About the American Revolutionary War, I beg you on your knees! !

North American Revolutionary War Situation Map

The American War of Independence (English: American War of Independence, 1775-1783), also known as the American Revolutionary War (English: American Revolutionary War), It was a war between the revolutionaries of the British Empire and its thirteen North American colonies, as well as several European powers. The war started mainly to fight against British economic policies, but later because France, Spain, and the Netherlands joined the war against Britain, the scope of the war expanded far beyond British North America. Meanwhile, many Indians fought for both sides. During the war, the British were able to use their naval superiority to capture the colonies' seaside cities, but how to control the countryside eluded them. The French naval victory at Chesapeake led to the surrender of British forces at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 recognized the independence of the United States, and as many colonists fled the Thirteen Colonies and settled in the north, the war also prepared the way for the establishment of Canada. In 1607, the British came to the Atlantic coast of North America and began to establish the first colony of Virginia. After continuous colonization, by the 1830s, the British had established 13 colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. During this period, a large number of immigrants moved to North America, most of them British, many from other European countries, and many black slaves trafficked from Africa. They made important contributions to the development of North America. At that time, the capitalist economy in the British North American colonies developed rapidly and became the mainstream of economic development. At the same time, there are also many backward economic elements. The colonial governance model was based on the British system of government, with each colony having its own governor and parliament. The Governor-General ruled the colonies on behalf of the United Kingdom and had administrative, economic and military powers, and could veto bills passed by Parliament. After more than a hundred years of development, the economic exchanges between the British North American colonies have become increasingly close, and a unified domestic market has initially formed. At the same time, in the long-term process of exchange and integration, English became a common language from various colonies, gradually giving rise to a different culture. On this basis, the American nation began to take shape. National consciousness gradually awakened. In the first half of the 18th century, Enlightenment ideas spread in the British North American colonies, and some outstanding thinkers emerged, such as Franklin and Jefferson. There was a growing sense of nationality and democracy in the British North American colonies. In the mid-18th century, the economy of the British North American colonies developed rapidly. Industry and commerce was developed in the north, wheat was abundant in the center, and the plantation economy was prosperous in the south. Many products produced in North America can even compete with British products in the international market. In the "Seven Year's War" from 1756 to 1763, Britain and France fought a long war for control of the North American colonies. Although Britain defeated France and controlled most of North America, it suffered from financial difficulties due to the long war. As a result, the British government continued to increase taxes on the colonies in North America and implemented high-pressure policies, squeezing and ruthlessly exploiting the colonies. Britain hoped that North America would always be its source of raw materials and commodity market, and tried its best to suppress the economic development of the colonies, and from Colonies search for more wealth. The colonial people were dissatisfied with British exploitation and restraint, and the conflicts between the two sides became increasingly acute, eventually leading to the outbreak of war.

Edit this paragraph Exploitation and Resistance

The colonial people hope to reduce their dependence on the British mainland

Since the British developed overseas colonies, in order to maintain the monopoly interests of the British mainland , promulgated some laws that restricted the economic development of the colonies, such as the Navigation Regulations. As the North American colonies developed, the colonial people increasingly hoped to reduce their dependence on the British mainland and seek to develop their own economies independently. However, this aroused the dissatisfaction of the British authorities, because the British authorities hoped that the North American colonies could continue to serve as a supplier of cheap raw materials and a market for product dumping. Therefore, the British authorities began to adopt many high-pressure policies to hinder the free development of the colonial economy. The British authorities first issued a decree prohibiting colonial residents from exploring westward (mainly because of Potia's Rebellion in 1763), prohibited them from issuing their own banknotes, imposed heavy taxes on them, and dissolved their parliament. In the 1960s, in order to increase tax revenue in the North American colonies, the British promulgated the Stamp Duty Ordinance of 1765 and the Townshend Tax Act of 1767. The colonial residents felt strongly dissatisfied and launched large-scale demonstrations. However, the British authorities not only ignored it, but also sent British troops to North America to shoot and kill Boston residents who resisted the tyranny of the British authorities on March 5, 1770, creating the "Boston Massacre", which aroused resentment among the colonial people. Later, in December 1773, The Boston Tea Party occurred on the 16th. In 1774, the British authorities promulgated five "Intolerable Acts", which intensified the conflicts between the two sides. [1]

Stamp Duty Ordinance

In 1765, the British came up with a new trick: stamp duty. They stipulated that all official documents, contracts, licenses, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, documents, and wills must be affixed with tax stamps before they can be valid and circulated.

