AMERICAN War of Independence

The Background 

While the Industrial Revolution was taking place in Europe, a different type of revolution was taking place in North America. The people of this part of the world were not happy with the rulers and ultimately brought down the regimes with the help of revolution. New set of rulers took upon the reins of the government. This was the American Revolution or the American War of Independence.

As we know Christopher Columbus was the first to discover the sea route to North America and eventually the land of America, a new continent in those days. After this remarkable discovery many Europeans, mainly British started to habitat the North American continent. This was a new world to them, because till then they did not know about the existence of this continent. The Europeans who settled here were called the settlers and the native people, who were living there already before the coming of the Europeans, were called Native Americans.

The American Colonies 

The British settlers formed thirteen colonies in North America and were ruled by the British government and had to pay taxes to the British Empire. The settlers did not want to pay taxes to the British government, as they felt that the British government was only interested in making money from them and are not concerned about their well being. The British government continued to levy taxes on the daily use things like glass, paint, paper and tea. Soon the settlers began to make their own daily use things, except tea. Finally, Britain removed taxes from all things, except tea.

The Boston tea Party 

In 1773, some British ships carrying boxes of tea sailed into Boston harbor in north-east America. The settlers, who were unhappy due to taxes on tea, took this opportunity to show their dislike for the unjust tax on tea. Many of them dressed like native Americans and went on board the ship at night. They broke open the boxes and threw all the tea into the sea, as crowds of Americans cheered them on. This incident came to be known as Boston Tea Party.

The British government was furious. They decided to close down the Boston harbor, until the tea that had been destroyed had been paid for. As a result, the settlers could not trade with other countries also. Soon there was food shortage. This led to the settlers of all the thirteen colonies join together to fight the British government.

The American War of Independence (1775 – 1783) 

In 1774, a meeting of all thirteen colonies was arranged, where each colony sent one elected representative. This was called the Continental Congress. A congress is a group of people elected by the citizens of a country that meets to solve the problems of its people.   The Congress decided that the colonies would not buy any goods from Britain.

This angered the British government. It immediately send troops to arrest the leaders and disband the Congress. A great war broke out between the settlers and the British soldiers, who were finally defeated. This is known as the American War of Independence in history. George Washington was chosen to lead the American army, which was full of farmers and workers with no modern weapons and trainings.

On July 4, 1776 the colonies announced their freedom with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The British army was finally defeated in 1783 with the signing of Treaty of Paris, which recognized the United States of America as an independent country. Since then the fourth July is celebrated as Independence Day in USA.

The Formation of the USA 

As soon as the war was over, the thirteen colonies began to fight among themselves. After sometimes, the leaders of these colonies decided that they should have a strong government, a democratic and republican one, with a new set of rules. A conference was held at Philadelphia where new laws were written and a new republican form of government was created. And thus in 1789 the thirteen colonies came together and formed a new country called The United States of America (USA). George Washington was elected the first president.