1. Material basis for the revolution: imperial wars and taxes
During the first half of the 18th century, the Thirteen Colonies recognised British rule, since colonial trade was protected by the British army. The British victory in the Seven Years' War (a colonial fight between Britain and France (1756-1763) in Europe, India and North America) ensured the hegemony of its navy and constituted the starting point of a vast and prosperous Empire. Nevertheless, the financial problems due to the high costs of the war made the British government increase taxes.
Successive taxes were passed by the British Parliament: the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act (1765, on legal documents and publications), the Townsend Act (1767, on imports), or the Tea Act (1773). Actually, Americans had to import all manufactures from Britain and sell their products (sugar, coffee, tobacco) using British ships and paying taxes for them. For the colonists, the British had no right to collect more money from them without a proper Parliamentary representation (Americans had no representative in London). It would be better to have a government of their own instead of following the British commands.
2. The Declaration of Independence and the war
The beginning of the struggle for independence took place in Boston. In 1773, the colonists threw a cargo of British tea into Boston harbour -the Boston Tea Party. The reaction of king George III, who ordered to close the harbour and to send the redcoats, strengthened the American resistance: the Thirteen Colonies organized the Continental Congress of Philadelphia in 1774 in order to coordinate their action against the British. On 4 July 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
A Second Congress appointed George Washington as the commander-in-chief of the American army, which was supported by the old colonial enemies, France and Spain. Although the rebels had no professional army, Washington used guerrilla tactics against the British successfully. His troops defeated the redcoats in Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781), where the British troops surrendered.
Clark Art Institute
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness (.) But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security (.) The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. (.)
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. (.)
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776
3. Peace and the creation of a new State
After the definitive battle of Yorktown, the British government recognized American independence in the Peace of Paris of 1783.
Representatives of the thirteen new independent States signed a federal Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787. It reflects the principles of the Enlightenment: division of powers, popular sovereignty, and a list of rights (freedom of religion, of speech, right of property). The government is in the hands of an elected President: George Washington was voted as the first ruler. The federal structure guarantees the autonomy of the federated States, whereas certain matters remain the exclusive field of the federal government (foreign affairs, armed forces).
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WE, the PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
ARTICLE I.
Sect. 1. All legislative powers, herein granted, shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Sect. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.
ARTICLE II.
Sect. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows.
No person, except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office, who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
ARTICLE III.
Sect. 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such Inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and Inferior Courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour; and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.