This aroused great anger among the colonial people. As a result, secret anti-British organizations such as the "Sons of Liberty" and the "Committee of Correspondence" emerged one after another. Anti-British incidents occurred everywhere, including boycotting British goods, driving away tax collectors, burning tax stamps, and armed Resistance and more. All this caused panic to the British government, who immediately sent troops to suppress it. Anti-British anger burned in the hearts of the colonial people, and a war for independence and freedom was about to begin on the North American continent. In 1765, the British Parliament imposed a direct tax on the British North American colonies in order to pass the heavy military burden. After the Seven Years' War, in order to further control the colonies and suppress the Indians, the British government sent 10,000 troops to North America, with the locals responsible for all expenses. On March 22, 1765, the Stamp Duty Regulations passed by the British Parliament stipulated that printed matter in the North American colonies, including newspapers, books, deeds, licenses, diplomas, playing cards, admission tickets, etc., must be stamped with tax stamps, with the tax amount ranging from 2 pence to several pounds. Violators will be fined or imprisoned. The regulations are scheduled to take effect on November 1. The Stamp Act was strongly opposed by the colonial people. The colonial people insisted that taxation decisions could be made only through their own parliaments. Secret societies such as the "Sons of Liberty" and the "Committee of Correspondence" organized themselves and led the masses to destroy the tax bureau, burn tax stamps, smear tax collectors with tar and feathers, and parade them through the streets. Before the Stamp Act came into effect in November, tax collectors throughout the colonies were forced to resign. In October 1765, a colonial-wide convention against the Stamp Act was held in New York. At the meeting, 14 resolutions were passed, including the refusal to pay stamp duty to Britain. In order to resist the Stamp Duty Regulations, the entire colony launched a boycott of British goods, resulting in a significant drop in British exports to the colonies. Merchants and manufacturers in 30 British cities jointly petitioned Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act. On March 18, 1766, the British Parliament finally passed a resolution to abolish the Stamp Duty Ordinance. [2]

The Townshend Tax Act

A bill passed by the British Parliament in 1767 to tax the North American colonies, proposed by Finance Minister C. Townshend. After the abolition of the Stamp Duty Ordinance, based on the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Townshend, the British Parliament passed four bills to tax the colonies in the second half of 1767, collectively known as the "Townshend Acts". The "Townshend Tax Law" passed on June 29 of that year was the second item among them. The tax law stipulates that all paper, glass, lead, paint, tea, etc. exported from Britain to the colonies are subject to import taxes. It also stipulated that British customs collectors had the right to break into colonial houses, warehouses, and shops to search for prohibited items and smuggled goods. After the "Townshend Tax Act" was promulgated, it aroused angry protests from the people of the North American colonies and demanded its abolition. In February 1768, the Massachusetts Assembly sent a circuit letter to the colonial assemblies, reaffirming the principle of "no taxation without representation." The colonial people once again launched a boycott movement against British goods and used force to resist the searches and oppression of British tax collectors. British trade with North America dropped significantly. The British government threatened to dissolve the New York and Massachusetts state parliaments, but met with greater resistance from the colonial people. The British were forced to repeal the Townshend Tax Act in March 1770. [3]

