LIBERTY

Clockwise from top left: Battle of Bunker Hill,
Death of Montgomery at Quebec,
Battle of Cowpens, "Moonlight Battle"
Collage of American Revolutionary War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

THE American Revolution, viewed from its results, was one of the greatest movements in human history. The expenditure of life and treasure has often been exceeded, but the effect on the political life of the world is not easy to parallel. The chief result was the birth of the first successful federal government in history, a government that was destined to expand to the western ocean within a century and to grow into a nation of vast wealth and power and of still greater possibilities.
It is believed by many that the mild bond of union which held the American colonies to the mother country might have remained unbroken for an indefinite period, but for the unwise policy that brought about the resistance of the former; others are of the opinion that the child had come of age, and that nothing could have long delayed a political separation. Be that as it may, it is certain that for more than fifty years before the Seven Years' War there was a strong attachment between the two peoples, and that the thought of severing their bond of union was nowhere entertained.
It must be said, however, that a separation sooner or later was inevitable. It is true that there was no plot, no conspiracy in America looking to independence; but there were forces at work for many years that must eventually dissolve the political bond between the two peoples. It must be remembered that, while America was the child of England, it was not the child of the England of 1760, but rather of the England of 1600. The great Puritan immigration ceased with 1640, the Cavalier immigration ceased a few decades later, and in all the century that had passed since then the migration from England had been small. The English institutions, transplanted to America early in the seventeenth century, had developed on purely American lines, had been shaped by the social, political, and economic conditions peculiar to America. The result was that the two peoples unconsciously grew apart, so far apart that they were no longer able to understand each other; and when England now attempted to play the part of parent the fact was brought out that the relations of parent and child existed no longer between the two countries. The colonies had reached a point in their development where they could govern themselves better than they could be governed by a power beyond the sea. Writers who find in the Stamp Act, the tax on tea, and the like, the sole cause of the Revolution, fail to look beneath the surface. These were but the occasion; they hastened its coming, but the true causes of the separation had their roots in the far past.
England attempted to deal with America, not as a part of the empire, which it was, but as a part of the British realm, which it was not.1 But for this false assumption by the British government and an attempt to act in accordance with it, the old relations might have continued for years to come. But an evil day came. The sky had been specked with a little cloud here and there for many years. Why should so many criminals from the British prisons be forced upon the colonists? This was irritating, and had been so from the earliest period of their colonization. Why was the attempt of various colonies to preserve society by checking the African slave trade summarily crushed by the Crown, in order simply to enrich the English trader? This did not indicate a mother's affection for a child. Again, the overbearing hauteur of many of the royal governors, who were supposed to represent the king, was distasteful to a people who believed themselves as good as any other Englishmen. Still again, during the late war with the French, the British officers were ever ready to show their contempt for the provincial troops, and colonial officers were often replaced by British officers. All these things were at least unpleasant for the American-Englishman to contemplate; but they were not serious, and their effects would have passed away like a morning mist but for the greater events that were to follow.
Source: History of the United States of America, by Henry William Elson, The MacMillan Company, New York, 1904. Chapter XI p. 220-222
(Copyright 2000 Web design and graphics by Kathy Leigh)
The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and collectively became the nation of the United States of America.

THE UNITED STATES AT THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION
Maps Updated September 24, 2000
Created September 15, 2000
Copyright 2000 Web design and graphics by Kathy Leigh

In this period, the colonies first formed self-governing independent states, and then united against the British to defend that self-governance from 1775 to 1783 in the armed conflict known as the American Revolutionary War (or the "American War of Independence"). This resulted in the states breaking away from the empire with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, effective victory on the battlefield in October 1781, and British recognition of United States sovereignty and independence in 1783.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

A new 2-volume book - "The American Revolution"
, by John Fiske - is now available online! A big thank you to Janice Farnsworth for her dedication and hard work to get this available to you!
Volume 1 - Timeframe about 1761-1778 Volume 2 - Timeframe about 1778-1782
(Source: Kathy Leigh, Webmaster)

British colonies 1763-76
Scan from "Historical Atlas" by William R. Shepherd,
New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1923.
Source Originally from en.wikipedia
Original uploader was Jengod at en.wikipedia

Declaration independence
Painting by John Trumbull
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent states, that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof.
(©2008 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company)

The History Place - American Revolution:
Explorations and Early Colonial Era:
Beginnings to 1700
The English Colonial Era:
1700 to 1763
Prelude to the American Revolution:
1763 to 1775
Conflict and Revolution:
1775 to 1776
An Unlikely Victory:
1777 to 1783
A New Nation is Born:
1784 to 1790
The Declaration of Independence
(Copyright © 1998 The History Place™ All Rights Reserved)

Timeline:
AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY
Created September 15, 2000
(Copyright 2000 Web design and graphics by Kathy Leigh)
Revolutionary War Pictures:
Revolutionary War
(From lineofbattle.org)

The United States enlisted a total of about 200,000 soldiers and sailors during the war. Battle casualties were 4435 dead and 6188 wounded. An estimated 20,000 Americans died of non-combat causes.
1200 Hessians were killed in action and 6,354 died from illness or accident.
According to data from the Daughters of the American Revolution, the last surviving U.S. veteran of the conflict, George Fruits, died in 1876 at the age of 114. However, Fruits was never on a pension roll.
The last surviving veteran may have been Daniel F. Bakeman (died 1869), who was placed on the pension rolls by an act of Congress and is listed as the last survivor of the conflict by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs.
(Source: Copyright © 2003 Otherground, LLC and World-War-2.info)

George Washington
Painting by Rembrandt Peale
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Source: the-athenaeum.org

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States, (1789–1797), after leading the Continental Army to victory over the Kingdom of Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).
Washington was chosen to be the commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces in 1775. The following year, he forced the British out of Boston, but was defeated when he lost New York City later that year. He revived the patriot cause, however, by crossing the Delaware River in New Jersey and defeating the surprised enemy units. As a result of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured the two main British combat armies — Saratoga and Yorktown. Negotiating with Congress, the colonial states, and French allies, he held together a tenuous army and a fragile nation amid the threats of disintegration and failure. Following the end of the war in 1783, Washington retired to his plantation on Mount Vernon.
Washington became President of the United States in 1789 and established many of the customs and usages of the new government's executive department. Although never officially joining the Federalist Party, he supported its programs and was its inspirational leader. Washington's farewell address was a primer on republican virtue and a stern warning against involvement in foreign wars.
Washington is seen as a symbol of the United States and republicanism in practice. His devotion to civic virtue made him an exemplary figure among early American politicians. Washington died in 1799, and in his funeral oration, Henry Lee said that of all Americans, he was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Washington has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.
(Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War and was signed on September 3, 1783.
Treaty of Paris:
page 1
signature page
(Source: archives.gov)