The Stamp Act

Britain also forced the colonies to pay a number of new taxes. In 1765 the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. This measure required the colonists to attach stamps purchased from the British government to legal documents, newspapers, and other items. Because the colonies did not have representatives in Parliament, many colonists protested that the act was “taxation without representation.” People refused to buy the stamps. Merchants agreed not to buy goods from Britain until the act was canceled. In response to this opposition, the British government eliminated the Stamp Act early in 1766. But Parliament did not want to admit it lacked the power to tax the colonies. It passed the Declaratory Act, which stated that Britain had full power to make laws for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

The Townshend Acts

Nevertheless, the colonists were delighted when the Stamp Act was canceled. Relations improved between Britain and the colonies. They broke down again, however, when Charles Townshend, chancellor of the British Exchequer (treasury), introduced new taxes in 1767. The Townshend Acts placed taxes on tea, lead, paint, paper, and glass entering colonial ports. The money collected was to be used to pay the salaries of colonial officials. Townshend also suspended the New York legislature when it refused to provide supplies for British troops. All of this resulted in new colonial fears and resentments. Many of the colonists again refused to cooperate with the new laws.

The Boston Massacre and the Tea Party

To keep order, the British government sent soldiers to Boston. Trouble soon started between the townspeople and the troops. Finally, on March 5, 1770, a mob provoked some British soldiers into firing into the crowd. Several men were killed and others wounded. News of this event, which became known as the Boston Massacre, spread quickly through the colonies.

On the same day as the Boston Massacre, Parliament eliminated most of the Townshend Acts. The tax on tea, however, remained in effect. This one tax was kept to show Britain's right to order such taxes. Then, in 1773, Britain passed the Tea Act. This act was supposed to help the financially troubled British East India Company sell its extra tea in the colonies. The company paid the Townshend tax, but colonial merchants still had to pay higher duties on the tea they imported. Therefore the East India Company was able to sell its tea more cheaply than its competitors. Once more opposition and violence arose. Throughout the colonies ships bringing the tea were not allowed to land their cargoes or were forced to return to Britain. In Boston, on December 16, 1773, a group of colonists dressed like Native Americans boarded some ships and threw the tea into the harbor. This act of rebellion became known as the Boston Tea Party. It forced the British government to choose between backing down again or taking strong measures against the colonists.

The Intolerable Acts

The British government responded by passing strict laws that the colonists called the Intolerable Acts. The strongest of these acts closed the port of Boston until the colonists paid for the ruined tea. Massachusetts, which was used to governing itself, was put under military rule. Anger in the colonies reached new heights.

Quickly the colonists united to preserve their liberties. In 1774 the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fifty-six representatives, from every colony except Georgia, met and produced a document called the Declaration of Rights. This declaration called on Britain to cancel the Intolerable Acts, but the Congress also tried to reach an agreement with the British government. Some British statesmen, such as William Pitt and Edmund Burke, were sympathetic to the colonists' position. The government of Prime Minister Lord North, however, refused to give in to the colonists' demands. Instead, with the support of King George III, the government decided to send even more troops to the colonies to enforce all acts of Parliament.

Lexington and Concord

General Thomas Gage was in command of the British troops in North America. In 1774 he was also made the military governor of Massachusetts. In April 1775 he ordered troops to Lexington to arrest the patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock so they could be sent to Britain for trial. Gage also ordered the troops to seize colonial military supplies at Concord.

The colonists expected a move like this. In their famous rides through the countryside, Paul Revere and William Dawes spread the warning that Gage's troops—the “redcoats”—were on their way. Armed colonists were waiting for the British at Lexington, and fighting broke out on April 19. The British continued to Concord but found that most of the weapons and ammunition had been hidden. Armed colonists met the British at the North Bridge over the Concord River. The colonial fighters were called minutemen because they agreed to be ready for duty “at a minute's warning.” After the battles at Lexington and Concord, the minutemen moved on to surround the British in Boston. The American Revolution had begun.

