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American Revolution
1775–1783· War· Americas & Oceania
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
The war in which thirteen British colonies in North America won independence and founded the United States.
See it on the History map →What happened
After 1763, Britain taxed the colonies to help pay for the costly Seven Years' War, and colonists protested 'no taxation without representation.' Fighting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, and Congress declared independence in July 1776. George Washington's Continental Army struggled until the 1777 victory at Saratoga brought France into the war. A French fleet helped trap the British army at Yorktown in 1781, and the Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized the new nation.
Why it matters
It created the first large modern republic built on written rights and elected government, and its example spread to France, Haiti and Latin America.
How we know
Journals of the Continental Congress, letters of leaders like Washington and John Adams, British army and parliamentary records, newspapers, pamphlets such as Thomas Paine's Common Sense, and battlefield archaeology.
Still debated
Was it a radical social revolution or a conservative revolt to keep existing liberties? Historians disagree. Roughly a fifth of colonists stayed loyal to Britain (estimates vary).
Inside this (4)
Connections (6)
▸European colonies in North America included the thirteen that launched the American RevolutionWell documented
The connection
Of Europe's many North American colonies, Spanish, French, Dutch and British, the thirteen British ones on the Atlantic coast had their own elected assemblies, used to taxing themselves. When Britain, after beating France in 1763, had Parliament tax them directly, they united and rebelled. Quebec, Nova Scotia, Florida and the Caribbean colonies stayed loyal.
When and how
From Jamestown (1607) to the Stamp Act (1765) and Boston Tea Party (1773); the thirteen, from New Hampshire to Georgia, then held about 2.5 million people.
How we know
Colonial assembly records, the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, Continental Congress journals, and the Declaration itself, which speaks for the 'united colonies.'
Debates and open questions
Why the thirteen rebelled while nearby Quebec, Nova Scotia and the rich Caribbean sugar islands did not is still discussed.
▸Enlightenment inspired American RevolutionWell documented
The connection
Enlightenment ideas gave colonial grievances a language of universal principles: natural rights, consent of the governed, separation of powers (from Montesquieu) and religious tolerance. Leaders like Jefferson, Franklin and Madison were Enlightenment figures themselves, and Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776) carried these ideas to ordinary readers.
When and how
The thirteen colonies, 1760s to 1780s; pamphlets, newspapers and colleges spread works by Locke, Montesquieu and Scottish thinkers.
How we know
Founders' letters and libraries; Bernard Bailyn's study of revolutionary pamphlets traced their sources; Common Sense reportedly sold over 100,000 copies within months.
Debates and open questions
Historians weigh Enlightenment ideas against other drivers: Protestant religion, English common-law rights, and colonists' economic interests.
▸Declaration of Independence proclaimed the aims of the American RevolutionWell documented
The connection
Fifteen months into the fighting, the Declaration turned a rebellion for colonists' rights as Englishmen into a war for a new nation. It made a foreign alliance possible, since France could not openly back rebels still professing loyalty to the king, and it gave soldiers and citizens a stated cause.
When and how
Philadelphia, July 4, 1776; read aloud to Washington's troops in New York on July 9 and printed in newspapers across the colonies.
How we know
Congressional journals, Washington's general orders of July 9, 1776, newspaper printings, and France's formal alliance with the US in 1778.
Debates and open questions
How much ordinary soldiers and colonists were moved by its ideals, versus local grievances, pay and loyalty to neighbors, is debated.
▸American Revolution produced the US ConstitutionWell documented
The connection
Victory left thirteen states loosely tied by the Articles of Confederation, under which Congress could not tax, repay war debts or settle disputes between states. Shays' Rebellion of 1786, by indebted Massachusetts farmers, alarmed leaders. Revolutionary veterans like Washington and Hamilton pushed for a stronger national government, drafted in Philadelphia in 1787.
When and how
Philadelphia, May to September 1787; George Washington presided, and James Madison drafted much of the plan.
How we know
Madison's notes, the convention's official records, and the Federalist Papers, which argue directly that the Articles had failed.
Debates and open questions
Historian Charles Beard argued in 1913 that the framers mainly protected their own property and bonds; most historians now see more mixed motives.
▸American Revolution inspired French RevolutionMostly agreed
The connection
France's aid to the Americans, over a billion livres, deepened the debt crisis that forced the king to call the Estates-General in 1789. Lafayette came home inspired and drafted an early version of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, advised by Thomas Jefferson, then US minister in Paris. America showed a republic founded on rights could work.
When and how
France and America, 1778 to 1789; Lafayette and Jefferson in Paris; the Declaration of the Rights of Man adopted on August 26, 1789.
How sure are we?
French treasury accounts, Jefferson's letters, and Lafayette's drafts of the Declaration with Jefferson's comments, all of which survive.
Debates and open questions
The French Revolution had deep homegrown causes. Historians debate whether the American example was a major cause, or mainly an inspiration and a debt burden.
▸Simón Bolívar was inspired by the American RevolutionMostly agreed
The connection
The young Bolívar visited the United States in 1807 and admired how it had broken from a European empire. He held up George Washington as a model, and Lafayette later sent him a medallion of Washington. But he judged US-style federalism wrong for Spanish America, preferring strong central government.
When and how
Bolívar passed through Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Charleston in 1807; Lafayette's gift of Washington's medallion was sent in 1825.
How sure are we?
His Jamaica Letter (1815) and Angostura address (1819) discuss the US example, praising it while warning against copying its federal system.
Debates and open questions
In 1829 Bolívar wrote that the US seemed destined to 'plague America with misery in the name of liberty'; how much he admired versus distrusted it is debated.