Boston Massacre

After the enactment of the Quartering Regulations in 1765, the British government sent troops to station in North America. At that time, the 14th Regiment and the 29th Regiment stationed in Boston acted recklessly, some making things difficult for pedestrians, and some molesting women, which caused the relationship between soldiers and residents to deteriorate. Over the past five years, conflicts between the army and the local people continued to occur. The resentment between the local people and the British army had deepened, and an undercurrent of resistance gradually grew. This resistance reached its climax in March 1770. (On the evening of March 5, 1770, a crowd of some sixty townpeople began taunting snowballs at a squad of ten redcoats.) On March 5, conflicts resumed between British soldiers and a ropemaker. Boston ropemakers gathered at the customs house and threw snowballs at the British soldiers guarding the customs house. At 8 o'clock in the evening, the bell rang loudly, and people took to the streets with sticks in hand, shouting to drive away the hateful "red shrimp soldiers" (a derogatory term for the British troops wearing red uniforms). The mood among those gathered around Customs House in King Street was even more emotional. The British army came to suppress the situation. Facing the agitated people, the soldiers opened fire on the crowd in panic, killing three people on the spot. Two more people died of their injuries the next day. The first person to be beaten to death was C. Attucks, a black mass leader who was born as a plantation slave. This bloody incident is known as the "Boston Massacre" in history. News of the massacre in Boston quickly spread to other cities, and people protested against the presence of British troops. In Boston, a city of only 17,000 people, 50,000 people joined in the funeral procession for the victims. British troops were forced to withdraw from Boston. The morning after the incident, the British army detained Captain Thomas Preston and eight of his subordinates who had committed the tragedy. A week later, a grand jury was sworn in. At the request of the Inspector General, Captain Preston and eight of his subordinates were prosecuted. John Adams, the local lawyer who defended the British soldiers and acquitted them, was revered by Americans as the "Founding Father" One of the leaders of the independence movement and later the successor of Washington, the first president of the United States.

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Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party (Boston Tea Party) is also known as the Boston Tea Party. In 1773, the people of Boston in the North American colony opposed the British East India Company's monopoly on the tea trade. In 1773, the British government passed the "Relief of the East India Company Ordinance" in order to dump the East India Company's accumulated tea. The Ordinance gave the East India Company the exclusive right to sell its overstocked tea to the North American colonies without paying high import duties and only levying a slight tea tax. Regulations explicitly prohibited the sale of "private tea" in the colonies. As a result, the East India Company monopolized the transportation and sales of tea in the North American colonies, and the price of its imported tea was 50% cheaper than "private tea". The regulations caused great outrage among the people of the North American colonies, and smuggled tea accounted for nine-tenths of the tea consumed. The people of New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston refused to unload the tea. [5] The "Sons of Liberty", an organization composed of three groups of 50 locals each, led by Boston revolutionary Samuel Adams, dressed as Indians and sneaked onto three ships, destroyed the cargo on board, and took 342 Boxes of tea were poured into the port. At that time, the lights made the night look like day, and many people got up to watch the excitement. The whole process was quite peaceful and quiet. But this move was criticized from all sides. The British government ordered the closure of the port of Boston until they repaid the money they threw away from the tea, and also sailed warships and troops into the colonies. Former New Jersey Governor Benjamin Franklin believed that the dumped tea should be compensated and expressed his willingness to use his own money to compensate. The British viewed this as a provocation against the colonial government.

The "Intolerable Acts"

In 1774, the British government passed a series of "Coercive Acts" aimed at strengthening control. Although these bills were targeted at Massachusetts, they were called "Intolerable Bills" by North American residents. Later, other ports such as Philadelphia also responded one after another, eventually leading to the American Revolutionary War in April 1775.

Edit this paragraph The Beginning of the War of Independence

On April 19, 1775, the people of Boston fired the first shot of the War of Independence over Lexington, the gunshot of Lexington Kicked off the American Revolutionary War. Lexington's North American Militia

In April 1775, Thomas Gage, the governor of Massachusetts and commander-in-chief of the garrison, received news that there was a "Committee of Correspondence" in the town of Concord, not far from Boston. A secret arms warehouse. Gage immediately ordered Major Francis Smith and John Pitcairn to lead 800 British troops to destroy the militia in order to demoralize the militia. The troops set off overnight. In the early morning of April 19, they arrived at Lexington, a small village 6 miles away from Concord. The British army marched forward in the predawn mist, after a night's march. They were all very sleepy and yawning constantly. Suddenly, they found more than 70 villagers standing on the grass outside the village, waiting with spears in hand. Smith knew that these armed villagers were the Lexington militia. Residents of the colonies on the North American continent called them "Minutemen" because they moved very quickly and could assemble within a minute as soon as they heard the alarm. , immediately enter the battle. What surprised Smith was why did these militiamen know the British army's actions so quickly? It turned out that the "Committee of Communications" scouts had already obtained the information and hung a red light on the top of the Boston church. The messenger of the "Committee of Correspondence", the engraver Paul Revere, immediately rode to Lexington after seeing it, notifying the anti-British leader Samuel Adams who was hiding there to evacuate, and then rushed to Concord to call the police. American Revolutionary War

