cite journal |author=Wood, Gordon S. |author-link=Gordon S. Wood |title=Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=3–32 |year=1966 |issn=0043-5597 |doi=10.2307/2936154 |jstor=2936154}}
* {{cite book |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |title=The Radicalism of the American Revolution |year=1993 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-679-73688-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |title=The American Revolution: A History |year=2003 |publisher=Modern Library |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8129-7041-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti00gord |url-access=registration |access-date=October 2, 2010}}
{{refend}}
==Further reading==
{{further|Bibliography of the American Revolutionary War}}
===Reference works===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* Barnes, Ian, and [[Charles Royster]]. ''The Historical Atlas of the American Revolution'' (2000), maps and commentary [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415922437/ excerpt and text search]
* {{cite book|last1=Blanco|first1=Richard L.|last2=Sanborn|first2=Paul J.|title=The American Revolution, 1775–1783: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Garland Publishing Inc.|location=New York|year=1993|isbn=978-0-8240-5623-0|url=https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti0000unse_o8w2}}
* {{cite book|last=Boatner|first=Mark Mayo III|title=Encyclopedia of the American Revolution|edition=2nd|publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]]|location=New York|year=1974|isbn=978-0-684-31513-3}}
* {{Cite book|first=Nicholas|last=Canny|title=The Origins of Empire, The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume I|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=0-19-924676-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eQHSivGzEEMC|ref=refOHBEv1|access-date=July 22, 2009}}
* {{cite book|last=Cappon|first=Lester|title=Atlas of Early American History|date=1976|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-911028-00-5}}
* {{cite book|last1=Fremont-Barnes|first1=Gregory|last2=Ryerson|first2=Richard Alan|last3=Arnold|first3=James R.|last4=Wiener|first4=Roberta|title=The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War|publisher=Abc-clio|date=2006|isbn=978-1-85109-408-0}}
* {{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=Edward G.|last2=Kamensky|first2=Jane|title=The Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2013|isbn=978-0-19-974670-5}}
* {{cite book|last1=Greene|first1=Jack P.|last2=Pole|first2=J. R.|title=A Companion to the American Revolution|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|date=2003|isbn=978-1-4051-1674-9}}
* Herrera, Ricardo A. "American War of Independence" ''Oxford Bibliographies'' (2017) annotated guide to major scholarly books and articles [https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142036/http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791279/obo-9780199791279-0011.xml?rskey=iDQdfx&result=15&q=Hanoverian+Britain#firstMatch online]
* Kennedy, Frances H. ''The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook'' (2014) A guide to 150 famous historical sites.
* Purcell, L. Edward. ''Who Was Who in the American Revolution'' (1993); 1500 short biographies
* {{cite book|last=Resch|first=John Phillips|title=Americans at War|publisher=MacMillan Reference Library|date=2005|isbn=978-0-02-865806-3}}
* {{cite book|last1=Selesky|first1=Harold E.|last2=III|first2=Mark M. Boatner|last3=Schecter|first3=Barnet|title=Encyclopedia of the American Revolution|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|date=2006|isbn=0-684-31470-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Symonds|first=Craig L.|title=A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution|date=1986|publisher=Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America|isbn=0-933852-53-3}}
{{div col end|2}}
===Surveys of the era===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[John Richard Alden|Alden, John R.]] ''A history of the American Revolution'' (1966) 644 pp. [https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica00alde online], A scholarly general survey
* Allison, Robert. ''The American Revolution: A Concise History'' (2011) 128 pp. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0195312953/ excerpt and text search]
* Atkinson, Rick. ''The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777'' (2019) (vol. 1 of his 'The Revolution Trilogy'); called, "one of the best books written on the American War for Independence," [''Journal of Military History'' Jan 2020 p. 268]; the maps are [https://web.archive.org/web/20200725045812/https://revolutiontrilogy.com/books/the-british-are-coming/the-british-are-coming-maps/ online here]
* {{cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=War for America |publisher=Sutton Publishing |date=2001 |isbn=0-7509-2808-5}}, British perspective
* Brown, Richard D., and Thomas Paterson, eds. ''Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760–1791: Documents and Essays'' (2nd ed. 1999)
*Bunker, Nick. ''An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America''. New York 2014.
