American Revolution

American Revolution

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This article is about political and social developments, and the origins and aftermath of the war. For military actions, see American Revolutionary War. For other uses, see American Revolution (disambiguation).

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In this article, inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies who supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" or "Patriots," and sometimes as "Whigs," "Rebels" or "Revolutionaries." Colonists who supported the British side are called "Loyalists" or "Tories". In accordance with the policy of this encyclopedia, this article uses American English terminology; in British English these events are known as the "American War of Independence".

Founding Fathers listen to the draft of the Declaration of Independence

John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, showing the Committee of Five presenting its work to Congress.

The American Revolution was a political upheaval that took place between 1765 and 1783 during which the Thirteen American Colonies broke from the British Empire and formed an independent nation, the United States of America. The American Revolution was the result of a series of social, political, and intellectual transformations in American society, government and ways of thinking. Starting in 1765 the Americans rejected the authority of Parliament to tax them without elected representation; protests escalated as in the Boston Tea Party of 1773, and the British imposed punitive laws—the Intolerable Acts—on Massachusetts in 1774. In 1774 the Patriots suppressed the Loyalists and expelled all royal officials. Each colony now had a new government that took control. The British responded by sending combat troops to re-establish royal control. Through the Second Continental Congress, the Patriots fought the British in the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783).

The British sent invasion armies and used their powerful navy to blockade the...