When Smith saw that there were only a few dozen people on the other side, Smith immediately relaxed his nervousness. Pitcairn paid no attention to these ragged militiamen and ordered them to surrender. But the militia led by Jonas Parker rejected the British army's request. Pitcairn ordered the British troops to surround these militiamen. In the chaos, someone fired the gun, and a fierce battle broke out. After a few minutes, the gunfire gradually became sparse, and the militiamen suffered 8 deaths and 10 injuries. Because there were few people, they quickly withdrew from the battlefield and dispersed and hid. Only one British soldier was injured. Smith was very proud of his victory in the first battle and directed his soldiers to go straight to Concord. When the British army arrived at the town, it was already broad daylight and the sun was rising, but no one could be seen on the streets. Every house was closed and deserted. Smith ordered a search. The British army entered each house and rummaged through boxes and cabinets, and spent most of the day. , nothing was found. It turned out that the militiamen had already moved the warehouse and the leaders of the "Communications Committee" had also gone into hiding. Smith felt that the situation was not good and quickly ordered a retreat. At this time, there were loud shouts of killing and gunshots outside the town. Militiamen from nearby villages and towns had received the news and came to Concord from all directions. surrounded the retreating British troops. They lay in wait behind fences, in bushes, on house roofs, and on street corners to shoot at the British troops. Group after group of British troops fell to the ground, and when the British troops raised their guns to fight back, not even the militiamen could be found. The British army retreated all the way to Boston, and were constantly attacked by militiamen along the way. The battle continued until dusk, and finally it was a reinforcement force from Boston that rescued Smith and others.

On this day, the British army suffered 273 casualties and the militiamen lost 95 people. The remaining British troops ran out of ammunition. Looking back, they were still frightened. For the first time, they tasted the iron fist of the colonial people. A soldier said: "I haven't eaten anything for 48 hours. My hat was blown off three times and two bullets penetrated my coat. My bayonet was also knocked off." The sound of Lexington's gunfire shook the Atlantic coast of 13 colonies. The American Revolutionary War begins. In order to unite against the British, the Second Continental Congress in North America decided on June 14 to establish a joint armed force of the colonies, the Continental Army, and appointed Washington as commander-in-chief. On October 13, it was decided to establish a Continental Fleet. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring the birth of the United States of America. In the early days of the war, there was a huge disparity in strength between the two sides. Britain is the most powerful colonial country in the world, with the world's first-class navy. There are about 30,000 British troops stationed in North America, which are well-equipped and well-trained. The North American colonies have a population of only 3 million, insufficient troops, backward equipment, and lack of training. However, the colonial military and civilians united, shared the same hatred, and had excellent leaders and military commanders. However, the British army's maritime supply lines were often disrupted and were unpopular in North America. Therefore, the colonialist lands eventually won and became independent.

Edit this war process

This war can be divided into three stages. Oil painting on the theme of the North American War of Independence

