Tax quarrels after 1763 grew into a written federal republic
From 1765 to 1789 a political movement in Britain's thirteen colonies evolved from protest into revolution and a new United States. Wartime taxes, local self-rule traditions, and armed clashes around Boston culminated in July 1776 declarations and a 1783 peace recognizing American sovereignty.
The American Revolution began as colonial discontent after the 1763 French and Indian War when Parliament levied new taxes and placed western lands under Montreal officials. The 1765 Stamp Act Congress in New York declared taxation without representation violated Englishmen's rights; repealing the Stamp Act did not calm 1767 Townshend duties. Troops sent to Massachusetts preceded the 1770 Boston Massacre; in 1773 Sons of Liberty dumped East India Company tea, prompting Intolerable Acts that tightened imperial control yet swelled Patriot ranks.
Twelve colonies met in the 1774 First Continental Congress—Georgia joined in 1775—building committee networks on Sons of Liberty foundations. After Lexington and Concord in April 1775 the Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army under George Washington, besieged Boston until British withdrawal in March 1776, and suppressed Crown authority in favor of state constitutions. On 2 July 1776 the Lee Resolution passed; on 4 July Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration proclaiming equal creation and inalienable rights, then drafted the Articles of Confederation to coordinate war and diplomacy.
Victory at Yorktown in 1781 shifted British politics; the 3 September 1783 Treaty of Paris recognized independence and ceded territory east of the Mississippi south of the Great Lakes. The 1789 Constitution and 1791 Bill of Rights institutionalized a federal republic with written guarantees—early yet influential models of natural rights and consent, though democratic limits remained by later standards. France entered the war; outcome seemed uncertain for years until Cornwallis's surrender.
Longer roots include seventeenth-century self-government under salutary neglect after the Glorious Revolution, Navigation Acts shaping trade, and a distinct American identity forged through English Civil War politics, King Philip's War without English aid, and failed Dominion of New England under Andros. Mercantilist policy expected colonies to supply raw materials and buy manufactures; molasses duties sparked smuggling protests. Capt. Levi Preston of Danvers summed the motive: colonists had always governed themselves and intended to keep doing so when Britain disagreed.
Source: American Revolution
