Omar Bennett
The United States of America was founded and gained independence from Britain in 1776, with the Declaration of Independence. This was during the American Revolution, also known as the US War of Independence, which lasted from 1775 to 1783. The Constitution was signed in 1787, so yes, the US did break apart from Britain before the Constitution was written and signed.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of Declaration of Independence | July 4, 1776 |
| Reason for Declaration of Independence | Taxation without representation, violation of liberties, and oppression |
| Key Figures | Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock, Richard Henry Lee |
| Impact | American Revolution, War of Independence |
| Loyalties | Divided between Loyalists (pro-British) and Patriots (American rebels) |
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What You'll Learn
The Stamp Act of 1765
The United States' path to breaking apart from British rule before the constitution was laid out began with growing discontent among North American colonists with British imperial policies on taxation and frontier policy in the 1760s and early 1770s. This eventually led to the American Revolution and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
One of the major events that fuelled colonial discontent was the Stamp Act of 1765. On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765. The Act imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America, requiring them to pay a tax represented by a stamp on various legal documents, magazines, newspapers, playing cards, and other printed materials. The tax was to be paid in British currency, which was difficult to obtain, rather than in colonial paper money. The purpose of this tax was to fund British military troops stationed in the American colonies during the Seven Years' War (or the French and Indian War). However, the colonists argued that they had already contributed their fair share of war expenses and that there was no need for a large British military presence in the colonies.
The Stamp Act was highly unpopular among the colonists, who saw it as a violation of their rights as Englishmen. They believed that they could not be taxed without their consent, which came in the form of representation in Parliament. Since the colonists did not elect any members of Parliament, they considered the tax to be unjust. Their slogan became "No taxation without representation". In response to the Stamp Act, colonial assemblies sent petitions and protests, and the Stamp Act Congress, held in New York City, became the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure.
The opposition to the Stamp Act was not limited to the colonies. British merchants and manufacturers pressured Parliament because their exports to the colonies were threatened by boycotts. Violent protests erupted in America, and local protest groups established Committees of Correspondence, creating a loose coalition from New England to Maryland. The Sons of Liberty often initiated protests and demonstrations, which sometimes involved hanging effigies. Eventually, all stamp tax distributors were intimidated into resigning, and the tax was never effectively collected.
Faced with mounting pressure and resistance, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act on March 18, 1766. However, they simultaneously passed the Declaratory Act, affirming their power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever". This episode played a significant role in solidifying colonial grievances and further strained the relationship between the American colonies and Great Britain, setting the stage for the eventual break from British rule.
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The Townshend Acts
The Acts were introduced to raise revenue to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges, ensuring their loyalty to the British Crown. The British government believed that the colonists should contribute to the cost of their protection. The Townshend Acts followed early attempts to tax the colonists, such as the Stamp Act of 1765, which were met with widespread protests in America.
The Acts placed an indirect tax on goods that had to be imported from Britain. This form of taxation was chosen in response to the failure of the Stamp Act of 1765, which had imposed a direct tax on the colonies. The Townshend Acts proved to be similarly controversial. Colonial indignation was expressed in John Dickinson's "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" and the "Massachusetts Circular Letter". There was widespread protest, and American port cities refused to import British goods.
In March 1770, most of the taxes from the Townshend Acts were repealed, except for the import duty on tea. This duty was retained to demonstrate Parliament's authority to tax the colonies. The taxation of imported tea was enforced by the Tea Act of 1773, leading to the Boston Tea Party in 1773, where Bostonians destroyed a large shipment of taxed tea. Parliament responded with severe punishments in the Intolerable Acts of 1774, which included the Massachusetts Government Act, the Boston Port Bill, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act. These acts further fueled colonial rage and led to the American Revolution, which began in April 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
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The Boston Tea Party
The protest was initiated by the Sons of Liberty, a group of activists in Boston, which was then a part of colonial Massachusetts, one of the original Thirteen Colonies in British America. The protest escalated tensions between Britain and American Patriots, who opposed British colonial mercantile and governing practices. The Boston Tea Party was the second American tax revolt against British royal authority, with the first being the Pine Tree Riot in April 1772 in Weare, New Hampshire.