* {{cite book |last=Christie |first=Ian Ralph |title=Empire Or Independence |date=1976 |publisher=Phaidon Press |isbn=0-7148-1614-0}}, British perspective'
* Cogliano, Francis D. ''Revolutionary America, 1763–1815; A Political History'' (2nd ed. 2008), British textbook
* [[Joseph J. Ellis|Ellis, Joseph J.]] ''American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic'' (2008) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307276457/ excerpt and text search]
* [[Don Higginbotham|Higginbotham, Don]]. ''The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practice, 1763–1789'' (1983) [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=acls;cc=acls;q1=don;q2=ACLS%20Humanities%20E-Book;op2=and;rgn=works;rgn1=author;rgn2=series;view=toc;idno=heb01365.0001.001 Online in ACLS Humanities E-book Project]; comprehensive coverage of military and domestic aspects of the war.
* {{cite book |last=Jensen |first=Merrill |title=The Founding of a Nation |publisher=Hackett Publishing |date=2004 |isbn=0-87220-705-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Knollenberg |first=Bernhard |title=Growth of the American Revolution, 1766–1775 |date=2003 |publisher=Liberty Fund |isbn=0-86597-415-2}}
* Mackesy, Piers. ''The War for America: 1775–1783'' (1992), British military study
* [[Jack Rakove|Rakove, Jack N.]] ''Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America'' (2010) interpretation by leading scholar [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618267468/ excerpt and text search]
* Taylor, Alan. ''[[American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750–1804]]'' (2016) 704 pp.; recent survey by leading scholar
* [[Stanley Weintraub|Weintraub, Stanley]]. ''Iron Tears: Rebellion in America 1775–83'' (2005) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743226879/ excerpt and text search], popular
* {{cite book |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |title=Revolutionary Characters |publisher=Penguin Books |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-14-311208-2}}
{{div col end|2}}
===Specialized studies===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* Baer, Friederike. ''Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War'' (Oxford University Press, 2022). [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/hessians-9780190249632?cc=us&lang=en& Publisher's website].
* Bailyn, Bernard. ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution''. (Harvard University Press, 1967). {{ISBN|0-674-44301-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Becker |first=C.L. |title=The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas |publisher=Harcourt, Brace |year=1922 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpMaAAAAYAAJ |access-date=May 29, 2023}}
* Becker, Frank: [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20171019144355/http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/european-media/european-media-events/american-revolution/frank-becker-the-american-revolution-as-a-european-media-event The American Revolution as a European Media Event], [[European History Online]], Mainz: [[Institute of European History]], 2011, retrieved: October 25, 2011.
* {{cite book |author=Berkin, Carol |title=Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4000-7532-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/revolutionarymot00caro_0}}
* {{cite book |last=Breen |first=T. H. |title=The Marketplace of Revolution |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005 |isbn=0-19-518131-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Breen |first=T. H. |title=American Insurgents, American Patriots |publisher=Hill and Wang |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4299-3260-8}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brunsman |first1=Denver Alexander |last2=Silverman |first2=David J. |title=The American Revolution Reader |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-53757-5}}
* Carté, Katerine. ''Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History''. Chapel Hill: Omohondro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press 2021. {{ISBN|978-1-4696-6264-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Chernow |first=Ron |title=Washington |publisher=Penguin |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-101-44418-4}}
* {{cite book |last1=Crow |first1=Jeffrey J. |last2=Tise |first2=Larry E. |title=The Southern Experience in the American Revolution |date=1978 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0-8078-1313-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Fischer |first=David Hackett |title=Paul Revere's Ride |publisher=Oxford University Press, US |date=1995 |isbn=0-19-509831-5}}
* Fischer, David Hackett. ''Washington's Crossing'' (2004). 1776 campaigns; Pulitzer prize. {{ISBN|0-19-517034-2}}
* {{cite web |title=Washington : Freeman, Douglas Southall, 1886–1953: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive |via=Internet Archive |date=March 25, 2023 |publisher=New York, Scribner |url=https://archive.org/details/washington00free |access-date=May 29, 2023}}
* Gilbert, Alan. ''Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipstuob in the War for Independence''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-226-29307-3}}
* [[Gerald Horne|Horne, Gerald]]. ''The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America''. ([[New York University Press]], 2014). {{ISBN|1-4798-9340-4}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Hull |first1=N.E.H. |last2=Hoffer |first2=Peter C. |last3=Allen |first3=Steven L. |title=Choosing Sides: A Quantitative Study of the Personality Determinants of Loyalist and Revolutionary Political Affiliation in New York |journal=Journal of American History |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=344–366 |year=1978 |issn=0021-8723 |doi=10.2307/1894084 |jstor=1894084}}
* {{cite book |last=Kerber |first=Linda K. |author-link=Linda K. Kerber |title=Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America |year=1997 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-0-8078-4632-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/womenofrepublici00kerb_0}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kidd |first1=Thomas S. |last2=Kidd |first2=S. |title=God of Liberty |publisher=Basic Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-465-02277-9}}
* Land, Jeremy. ''Colonial Ports, Global Trade, and the Roots of the American Revolution (1700-1776)''. Leiden: Brill, 2023. {{ISBN|978-90-04-54269-3}}.