The First Phase

The first phase of the war from 1775 to 1778 was the strategic defense phase. The main battlefield was in the north, and the British army had the advantage. After the war began, the British army took the initiative to attack in an attempt to quickly extinguish the revolutionary fire in the colonies. Its general strategy is: the navy controls the eastern coast of North America, and the land forces advance from Canada and New York from the north to the south, opening up the line to Lake Plains and the Hudson Valley, in order to isolate the most determined anti-British New England colonies, and then move other colonies Defeat each one. Due to its weak strength, the Continental Army was basically on the defensive except for an expedition to Canada in the early stages of the war, adopting the policy of waiting to defeat the enemy and soliciting foreign aid. In May 1775, militiamen from various colonies took the initiative to attack and besieged Boston. On June 17, the colonial militia won its first victory in the Battle of Bunker Hill outside Boston, annihilating 1,000 British troops. In March 1776, the British army commanded by William Howe was forced to withdraw from Boston to Halifax to await reinforcements. At the end of August, Howe led 32,000 British troops to attack New York with the cooperation of the naval fleet. Washington led 19,000 men to fight a positional battle with the British army. As a result, he suffered heavy losses and was forced to evacuate to New Jersey with the remaining 5,000 men in November. The British army occupied New York. On Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve of that year, Washington took advantage of the British army's lack of vigilance to launch surprise attacks on Trenton and Princeton, capturing nearly a thousand enemies and boosting their morale. In the summer of 1777, John Burgoyne led 7,000 British troops south from Canada in an attempt to join forces with Howe. However, Howe did not go north as planned. Instead, he led 18,000 troops south and captured Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress, in September. Burgoyne went deep alone. When he reached the Saratoga area, he was besieged by 12,000 U.S. troops and guerrillas. 5,000 British troops were forced to surrender to the U.S. troops on October 17. The Battle of Saratoga became a turning point in the war, prompting France, Spain, and the Netherlands to declare war on Britain. In February 1778, France and the United States signed a military alliance treaty, and France officially recognized the United States. France and Britain went to war in June 1778, and Spain also went to war against Britain in June 1779. In 1780, Russia joined forces with Prussia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and other countries to form the "Armed Neutrality Alliance" to break the British naval blockade. In December 1780, the Netherlands further joined France in fighting the British. The North American War of Independence expanded into an international anti-British war across Europe, Asia, and the United States, and Britain fell into an unprecedented isolation situation. The changing situation forced the British army to abandon Philadelphia in June 1778 and determined to retreat to New York. Subsequently, a stalemate occurred in the northern war.

The second phase

The second phase of the war was from 1779 to 1781. Marked by the victory of Saratoga, it entered the strategic stalemate phase. The main battlefield moved to the south, and the U.S. military moved to the south. The weak defeats the strong. After the new commander-in-chief of the British army, Clinton, took office, he took advantage of the favorable conditions of more "loyalists" in the south and being close to the West Indies to mobilize troops and generals, determined to transfer the main force of the British army to the south, in an attempt to defeat the southern states of the United States one by one, and rely on Coastal base and New York containment to the north. The North American Continental Army tried to cooperate with the French army and navy to control coastal bases, and at the same time actively carried out guerrilla warfare to defeat the British army's plan. At the end of 1778, the British army captured Savannah, the capital of Georgia, kicking off a powerful offensive in the south. In the autumn of 1779, Lincoln, the commander of the southern US military, and the French fleet commanded by d'Estaing, attacked Savannah, the main base of the British army in the south, but were frustrated. In the spring of 1780, Clinton led 14,000 British troops to encircle Charleston on land and sea, forcing more than 5,000 people in Lincoln's department to surrender and capturing 4 warships, causing the U.S. military to suffer the largest loss in the entire war. Afterwards, Clinton led part of the British army back to New York, leaving Cornwallis to command 7,000 British troops to control the southern land and coast. This facilitates the activities of the southern militia and guerrillas. The Continental Congress appointed Greene as the commander of the American army in the south, and he collaborated with Morgan to carry out guerrilla warfare in the south. In January and March 1781, they defeated the British army in places such as Cowpens and Guilford, forcing the British army to retreat from the interior to the coast. .

Green took advantage of the situation and marched south. With the cooperation of the militia and guerrillas, he eliminated the British strongholds and recovered the southern territory except Savannah and Gilston.