The target of the protest was the British implementation of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the East India Company to sell tea from China in the colonies without paying taxes, except for those imposed by the Townshend Acts. On the night of December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Native Americans, boarded the Dartmouth, a British ship that had docked in Boston carrying a major shipment of East India Company tea. They threw 342 chests of tea, weighing over 90,000 pounds (approximately 45 tons), into Boston Harbor. The protest was a bold act of defiance against British rule and taxation without representation, and it took nearly three hours for more than 100 colonists to empty the tea into the harbour.
The British government considered the Boston Tea Party an act of treason and responded harshly. Nine days later, on December 25, at the Philadelphia Tea Party, American patriots similarly protested the arrival of a British tea shipment aboard the ship Polly. While the tea was not destroyed, they sent the ship back to England without unloading it. Parliament responded in 1774 with the Intolerable Acts, or Coercive Acts, which ended local self-government in Massachusetts, closed Boston's commerce, and imposed other punitive measures. These Acts were intended to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party and the Gaspee Affair of 1772.
Colonists throughout the Thirteen Colonies responded to the Intolerable Acts with further acts of protest and by convening the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia to coordinate a formal response. The Congress organised a boycott of British goods and petitioned the king for a repeal of the Acts. However, these measures were unsuccessful, as King George III and the British government were determined to enforce parliamentary supremacy over the colonies. The Boston Tea Party thus played a significant role in escalating tensions and ultimately leading to the American Revolutionary War and the break from British rule.
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The Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was convened in Philadelphia in 1774 in response to escalating tensions between the colonies and the British, which culminated in the passage of the Coercive Acts (known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies) by the British Parliament. The First Congress met for about six weeks, mainly to try to repair the relationship between Britain and the colonies while asserting the rights of colonists. The Congress organised a boycott of British goods and petitioned the king for a repeal of the acts. These measures were unsuccessful, and the First Continental Congress disbanded on October 26, 1774.
The Second Continental Congress convened in 1775, soon after hostilities broke out in Massachusetts and the Revolutionary War had begun. The Second Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III, established the Continental Army, and elected George Washington as commander of the new army. The Second Congress continued to meet until March 1, 1781, when the Articles of Confederation that established a new national government for the United States took effect. During the war, the Continental Congress became America's de facto government, conducting diplomacy on behalf of the new United States.
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The Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, is the founding document of the United States. It was authored by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, and was unanimously adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The Declaration was a formal explanation of why the Continental Congress voted to declare American independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
The Declaration was viewed by Abraham Lincoln as the moral standard to which the United States should strive, and he considered it a statement of principles through which the Constitution should be interpreted. In 1863, Lincoln made the Declaration the centerpiece of his Gettysburg Address, widely considered among the most famous speeches in American history.
The Declaration was ratified and signed by the delegates of the Second Continental Congress, who represented each of the Thirteen Colonies. In doing so, they committed an act of high treason against the Crown, which was punishable by torture and death. The signatories included future presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and the legendary signature of John Hancock.
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Frequently asked questions
The American Revolution, also called the U.S. War of Independence.
The US broke apart from Britain in 1783.
The key causes of the war were colonial opposition to British attempts to impose greater control over the colonies and make them repay the crown for its defence during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Britain imposed a series of deeply unpopular laws and taxes, including the Sugar Act (1764) and the Stamp Act (1765).
The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, was a statement of principles through which the Constitution should be interpreted. It was viewed by Abraham Lincoln as the moral standard to which the United States should strive.
Key factors in the founders' decision included their commitment to protect individual rights and their rejection of the concentration of power in the British system. The British system did not provide explicit guarantees for citizens' liberties, and the colonists were dissatisfied with being governed by a distant authority that did not adequately consider their interests.