* Langley, Lester D. ''The Long American Revolution and Its Legacy''(U of Georgia Press, 2019) [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55104 online review] emphasis on long-term global impact.
* {{cite book |last=Lockwood |first=Matthew |title=To Begin the World Over Again |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-300-23225-7}}
* [[David McCullough|McCullough, David]]. [[1776 (book)|1776]] (2005). {{ISBN|0-7432-2671-2}}; popular narrative of the year 1776
* [[Pauline Maier|Maier, Pauline]]. ''American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence'' (1998) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679779086/ excerpt and text search]
* Nash, Gary B. ''The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America''. (2005). {{ISBN|0-670-03420-7}}
* [[Allan Nevins|Nevins, Allan]]; ''The American States during and after the Revolution, 1775–1789'' 1927. [https://archive.org/details/americanstatesdu00nevi online edition]
* {{cite book |last=Norton |first=Mary Beth |title=Liberty's Daughters |publisher=Scott Foresman & Company |date=1980 |isbn=0-673-39348-8}}
* Norton, Mary Beth. ''1774: The Long Year of Revolution'' (2020) [https://www.wsj.com/articles/1774-review-the-year-that-changed-the-world-11582303285?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1 online review] by [[Gordon S. Wood]]
* {{cite book |last=O'Shaughnessy |first=Andrew Jackson |title=The Men Who Lost America |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-300-19524-8}}
* Palmer, Robert R. ''The Age of the Democratic Revolution: A Political History of Europe and America, 1760–1800''. vol 1 (1959)
* {{cite book |last1=Resch |first1=John Phillips |last2=Sargent |first2=Walter L. |title=War & Society in the American Revolution |date=2006 |publisher=Northern Illinois University Press |isbn=0-87580-366-0}}
* [[Murray Rothbard|Rothbard, Murray]], ''[[Conceived in Liberty]]'' (2011), ''Volume III: Advance to Revolution, 1760–1775'' and ''Volume IV: The Revolutionary War, 1775–1784''. {{ISBN|978-1-933550-98-5}}, {{oclc|810280385}} [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] perspective
* {{cite book |author=Shy, John |title=Toward Lexington: The Role of the British Army in the Coming of the American Revolution |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-59740-414-3 |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=acls;idno=heb00439 |access-date=October 2, 2010}}
* Van Tyne, Claude Halstead. ''American Loyalists: The Loyalists in the American Revolution'' (1902) [https://books.google.com/books?id=mNtEAAAAIAAJ online edition]
* Volo, James M. and Dorothy Denneen Volo. ''Daily Life during the American Revolution'' (2003)
* Wahlke, John C. ed. ''The Causes of the American Revolution'' (1967) primary and secondary readings [https://archive.org/details/TheCausesOfTheAmericanRevolution online]
* {{cite journal |author=Warren, Charles |author-link=Charles Warren (U.S. author) |title=Fourth of July Myths |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=237–272 |year=1945 |issn=0043-5597 |doi=10.2307/1921451 |jstor=1921451}}
* Wood, Gordon S. ''American Revolution'' (2005) [excerpt and text search] 208 pp [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0753818078/ excerpt and text search]
* {{cite book |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |title=The Radicalism of the American Revolution |publisher=Knopf |date=1992 |isbn=0-679-40493-7}}
{{div col end|2}}
===Historiography===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* Allison, David, and Larrie D. Ferreiro, eds. ''The American Revolution: A World War'' (Smithsonian, 2018) [https://www.amazon.com/American-Revolution-World-War/dp/1588346331/ excerpt] {{ASIN|B07FLJX556}}
*Ben-Atar, Doron. "The American Revolution" In ''Oxford History of the British Empire, vol. 5, Historiography''. New York: Oxford University Press 1998, 94–113.
