![]() ![]() In return for a guarantee of independence, Congress joined France in its global war with Britain and agreed to defend the French West Indies. The Continental Army then went into winter quarters in Valley Forge, where General von Steuben drilled it into an organized fighting unit.įrance provided the US informal economic and military support from the beginning of the rebellion, and after Saratoga the two countries signed a commercial agreement and a Treaty of Alliance in February 1778. This victory was crucial in convincing powers like France and Spain an independent United States was a viable entity. In summer 1777, Howe succeeded in taking Philadelphia, but in October a separate force under John Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga. He captured New York City in November, before Washington won small but significant victories at Trenton and Princeton, which restored Patriot confidence. The Olive Branch Petition sent by Congress to George III in July 1775 was rejected, and in August Parliament declared the colonies in a state of rebellion.įollowing the loss of Boston in March 1776, Sir William Howe, the new British commander-in-chief, launched the New York and New Jersey campaign. ![]() Although the "coercion policy" advocated by the North ministry was opposed by a faction within Parliament, both sides increasingly viewed conflict as inevitable. Despite attempts to achieve a peaceful solution, fighting began, after the Westminster Massacre in March, with the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775, and in June Congress authorized the creation of a Continental Army with George Washington as commander-in-chief. In an appeal to Britain's George III seeking peace, the Congress drafted a Petition to the King but also threatened a boycott of British goods known as the Continental Association if the Intolerable Acts were not withdrawn. The measures stirred unrest throughout the colonies, 12 of which sent delegates to Philadelphia in early September 1774 to organize a protest as the First Continental Congress. ![]() In response, Parliament imposed the so-called Intolerable Acts in mid-1774, closing the Boston Harbor, revoking Massachusetts' charter, and placing the colony under control of the British government. ![]() While the earlier taxation measures were repealed, Parliament adopted the Tea Act in 1773, a measure that led to the Boston Tea Party on December 16. Colonial opposition led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 which largely fostered the idea of independence from Britain. After British victory over the French in the Seven Years' War in 1763, tensions between the motherland and her 13 colonies arose over trade, policy in the Northwest Territory, and taxation measures, including the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. The American Patriots were supported by the Kingdom of France and, to a lesser extent, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire, in a conflict taking place in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean.Įstablished by royal charter in the 17th and 18th centuries, the American colonies were largely autonomous in domestic affairs and commercially prosperous, trading with Britain and its Caribbean colonies, as well as other European powers via their Caribbean entrepôts. Fighting began on April 19, 1775, followed by the Lee Resolution on July 2, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The American Revolutionary War (Ap– September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, secured American independence from Great Britain. ![]()
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