The third stage

April 1781 to September 1783 was the strategic counterattack stage. In August 1781, Cornwallis led 7,000 British troops to retreat to Yorktown at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula. At this time, the British army in the entire North American battlefield was mainly concentrated in New York and Yorktown. In August 1781, Washington personally led the French-American coalition to secretly march south to Virginia. At the same time, the French fleet led by De Grasse also arrived at the sea outside Yorktown, defeated the British ships coming to the rescue, and completely controlled the sea power in the theater. On September 28, 17,000 French and American troops completed the siege of Yorktown from both land and sea. Cornwallis, desperate under heavy Union artillery fire, requested surrender negotiations on October 17, 1781, the fourth anniversary of Burgoyne's surrender. On October 19, 8,000 British troops walked out of Yorktown. When the neatly dressed red-shirted troops put down their weapons one by one in front of the ragged American troops, the military band played the song "The World is Turned Upside Down." Famous movement. After the Battle of Yorktown, except for a few battles at sea and sporadic battles on land, the war on the North American continent has basically stopped. On November 30, 1782, representatives of the United States and Britain signed a preliminary armistice treaty in Paris. On September 3, 1783, representatives of the British King and colonial representatives signed the 1783 Treaty of Paris (Treaty of Paris) at the Palace of Versailles, and the United Kingdom officially recognized the United States. The United States is established. Article 10 of the Peace Treaty, Article 1 of the Peace Treaty stipulates: "His Majesty the King of England recognizes the United States as a free, autonomous and independent country." The content also includes: Confirming that the boundaries of the United States extend from the Atlantic coast in the east to the Mississippi River in the west, to the Great Lakes of Canada in the north, and to the northern border of Florida in the south; the two peoples will make permanent peace, cease all hostilities at sea and on land, and release prisoners of war to each other. ; Britain withdraws all troops and ships from all ports, regions, and harbors in the United States. The signing of the peace treaty marked Britain's official recognition of the independence of the United States, which enabled the United States to gain complete independence. This was the victory achieved by the American people through the long-term national liberation war.

Edit this historical timeline

[6] In 1773, the Boston Tea Party occurred. In 1775, the Revolutionary War broke out (the gunshots at Lexington: the beginning of the Revolutionary War), and the militia of the thirteen states failed to attack Canada. In 1776, Britain increased its troops to North America. Washington led 18,000 troops to defend New York and was defeated by the British army. When he retreated across the Delaware River, only about 4,000 troops were left. France and Spain began to provide financial assistance to the United States. In 1777, the British army occupied Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress. Washington tried to counterattack Philadelphia. As a result, the troops opened fire on each other in the thick fog, and the counterattack failed. The U.S. military defeated a British army that went to sweep the interior and won the Battle of Saratoga. (Victory at Saratoga: A Turning Point in the Revolutionary War). In 1778, France recognized the independence of the United States and signed a treaty of alliance between France and the United States. The treaty stipulated that "France guarantees the independence of the United States and the territories determined at the end of the war with Britain." Subsequently, France declared war on Britain, and the French and British navies engaged in many naval battles. After the British government learned that the French fleet was dispatched to North America, it ordered the British troops in Philadelphia to retreat to New York, and the U.S. military "recovered" Philadelphia: Britain occupied several areas of the West Indies and India. At the end of the year, the British army captured Savannah, an important city in Georgia, and the Continental Army lost more than 5,000 people. In 1779, France occupied Saint Louis in Senegal and several islands in the West Indies; France and Spain formed a human-shaped combined fleet to prepare to attack the British mainland, and the British main force concentrated on defending the mainland: France and Britain fought many naval battles; the joint French-American attack on Savannah failed . In 1780, the British army captured the important city of Charleston in South Carolina; Britain and France had many naval battles in the West Indies; in July, the French Special Expeditionary Force led by Rochambeau landed in Newport. In 1781, the French attack on Jersey failed (this is an island in the English Channel, the only way for the French army to land on the British mainland); the French Grasse fleet came to North America and launched many battles with the British navy. After gaining absolute control of the sea in the Chesapeake Bay, the French-American coalition forces, with the support of the Grasse fleet, forced the Yorktown garrison to surrender. This ended the large-scale battle on the North American continent: the Spanish-French coalition occupied Pensacola, Florida. In La City, French and British navies fought many times in the waters of the West Indies and Cape Verde. In 1782, the French-Spanish coalition occupied the fortress of Saint-Philippe in Minorca, an island in the western Mediterranean: the French occupied several islands in the West Indies and Trincomalee in Sri Lanka: France and Britain had many naval battles along the coast of India: the French occupied and destroyed many British fortresses in Canada; in Gibraltar, 33,000 French and Spanish forces launched a general attack on the British defenders and were repulsed. On November 30, representatives of the United States and Britain signed a preliminary armistice treaty in Paris. In 1783, France and Britain launched a tug-of-war on land and sea in Cuddalore, India, and the British were defeated. On September 3, representatives of the British King and colonial representatives signed the Treaty of Paris at the Palace of Versailles.

