Background: the colonies and the Seven Years' War
By 1760 there were 13 British colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America, home to about 2 million people: settlers from Britain and Europe, about 500,000 enslaved Africans, while many Native American nations lived to the west. Each colony had its own elected assembly, and colonists were used to running local affairs.
The Seven Years' War (1756–63; in America called the French and Indian War) was fought between Britain and France across the world. Britain won and gained French lands in North America, but its national debt nearly doubled. With France gone, colonists felt less need for British protection, and a shared American identity slowly grew.
Causes: British laws and colonial protest, 1763–1774
- Proclamation of 1763: no settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, to avoid wars with Native nations. Settlers and land speculators were angry.
- Sugar Act (1764) and stricter customs checks against smuggling.
- Stamp Act (1765): a tax on newspapers, legal papers and playing cards. The Stamp Act Congress and riots followed; Parliament repealed it in 1766 but passed the Declaratory Act saying it could make laws for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever".
- Townshend Acts (1767): duties on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea. Boycotts of British goods; most duties removed in 1770 except on tea.
- Boston Massacre (1770): soldiers fired on a crowd; five died.
- Tea Act (1773) helped the East India Company; protesters dumped tea into Boston harbour (the Boston Tea Party).
- Coercive Acts (1774), called "Intolerable Acts" by colonists: Boston's port closed and Massachusetts' self-government cut.
The key argument was "no taxation without representation": colonists had no MPs in Parliament, so they said only their own assemblies could tax them. Groups like the Sons of Liberty and committees of correspondence linked the colonies.
Ideas and the Declaration of Independence, 1774–1776
The First Continental Congress (1774) organised a boycott. In April 1775 fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord. The Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army under George Washington.
Ideas from the Enlightenment shaped the revolution: John Locke's natural rights (life, liberty, property) and government by the consent of the governed; Montesquieu's separation of powers. In January 1776 Thomas Paine's Common Sense argued in plain words for full independence and sold very widely.
On 4 July 1776 Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, mainly written by Thomas Jefferson. It said all people have equal, unalienable rights, that governments exist to protect them, and that people may change a government that destroys them. It then listed complaints against King George III.
Not everyone agreed: Loyalists (perhaps a fifth of colonists) stayed loyal to Britain; Patriots wanted independence; many were neutral.
The War of Independence, 1775–1783
British strengths: a professional army, the world's strongest navy, money, and hired German soldiers. Patriot strengths: fighting on home ground, a huge land that was hard to conquer, a strong cause, and Washington's leadership in keeping the army together (for example the hard winter at Valley Forge, 1777–78).
- Saratoga (1777): a whole British army surrendered. This turning point convinced France to sign an alliance (1778); Spain (1779) and the Dutch Republic also fought Britain.
- Yorktown (1781): American and French forces, with the French navy blocking the sea, trapped a British army, which surrendered.
- Treaty of Paris (1783): Britain recognised the independence of the United States, with land up to the Mississippi River.
Enslaved people were offered freedom by both sides at times; many joined the British for that promise. Most Native nations sided with Britain, hoping to stop settlers moving west.
Founding the republic: Articles, Constitution and early government
Articles of Confederation (1781–1789): a loose league of states. Congress could not tax, had no national army and could not control trade; big changes needed all states. Debts went unpaid, and Shays' Rebellion (1786–87), a revolt of indebted farmers, showed its weakness.
The Constitutional Convention (Philadelphia, 1787) wrote a new Constitution:
- Separation of powers: legislative (Congress: Senate + House of Representatives), executive (President), judicial (Supreme Court).
- Checks and balances: e.g. the President can veto laws; Congress can override a veto and impeach; courts can review laws.
- Federalism: power shared between the national government and the states.
- Great Compromise: equal seats per state in the Senate, seats by population in the House. The Three-Fifths Compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for seats, protecting slaveholding states.
Federalists (Hamilton, Madison) argued for it; Anti-Federalists feared a strong centre. Ratification came in 1788, and the Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments: speech, religion, press, fair trial…) was added in 1791.
Washington (1789–97) set traditions: a cabinet, two terms. Hamilton's financial plan took on state debts and created a national bank. Disagreement led to the first political parties: Federalists vs Democratic-Republicans (Jefferson). John Adams (1797–1801) faced a crisis with France and the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts; in 1801 power passed peacefully to Jefferson.
Impact and limits
The revolution created a large republic with a written constitution and inspired the French Revolution (1789), the Haitian Revolution and Latin American independence movements. But its promise of equality was limited: slavery continued in the South (northern states began to end it), Native nations lost land, women could not vote, and voting was often limited to property-owning white men. These gaps led to later struggles for rights.
Key formulas and definitions
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Worked examples
1. Explain why the Stamp Act caused more anger than earlier trade duties.
It was a direct tax on everyday papers inside the colonies, not a duty on trade, so it touched almost everyone: lawyers, printers, merchants. It was passed by a Parliament with no colonial members, which led to the cry "no taxation without representation".
2. Why was Saratoga a turning point?
A full British army surrendered, which proved the Americans could win. France then signed an alliance in 1778, bringing money, troops and a navy, which later made Yorktown possible.
3. How many years passed between the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Paris?
1783 − 1776 = 7 years.
4. Give two weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and how the Constitution fixed them.
Congress could not tax: the Constitution gave Congress power to tax. There was no strong executive: the Constitution created a President. (Also: trade between states could now be controlled by Congress.)
Common mistakes
- Saying the war began in 1776. Fighting began in April 1775; independence was declared in July 1776.
- Thinking all colonists wanted independence. Many were Loyalists or neutral.
- Mixing up the Declaration of Independence (1776, reasons for breaking away) with the Constitution (1787, plan of government).
- Forgetting foreign help: France, Spain and the Dutch Republic were vital to the American victory.