* Breen, Timothy H. "Ideology and nationalism on the eve of the American Revolution: Revisions once more in need of revising." ''Journal of American History'' (1997): 13–39. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2952733 in JSTOR]
* Burnard, Trevor. ''Writing Early America: From Empire to Revolution''. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press 2023. {{ISBN|978-0-8139-4920-8}} Analysis of 400 scholarly journal articles.
* Countrymen, Edward. "Historiography" in Harold E. Selesky, ed., ''Encyclopedia of the American Revolution'' (Gale, 2006) pp. 501–508. {{ISBN|978-0-684-31498-3}}
* Gibson, Alan. ''[https://archive.org/details/interpretingfoun0000gibs/page/n3/mode/2up Interpreting the Founding: Guide to the Enduring Debates over the Origins and Foundations of the American Republic]'' (2006).{{ISBN|978-0-7006-1454-7}}
* Hattem, Michael D. "The Historiography of the American Revolution" ''Journal of the American Revolution'' (2013) [https://web.archive.org/web/20180826063433/https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/08/historiography-of-american-revolution/ online] outlines ten different scholarly approaches
* Morgan, Gwenda. ''The Debate on the American Revolution'' (2007). Manchester University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7190-5241-5}}
* Schocket, Andrew M. ''Fighting over the Founders: How We Remember the American Revolution'' (2014). {{ISBN|978-0-8147-0816-3|9781479884100|9780814771174}} . How politicians, screenwriters, activists, biographers, museum professionals, and re-enactors portray the American Revolution. [https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-over-Founders-Remember-Revolution/dp/0814708161/ excerpt]
* Shalhope, Robert E. "Toward a republican synthesis: the emergence of an understanding of republicanism in American historiography." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1972): 49–80. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1921327 in JSTOR]
* Waldstreicher, David. "The Revolutions of Revolution Historiography: Cold War Contradance, Neo-Imperial Waltz, or Jazz Standard?" ''Reviews in American History'' 42.1 (2014): 23–35. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/reviews_in_american_history/v042/42.1.waldstreicher.html online]
* Wood, Gordon S. "Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1966): 4–32. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2936154 in JSTOR]
* Young, Alfred F. and Gregory H. Nobles. ''Whose American Revolution Was It? Historians Interpret the Founding'' (2011). NYU Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8147-9710-5}}
{{div col end|2}}
===Primary sources===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* ''The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence'' (2001), Library of America {{ASIN|B009OEAT8Q}}
* Dann, John C., ed. ''The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence'' (1999). {{ISBN|978-0-226-13624-0}}. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226136248/ excerpt and text search], recollections by ordinary soldiers
* Humphrey, Carol Sue, ed. ''The Revolutionary Era: Primary Documents on Events from 1776 to 1800'' (2003), Greenwood Press. {{ISBN|978-0-313-32083-5}}, Newspaper accounts [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0313320837/ excerpt and text search]
* Jensen, Merill, ed. ''Tracts of the American Revolution, 1763–1776'' (1967). American pamphlets {{ISBN|978-0-87220-693-9}}
* Jensen, Merill, ed. ''English Historical Documents: American Colonial Documents to 1776: Volume 9'' (1955), 890 pp; major collection of important documents {{ISBN|978-0-19-519506-4}}
* [[Samuel Eliot Morison|Morison, Samuel E.]] ed. ''Sources and Documents Illustrating the American Revolution, 1764–1788, and the Formation of the Federal Constitution'' (1923). {{ISBN|978-0-19-500262-1}}.
