“Give me liberty, or give me death!” - Patrick Henry The Revolutionary War, also known as the American Revolution, was an eight year fight for independence.
It is estimated that 25,534 Americans lost their lives fighting for independence. Though this number is small compared to the wars afterward, it had a significant impact on the small 2.5 million population.
Over one million people left Europe in the 1600s-1700s to get away from the religious persecution, political oppression, and to find economic opportunities, which led to the formation of the 13 colonies.
However, they were not granted the freedom they sought. Britain imposed new taxes, restricted self-government, and limited personal freedoms through a series of acts and policies.
With British soldiers in their streets, American colonists began to become frustrated with their presence. On March 5, 1770, a group of colonists threw snowballs, ice and oyster shells at a British sentinel guarding the Boston Customs House. Reinforcements arrived and shot at the mob, killing five colonists, wounding six, and becoming know as the Boston Massacre.
Taxes such as the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 led to a decade of protests from the colonies against the tax policies, particularly those that were “taxation without representation.” The Tea Act of 1773 was the final straw. This act allowed the British East India Company to sell tea cheaper than other companies but still taxed in the colonies. Colonists in Boston gained support from other colonies like New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina, in which they all had their own protests against the tea tax on December 15, 1773. Americans disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea -imported by the British East India Company and worth $3 million today- into the Boston harbor. This first major act of defiance showed Great Britain that Americans would no longer tolerate taxation and tyranny, resulting in the punishing Coercive Acts, known as the Intolerable Acts. These acts closed the Boston Harbor until the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party was paid for. The Massachusetts Constitution was ended, along with free elections of town officials. Judicial authority was moved to Britain and British judges and required colonists to quarter British troops on demand, all of which furthered Britain’s tyranny.
Colonial delegates, including George Washington and John Adams, met in Philadelphia in 1774 to address grievances against Britain. The First Continental Congress denounced taxation without representation and the presence of the British army, asserting citizens’ rights to life, liberty, property, assembly and trial by jury. The Continental Congress voted to meet again in May 1775 to consider further action, but violence broke out before they could.
Hundreds of armed British troops marched from Boston to Concord, Massachusetts the night of April 18, 1775. Colonials sounded an alarm and local militiamen prepared. On April 19, colonial militiamen and British soldiers fought in what is known as the Battles of Lexington and Concord, marking the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The Second Continental Congress voted to form a Continental Army, with George Washington as its commander in chief.
The Revolution’s first major battle took place on June 17, with colonial forces inflicting heavy casualties on the British regiment during the Battle of Bunker Hill. Though the British won that battle, it encouraged the revolutionary cause.
By June 1776, the Revolutionary War had gained a majority of colonists in favor of independence from Britain. On July 4, the Continental Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence. That same year, France had secretly aided the colonists, entering the war on America’s side in 1777, and formally declaring war on Great Britain in June 1778 and Spain joining the following year. The Americans suffered various setbacks from 1779 to 1781, including the first serious rebellions within the Continental Army. In 1781, general and Commander-in-Chief George Washington won the Battle of Yorktown. This war required a high cost of fighting overseas for Britain, they lacked other support, and were preoccupied with other conflicts, leading to the British removing their troops from occupied ones to end the conflict the following year on November 25, becoming known as Evacuation Day and marking the end of the war. On September 3, 1783, Great Britain formally recognized the independence of the United States in the Treaty of Paris.
“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13