American Revolution

The American Revolution, also known as the U.S. War of Independence, was a rebellion and political movement in the Thirteen Colonies which peaked when colonists initiated an ultimately successful war for independence against the Kingdom of Great Britain. Here are some key points about this period:

• The American Revolution began in 1775 and ended with a peace treaty in 1783.

• The colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America.

• Discontent with colonial rule began shortly after the defeat of France in the French and Indian War.

• Although the colonies had fought and supported the war, Parliament imposed new taxes to compensate for wartime costs and turned control of the colonies’ western lands over to the British officials in Montreal.

• The American Revolution was an insurrection carried out by 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies.

• Skirmishes between British troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict.

• By the following summer, the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence.

• France entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what had essentially been a civil war into an international conflict.

• After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had effectively won their independence, though fighting did not formally end until 1783.