, , UPSC STUDY MATERIAL, 0
  • The representatives of the 13 American colonies met as a group in what is called the First Continental Congress at First Philadelphia Convention in 1774.
  • This Congress appealed to the English King to remove restrictions on industries and trade and not to impose any taxes without their consent.
  • Their appeal for just treatment was rejected by the king and their actions declared as mutiny. The colonies then planned for military defence with local troops or militia.
  • On 19 April 1775, the first battle of the revolution was fought when a thousand soldiers met the colonial militia in Independence at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
  • The congress met again in the Second continental congress (1776) and declared independence on July 4. The Declaration on the Second Continental Congress asserted ‘that all men are created equal,
  • Congress adopted the Declaration that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.
  • This was later elaborated in the Bill of Rights. Indian constitution adopted fundamental rights from the Bill of Rights of the USA.
  • The Declaration advanced the principle that the people are the source of authority and affirmed the people’s right to set up their own government.
  • The Declaration also stated that the American colonies had been oppressed by the English government and that ‘these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states’.
  • Up to this time the colonists had been fighting for their rights as Englishmen. After the Declaration in 1776, they fought for their right to be an independent nation.
  • George Washington was put in command of the American forces. The first battles took place in and around Boston. The English sent a force to Canada with the plan to march it south to meet another English force, and so cut the American colonies in half.
  • But an English general spoiled the plan. As the English marched south, the Americans met and defeated them at Saratoga in October, 1777.
  • This victory of the rough American militia-men against a trained British force gave the Americans confidence.
  • The French government now decided to help the colonies with troops, supplies and funds to embarrass the English, France’s old enemy. Other enemies of English like Spain and Holland were soon fighting the English elsewhere.
  • Meanwhile, trouble was brewing for Britain at home. There was a threat of rebellion in Ireland; some leaders in Parliament were opposing the war with the colonists.
  • The war ended in 1781 when the English commander, Cornwallis, later to become governor-general in India, surrendered to Washington at Yorktown.
  • The Second Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 between England and the USA which formally brought an end to the war.
  • After a long timeline of political, social and militia fighting, America won its independence in the late 18th Century, forming the United States of America.
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