The Americans at the outset of the Revolutionary War were outnumbered by the British in military capacity by 3 to 1, were poorly trained and had less arms power as well as financial resources at their disposition. The American advantage resided in that they were fighting on land they knew better than the British, familiar as they were with the wilderness of the terrain they themselves had populated and fought for against the Native Americans. The Americans also had excellent leadership for a young coalition of colonies: George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Patrick Henry were among the great political, military, and ideological minds behind the American push for independence.
The revolution began in Lexington, Massachusetts on April 18, 1775, when British General Thomas Gage sent 700 soldiers to destroy guns and ammunition stored by the colonists in the town of Concord near Boston, provoking response from the colonists. The British also attempted to arrest two key leaders of the patriot movement, Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The colonists elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and under his guidance entered the subsequent battle with the British on Breed’s Hill on June 17, 1775, today remembered as the Battle of Bunker Hill. 
On December 25, 1776, after a stalemate on the battlefront of New York, George Washington and 2,500 of his soldiers crossed the Delaware River at night and attacked British and Hessian forces. Washington and his troops overpowered the opposition suffering only six wounded soldiers and cemented the path towards victory for the Revolutionary forces. By March 1777, Washington’s army had routed the British out of most of New York and New Jersey back towards New Brunswick. 
A decisive battle was fought and won by the Americans in Saratoga on October 7, 1777 when the American forces under General Horatio Gates and General Benedict Arnold defeated General Burgoyne’s army. On October 17, 1777, about 5,700 of General Burgoyne’s men surrendered to the Americans and were sent back to England. This was the point at which the French government recognized the independence of the United States of America. By July 1778, the French would also declare war on Britain and ally themselves with the American effort. The British would be further threatened and put at a disadvantage in their counter efforts against the Americans when the Spanish also declared war on the British, though establishing no alliance with the United States, and other European countries such as Holland and Poland gave their support to American initiatives. The British, in turn, fought back allying themselves with various Native American tribes.
The Revolutionary War that was to decisively sever the relationship between the American colonies and their British rulers was provoked by increasing British infringement on the rights of the colonists in the 1760s.
After having accrued substantial debt during the French and Indian War and in attempts to both garner more income from their American colonies and solidify control over their economies, the British took measures that would ultimately antagonize their American subjects. In 1764, the British government attempted to pass the Currency Law that would forbid the printing of legal tender paper money in the colonies. This threat to the economies of the industrial North and agricultural South united the colonies against the British in an act of civil disobedience and tensions were further heightened when England sought to impose the Stamp Act, taxing the colonies directly for the first time in order to assuage British debt. The issue of taxation without representation under British power surfaced as a pivotal point in the movement towards action against what would increasingly be felt as excessive rule by the British. Rebellion by the colonies would not flourish for another decade, but these first incidents of colonial upheaval in face of British mandates, set the tone for a period of mounting tensions.
The Revolutionary War that would mark a new era in global politics was not without internal struggle. Although an impetus for change was irreversible, about 20 to 30 percent of the colonists remained loyal to the British crown during the War, becoming known as Loyalists or ‘Tories’ or ‘King’s men.’ Furthermore, the colonies were still in conflict with some of their Native American neighbors and the later intercession of foreign European forces, such as the Hessians, French, and Spanish, made the lines of war and boundaries of conflict less clear.
| The Revolution began in 1775 after an altercation in Lexington, Massachusetts. The unraveling of British dominion in the American colonies had as much to do with reaction to authoritative acts by the British as it did with disparate ideologies evolving in the New World about republicanism and democracy in the face of traditional hierarchical and monarchical systems. It | |
| was also a case of local governance versus distant governance and the question of the effectiveness and legitimacy of one system over another. What was unique and formidable about the emerging Americans was the strength and determination of their leadership and the vision they had for a future government that would rest on principles of republicanism and enlightened ideas regarding the rights of citizens and would institute a system of laws chosen by the people themselves. | |
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