Revolutionary War

The phrase, ''No taxation without representation,'' became popular in many American circles. London argued that the Americans were represented ''virtually,'' but most Americans rejected the theory that men in London, who knew nothing about their needs and conditions, could represent them

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In March 1776, with George Washington as commander, the Continental Army forced the British to evacuate Boston, withdrawing their garrison to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The revolutionaries were in control of governments throughout the 13 colonies and were ready to declare independence. While there still were many Loyalists, they were no longer in control anywhere by July 1776, and all of the Royal officials had fled. The peace treaty with Britain in 1783, known as the Treaty of Paris, gave the U.S. all land east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, though not including Florida.

In 1765 the Stamp Act was the first direct tax ever levied by Parliament on the colonies. All newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, and official documents—even decks of playing cards—were required to have the stamps. A secret group, the Sons of Liberty formed in many towns and threatened violence if anyone sold the stamps. In Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice-admiralty court and looted the home of the chief justice, Thomas Hutchinson.

In 1767, the Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which placed a tax on a number of essential goods including paper, glass, and tea. Angered at the tax increases, colonists organized a boycott of British goods. In Boston on March 5, 1770, a large mob gathered around a group of British soldiers. The mob grew more and more threatening, throwing snowballs, rocks and debris at the soldiers. One soldier was clubbed and fell. All but one of the soldiers fired into the crowd. Eleven people were hit; Three civilians were killed at the scene of the shooting, and two died after the incident. The event quickly came to be called the Boston Massacre.. The widespread descriptions of the event soon became propaganda to turn colonial sentiment against the British

On December 16, 1773, a group of men, led by Samuel Adams and dressed like American Indians, boarded the ships of the government-favored British East India Company and dumped an estimated 10,000 Pounds worth of tea on board into the harbor. This event became known as the Boston Tea Party.

The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies gained independence from the British Empire and became the United States of America. From 1775 to 1783 the American Colonies fought for independence from the British. The Colonies signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and gained victory on the battlefield in October 1781. Adopting the view that the colonies should pay an increased proportion of the costs associated with keeping them in the Empire, Britain imposed a series of taxes followed by other laws that proved extremely unpopular. Because the colonies lacked elected representation in the governing British Parliament many colonists considered the laws to be illegitimate and a violation of their rights as Englishmen