The American Revolution

The Seven Years' War

By the 1750s, the Age of Exploration had morphed into the Age of Colonization. Spain, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Austria were at each other’s throats over control of Europe and their overseas colonies. When Austria and its neighbor, Prussia, fought over land, the other powerful nations of Europe were quick to join the fight, in part to weaken the power of their enemies. Since these countries had overseas colonies, some of the colonists began to fight their rivals, too.

The Seven Years' War spread over five continents! Review the spread of European colonies shown in the map below.

A map of early European colonies. See text on the page for details concerning the map. — The map shows early colonization efforts - the effect of exploration. England is in Red and controls small coastal parts of India, West Africa, and the eastern coast of the US and the northern coast of Canada. France is in Blue and controls small coastal parts of West Africa and India, and parts of Canada and USA near the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. Portugal is in Green and controls modern Brazil and small coastal parts of Africa and India. Spain is in Yellow and controls most of Central America and the western half of South America. The Netherlands is in Orange and controls small parts of South America, Southern Africa, and Indonesia. Russia is also included in Purple and controls parts of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and North Asia.

The French and Indian War

One area of conflict was the Ohio River Valley in North America. The land was contested between the French, the British, the Shawnee, the Iroquois Confederacy, and other native tribes, which led to a war called the French and Indian War (this war was a branch of the larger Seven Years' War).

Great Britain mobilized 45,000 colonists to fight and doubled their national debt, but ultimately won the war. In fact, Great Britain won the Seven Years’ War as well. As a result, Great Britain took over the Ohio River Valley, Canada, and Florida.

However, no Native American leaders were invited to the treaty meeting, so they continued fighting to control the land. King George III couldn’t afford any more war, so he cut colonists off from the Ohio River Valley, raised their taxes to equal what other British citizens were paying, and cracked down on colonial smuggling.

Reactions to King George III

The British colonists were aghast. In their view, they fought for the land, won, and were now paying for the war but weren’t allowed on their conquered territory. A group called the Sons of Liberty protested “taxation without representation [in parliament].” The Daughters of Liberty boycotted British imports. Great Britain retaliated with additional taxes and limitations.

The tipping point towards popular support of the Revolution was Common Sense by Thomas Paine. This short book encouraged colonists to abandon Great Britain and look to France and Spain for support.

Bolstered by public support, political leaders of the 13 British North American colonies convened. Thomas Jefferson combined many Enlightenment ideas into the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Building on the ideas of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Jefferson wrote “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The American Revolution

While Great Britain had the most powerful army and navy in the world and the support of loyalists and Native Americans, the patriots (American colonists who supported American Independence) had the home-field advantage, were motivated by the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and freedom, and didn’t have to “beat” Britain – they just had to get Britain to give up. American General George Washington got help from the French and the Spanish, who were eager to get back at Britain for winning the Seven Years' War. After more than five years of fighting, the British surrendered to General Washington at the Battle of Yorktown.

The United States of America in 1783

A map of the early United States of America: 1783.

While this map can be a bit complicated to make out, due to the amount of information, the basic idea is that anything in the yellow-gold color belonged to the brand new United States, while land in the pink or purple colors belonged to other nations, including Spain to the West and Britain to the North (Canada). The title of the map is State Land Claims and Cessions To the Federal Government, 1782-1802.

Notice how many of the early states stretched farther to the west than their modern versions (for example: see how Massachusetts extended all the way to modern-day Wisconsin and Minnesota, or how Georgia stretch west to cover parts of modern-day Alabama and Mississippi).

Also recall: this land had been colonized by Europeans. Whoever is shown as "owning" the land had laid claim to land previously lived on by other people, including the various Native American nations and tribes. Much of the pre-revolutionary conflict had been between colonizers and native populations (French and Indian War, for instance!), while this revolution focused on the colonizers seeking independence from a ruling state.

Effects of the American Revolution

The Treaty of Paris 1783 recognized American independence, doubled the size of the United States, and returned Florida to Spain. Initially, the USA was very frail because it still owed money to Great Britain and its first attempt at government (the Articles of Confederation) was too weak to last.

It would take another decade to create the Constitution with a Bill of Rights and a government with a separation of powers. They would also grapple with the reality and limitation of the phrase “all men are created equal” when people without land, people of color, and women were not politically or socially equal to the country’s founders. But this revolution rooted in the quest for liberty would inspire the French, Haitian, and Latin American revolutions.

Colonial Protest

Select each item below to learn more about how the protest in the colonies manifested.

"No Stamp Act"

A teapot with "No Stamp Act" printed on the side.

This “No Stamp Act” teapot was made by a member of the Daughters of Liberty. The Stamp Act required colonists to pay an additional tax on paper goods and dice. This teapot would have been used at home for daily use and entertaining, which shows the intersection of private, economic, and civic life for women in the colonies.

The Boston Tea Party

A fictionalized painting of The Boston Tea Party

In 1773, the British gave the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies. It meant that local merchants couldn’t sell their own tea. Colonists, dressed as Native Americans to represent their freedom and inability to be controlled, threw British tea in the Boston Harbor. This image is not entirely factual – it was done at night, not day, and there were no cheering crowds.

Lithograph: The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor, by Nathaniel Currier, 1846.

The Continental Congress

A painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence

In the ultimate act of protest, the representatives from the 13 colonies joined together in the Second Continental Congress. After much deliberation, they decided to write (and sign) the Declaration of Independence. Primary sources indicate that when it was read in the streets, it was met with cheering crowds. Postmistress and printer Mary Katherine Goddard sent printed copies out to the states.

Painting: Declaration of Independence, by John Trumbull, 1819.

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION