Throughout the mid-1700's resistance to British control in the colonies grew as Britain tried to consolidate their empire through a series of ordinances after the Seven Years' War. Although the passage of the Stamp Act, Declaratory Act, Sugar Act, and the Townshend Duties did not inevitably hurry the revolution, they did cause colonists to question how much influence Parliament had and should have within the American colonies.
Around the same time, colonists were also exposed to Enlightenment thought which placed stress upon reason, information and experimentation, and John Locke's opinion that the government exists to protect the individual's right to property, life and liberty. The republican and Whig ideologies were also spread throughout the colonies. The republican stress on popular sovereignty, representative government, the ‘filtration' system, a natural aristocracy and public virtue supplemented the colonists' disgust at the corruption of the British government and illuminated the contrasting governmental differences between the colonies and their mother country.
[...] His army bullied civilians into joining the rebel side, thus giving the British more enemies to fight against. Also, he made the fatal mistake of choosing the wrong place to engage in battle. Yorktown was between the rebel army, and the sea where French warships waiting. His surrender at Yorktown marked the end of the Revolutionary War, with a victory for the Americans. V. How the War Concluded/Treaty and Terms The war concluded with a colonial victory after the end of the siege of Yorktown by the efficient blockading between French fleet and Washington's Army. [...]
[...] In the early morning of April seventy Minutemen in a militia consisting of farmers mustered on the Green at the center of Lexington British troops marched onto the Green and told the militia to move out of the way. A shot was fired, either from the British or American side, and resulted in the death of eight Americans. By dawn, word of the British had spread and hundreds of Minutemen from nearby towns surged into Concord, where the troops were marching. [...]
[...] This led to the official split with England through the Declaration of Independence, an important document written by delegates such as Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson of the Second Continental Congress, which directly confirmed and began the American Revolution. II. Strategies of the Competing Sides for Victory British Strategies: Throughout the American Revolution the British troops constantly had the benefit of the doubt. They were trained professionals while the colonists were no more than farmers with rifles. Although these men were at the bottom of society, they were trained carefully and disciplined, to become competent soldiers. [...]
[...] Inexperienced soldiers were plentiful in the military, and as the number of volunteers lowered the colonists had a problem. In desperation, Washington recruited ‘rank and file' men, people who came from the lowest level of society, to be his soldiers. In the beginning Washington tried to avoid open battles, by barricading his army into Dochester Heights. However, as he was forced to do battle with the British his fears were confirmed as the British won throughout 1776, pushing the Continental Army back, until Christmas when Washington pulled off a daring raid across the frozen Delaware River. [...]
[...] The triumph was enough to convince France to join the war on the rebel side, possibly one of the main reasons the Americans won the war. The battle at Yorktown was important because it marked the end of the American Revolution. Here, Cornwallis was forced to surrender to George Washington. By the end of September Frenchmen Continentals, and 3200 militia sandwiched Yorktown between an allied army and the sea of French warships. Because of this embarrassing defeat, two important British officials resigned, and even King George III was considering step down from his position as the British monarch. [...]
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