* Murdoch, David H. ed. ''Rebellion in America: A Contemporary British Viewpoint, 1769–1783'' (1979), 900+ pp of annotated excerpts from ''Annual Register''[https://archive.org/details/rebellioninameri0000unse online]
* [https://archive.org/details/TheAmericanRevolutionThroughBritishEyes Martin Kallich and Andrew MacLeish, eds. ''The American Revolution through British eyes'' (1962)] primary documents
* {{cite web |author=Fifth Virginia Convention |author-link=Fifth Virginia Convention |title=Preamble and Resolution of the Virginia Convention, May 15, 1776 |publisher=Lillian Goldman Law Library |location=New Haven, CT |year=1776 |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/const02.asp |access-date=October 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906044910/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/const02.asp |archive-date=September 6, 2010 |url-status=live}}
{{div col end|2}}
==External links==
* [https://www.nps.gov/subjects/americanrevolution/index.htm ''American Revolution''], US National Park Service website portal
* [https://www.nps.gov/articles/american-independence-teaching-with-historic-places.htm ''American Independence''] Teaching with Historic Places uses historic places in National Parks and the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects
*''Ben Franklin's World'', podcast on early America, sponsored by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/revolution/home.html Library of Congress Guide to the American Revolution]
* [https://www.r2studios.org/show/worlds-turned-upside-down/episodes/ Worlds Turned Upside Down podcast]
* [https://friederikebaer.com/ "Hessians:" German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War]. Academic blog with original German sources, English translations, and commentary.
* [https://www.amrevmuseum.org/ Museum of the American Revolution]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150211220154/http://sandbox.nyhsdev.org/sites/default/files/curriculum_materials/revolution/Revolution-Teachers-Guide.zip Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn], explores the transformations in the world's politics from 1763 to 1815, with particular attention to three revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. Linking the attack on monarchism and aristocracy to the struggle against slavery, it at how freedom, equality, and sovereignty of the people became universal goals. [[New-York Historical Society]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170925043204/https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/the-pageant-of-america-collection#/?tab=navigation&roots=5:ea3df220-c613-012f-a026-58d385a7bc34 132 historic photographs dealing with the personalities, monuments, weapons and locations of the American Revolution; these are pre-1923 and out of copyright.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170826032429/https://www.archives.gov/research/military/american-revolution/pictures ''Pictures of the Revolutionary War: Select Audiovisual Records''], National Archives and Records Administration images, including non-military events and portraits
* [https://www.academia.edu/38673024/The_Democratic_Revolution_of_the_Enlightenment The Democratic Revolution of the Enlightenment]. Legacy of the struggle for independence and democracy.
* [https://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/ PBS Television Series ''Liberty''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511115206/http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/ |date=May 11, 2021 }}
* [http://www.chickasaw.tv/history-timeline/document/american-revolution Chickasaws Conflicted by the American Revolution] – Chickasaw.TV
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060711130731/http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/revolutionary_money/ Smithsonian study unit on Revolutionary Money]
* [http://www.blackloyalist.com/ Black Loyalist Heritage Society]
* [http://www.ouramericanhistory.com/ Spanish and Latin American contribution to the American Revolution]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080512003745/http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/index.html American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution] at Northern Illinois University Libraries
* [http://www.democracynow.org/2014/6/27/counter_revolution_of_1776_was_us "Counter-Revolution of 1776": Was U.S. Independence War a Conservative Revolt in Favor of Slavery?] [[Democracy Now!]] June 27, 2014.
* [[Wikiversity:The Great American Paradox]]
{{American Revolution origins}}
{{American Revolutionary War|state=collapsed}}
{{British law and the American Revolution}}
{{United States Declaration of Independence}}
{{Constitution of the United States}}
{{US history}}
{{George Washington}}
{{United States topics}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:American Revolution| ]]
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[[Category:Atlantic Revolutions]]
[[Category:Legal history of the United States]]
[[Category:Coups d'état in the United States]]
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