The Road to Rebellion

The American Revolution was an ideological earthquake. For over a century, the 13 colonies enjoyed "salutary neglect." But after the costly French and Indian War, Britain needed money. King George III imposed taxes like the Stamp Act and Tea Act without the colonists' consent.

The cry of "No Taxation Without Representation" ignited a firestorm. Tensions exploded in Boston with the Boston Massacre (1770) and the Boston Tea Party (1773). Britain's retaliation, the "Intolerable Acts," only united the colonies further, leading to the First Continental Congress.

Liberty or Death

13 Colonies

1773 Tea Party

The Shot Heard 'Round the World

War erupted on April 19, 1775. British troops marched to seize arms at Concord but were met by Minutemen at Lexington. A mysterious shot was fired, and the world changed.

The British were chased back to Boston. The subsequent Battle of Bunker Hill proved Americans could fight, but the arrival of General George Washington to command the Continental Army was the true turning point. He faced a seemingly impossible task: turning farmers into soldiers to fight the British Empire.

Minutemen

Citizen-soldiers ready in a minute's notice.

Lexington: First Battle.
Date: April 19, 1775.

1776: Independence & Desperation

On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson. It declared that "all men are created equal"—a radical idea for the time.

However, 1776 was nearly the end. The British captured New York City, and Washington's army was chased across New Jersey, disintegrating. In a desperate gamble, Washington crossed the icy Delaware River on Christmas night to surprise Hessian mercenaries at Trenton. This miraculous victory saved the Revolution from collapse.

The Crossing

Victory or Death.

Target: Trenton Hessians
Result: Victory

The French Alliance: Turning the Tide

The American victory at Saratoga (1777) convinced King Louis XVI of France that the rebels could win. Benjamin Franklin, using his fame and charm in Paris, secured a formal alliance.

France provided money, gunpowder, troops, and a navy. The arrival of the French fleet forced Britain to fight a global war, defending its own shores and colonies in the Caribbean and India. Young aristocrats like the Marquis de Lafayette became trusted aides to Washington, symbolizing the bond between the two nations.

New Allies

1778 Alliance

Navy French Fleet

The Traitor: Benedict Arnold

Not all heroes stayed loyal. Benedict Arnold was one of America's best generals, a hero of Saratoga. However, feeling unappreciated and debt-ridden, he turned traitor.

He plotted to surrender the strategic fort of West Point to the British for £20,000. The plot was discovered when British spy master Major John André was captured with the plans in his boot. Arnold escaped to fight for the British, but his name became synonymous with "traitor" forever.

West Point

The key to the continent, nearly sold for gold.

Traitor: B. Arnold
Price: £20,000

Spies and the Swamp Fox

Washington was a master of espionage. He ran the Culper Spy Ring in New York, which used invisible ink (sympathetic stain) and codes to smuggle intelligence. Secret agents like "355" risked execution to report British movements.

In the South, the war turned brutal. British Colonel Banastre Tarleton was known for "Tarleton's Quarter" (killing surrendering prisoners). In response, militia leader Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox," waged a guerilla war in the South Carolina swamps, striking quickly and vanishing, bleeding the British army dry.

Culper Ring

Washington's secret weapon.

Victory at Yorktown (1781)

The end came in Virginia. British General Cornwallis retreated to the Yorktown peninsula. Washington saw an opportunity. He rushed his army south, while the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse defeated the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Chesapeake, trapping Cornwallis.

Besieged by American and French forces, Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. As the British troops marched out to lay down their arms, their band reportedly played a tune called "The World Turned Upside Down."

Cornered

The trap snaps shut.

A New Order of the Ages

The Treaty of Paris (1783) secured American independence. It was a political earthquake. For the first time, a colony had broken free from a European empire to form a republic based on Enlightenment principles.

The American Revolution inspired the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and independence movements across Latin America. It challenged the divine right of kings and replaced it with the sovereignty of the people. As the Great Seal of the United States proclaims: Novus Ordo Seclorum (A New Order of the Ages).

Legacy

Liberty as a contagion.

Treaty: Paris, 1783.
Result: USA Born.