The battle of Bunker Hill

Meanwhile, General William Howe had been sent to assist Gage in commanding the British troops in Boston. Howe's first step was to strengthen his position. He decided to occupy Bunker and Breed's Hills, which overlooked Boston. But the Americans were prepared. The battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775. The British captured the high ground, but they lost so many soldiers that the colonists claimed a victory.

George Washington prepares the troops

Washington took command of the troops around Boston about two weeks after the battle of Bunker Hill. During the summer, autumn, and winter of 1775 he drilled the untrained troops and discouraged desertions. Washington also tightened the noose around the British in Boston. The only active fighting during this period was in Canada. American troops under General Richard Montgomery captured Montreal and then went on to Quebec to join troops led by Benedict Arnold. The colonial attack on Quebec failed, however, and Montgomery was killed.

By the spring of 1776 Washington had decided that his army was strong enough to attack. He seized Dorchester Heights, just south of Boston, and forced the British to leave the city without a fight. The British retreated so quickly that they left behind valuable supplies, weapons, and ammunition. The British then sailed north to Halifax, in Canada. Washington moved his forces to the New York City area.

Declaration of Independence

After more than a year of fighting, Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This document announced the separation of the colonies from Britain. Nevertheless, as many as one third of the colonists remained loyal to the king. Many of these loyalists, called Tories, even fought in the British Army.

Victories for the colonists

General Howe replaced Thomas Gage as the supreme commander of the British Army in the spring of 1776. In July and August he invaded New York. After hard fighting Washington retreated. He made a long march across New Jersey, pausing along the Delaware River. On Christmas night Washington crossed the Delaware and attacked the British at Trenton. Although the British soon recaptured Trenton, Washington escaped and went on to defeat British troops at Princeton. These victories put new life in the American cause.

The battle of Saratoga

In the summer of 1777 Howe decided to shift his base from New York to the colonial capital of Philadelphia. Washington tried to defend the city against a much larger army. The result was a serious defeat at Brandywine Creek. Howe then took Philadelphia. When Washington attacked British troops at nearby Germantown, Howe again defeated him. In the same year the British General John Burgoyne invaded the colonies from Canada. He recaptured Fort Ticonderoga and continued south. That autumn, however, the British were badly defeated at the battle of Saratoga in New York. On October 17, 1777, Burgoyne was forced to surrender his entire army to General Horatio Gates. Had Howe tried, he could probably have saved Burgoyne's army instead of taking Philadelphia. Howe was widely criticized for his decision, and he soon resigned.

The battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the war. News of the American victory helped Benjamin Franklin, the colonists' representative in Paris, to bring France into the war on the side of the United States. France declared war on Britain in 1778.

Valley Forge

Nevertheless, the winter of 1777–78 was a very difficult one for Washington and his army. They spent those months at Valley Forge, near Philadelphia. Many soldiers deserted, and the ones who remained suffered terribly because of the lack of food and clothing. But they did not lose their courage or morale. When spring came the army emerged as a well-disciplined and efficient fighting force. When the new British commander, Sir Henry Clinton, and his troops left Philadelphia and returned to New York in May 1778, Washington's army followed. In June the British and the Americans fought in Monmouth, New Jersey. Neither side won a clear victory.

Later battles

On the sea, privately owned armed ships known as privateers won many victories for the Americans. John Paul Jones won fame with his raids on the English coast. In 1779 he commanded the Bon Homme Richard against the British Serapis and Countess of Scarborough in the outstanding naval battle of the war. Jones won a stunning victory.

After the battle of Monmouth, most of the fighting in the colonies took place in the South. The British won major victories at Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston and Camden in South Carolina. The Americans came back with victories at Kings Mountain and Cowpens in South Carolina.

The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown

The end of the war came suddenly. British General Lord Cornwallis marched north to Virginia to pursue a small American force under the Frenchman the Marquis de Lafayette. He failed to capture Lafayette but occupied Yorktown. There, on the peninsula formed by the York and James rivers, Cornwallis fortified his troops. Washington saw his opportunity. Admiral François de Grasse of the French navy agreed to help. He used his fleet to stop a British escape by sea. Washington, with a French and colonial army of 16,000 men, faced Cornwallis on land. There was no battle, but Cornwallis was trapped. He surrendered his army on October 19, 1781.