Edit this paragraph: The Battle of Saratoga

The Battle of Saratoga is a famous battle in world history. It was the victory of the Independence War of the thirteen British colonies in North America ( The center is Washington)

The turning point in the war.

(See the "Battle of Saratoga" entry for details)

Edit this paragraph Declaration of Independence

Continental Congress

Declaration of Independence July 1776 The four-day Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence from the Thirteen United States of America (Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin)

In the development of human affairs, when one nation must dissolve its relationship with another nation political ties between them, and when the nations of the world achieve independent and equal status in accordance with the laws of nature and the gods of nature, they must declare the reasons why they have to be independent out of respect for the general will of mankind. We hold these truths to be self-evident: That the Creator created all men equal, and endowed them with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. In order to protect these rights, people establish governments among themselves, and the legitimate power of governments comes from the consent of the governed. As long as any form of government destroys the above purposes, the people have the right to change or abolish it and establish a new government; the principles on which the new government is based and the way in which power is organized must maximize the safety and happiness of the people. Indeed, prudence dictates that governments long established should not be changed for minor and transitory reasons. All past experience also shows that humans would rather tolerate any suffering, as long as it is bearable, rather than abolish the government they have long been accustomed to to restore their own rights and interests. However, when the government consistently abuses its power, usurps and plunders, and pursues this goal unchangingly, which is enough to prove that it aims to put the people under absolute autocratic rule, then the people have the right and the obligation to overthrow the government and To establish new safeguards for their future security--such was the resignation of these colonies in the past, and the reason why they were now compelled to change their former systems of government. The history of the current king of Great Britain is a history of repeated self-interest and robbery at the expense of others. The direct purpose of all these atrocities is to establish an absolute tyranny in these states. In order to prove that what is said is true, the following facts are announced to the just world.

The people will not give up their right to be represented in the Legislature

He refuses to approve laws most beneficial and necessary for the public good. He forbade his governors to pass laws of urgent and vital importance, or else put them in abeyance pending his assent; and once they were shelved, he entirely ignored them. He refused to ratify other laws which would permit the settlement of large areas by the people, unless those people would relinquish their right of representation in the legislature; but this right was of inestimable value to them, and is feared only by tyrants. He summoned legislative bodies to meetings in places that were inconvenient, uncomfortable, and far from the places where official documents were kept, for the sole purpose of making them tired and obedient to his will.

Legislative power must be returned to the hands of the people

He repeatedly dissolved the parliaments of the colonies because they firmly opposed his infringement of the people's rights. After dissolving the colonial assemblies, he refused for a long time to elect a new assembly. But the legislative power cannot be abolished, so it has been returned to the hands of the people at large and exercised by them; at that time, the states were still full of dangers, with the danger of invasion from without and the fear of unrest at home. He tried hard to suppress the increase in population in the colonies. To this end, he blocked the passage of the "Law for the Naturalization of Aliens", refused to approve other laws to encourage aliens to immigrate to the states, and raised the conditions for the distribution of new lands. He obstructed justice by refusing to approve laws establishing judicial powers. He controlled the terms of office, salary amounts and payments of judges, thus making them completely subordinate to his personal will. He established various new yamen and dispatched officials like locusts to harass our people and eat away at the people's wealth and wealth. He has stationed among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.

The military cannot be made independent of the civil power

He made the military independent of the civil power and placed it above the civil power. He has conspired with persons to place us under a jurisdiction incompatible with our institutions and unacknowledged by our laws; and he has sanctioned counterfeit bills devised by these persons for the following purpose: to station among us arming them in large numbers; shielding them with sham trials, allowing the murderers of our states to go unpunished; cutting off our commerce with all parts of the world; imposing taxes upon us without our consent; depriving us of the right of juries in many cases to deport us overseas for trial on fabricated charges; to abolish the free institutions of English law in a neighboring country, establish there an arbitrary government, and extend its boundaries, with the intention of making it a model and a convenient instrument for Introducing the same despotism to the colonies here; canceling our charters, repealing our most precious laws, and fundamentally changing our form of government; suspending our own legislative bodies, declaring themselves in all circumstances The power to legislate for us. He abandoned power here by declaring that we were no longer under his protection and waging war against us. He plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

Completely unworthy of being the head of a civilized country