Since the opening of the new sea route, Britain, France, Spain and Portugal and other powers have rushed to embark on the road of colonial plunder, and many world-wide wars have broken out between the great powers in order to compete for colonies, the most famous of which is the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. Britain became the biggest winner in this war, France was forced to cede all of Canada to Britain in the Peace of Paris, and withdrew from all of India, leaving only 5 towns, and Britain became the overlord of overseas colonies, moving towards the legend of the empire that never sets.
However, the British transferred the expenses of this war to the North American colonial states, causing dissatisfaction among the local population. Not long after the Seven Years' War, the oppressive people of the North American colonies launched an uprising, and the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American bourgeois revolution) officially broke out.
Initially, however, there was no consensus within the colony, and not all of them were in favor of violent revolution. They split between them into two factions, conservatives and activists.
For example, American Patrick Henry also had a heated debate with conservatives in Parliament in 1775:
Gentlemen, no more futile attempts to de-escalate the situation. You can shout peace — but peace does not exist. In fact, the war has already begun! Soon, the storm sweeping from the north will bring rumbling cannons! Our brethren have gone to war! Why are we still sitting idly by? What exactly do gentlemen want? And what do you get? Could it be that life is so precious and peace so beautiful that it is worth it at the cost of shackles and slavery? Lord Almighty, stop them! I don't know what path others will choose, but for me, not free, rather than die!
This is the famous "Not Free, Rather Die", which was also selected into the high school Chinese textbook, and it can be said that the ideas of the Thirteen Colonies at that time can already be seen in it.
So in September 1774, the First Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia, which organized another boycott of British goods. The battle began the following year, when British troops traveled from Boston to Concord to search for a secret munitions depot there. It was during this battle that "the world's gunshots were heard" on the Lexington Lawn. The following month, May 1775, the Second Continental Congress was convened, which was charged with a real war and began to recruit an American army.
As the fighting spread, emotions for independence grew stronger. In January 1776, Paine published the agitation pamphlet Common Sense. Common Sense was circulated throughout the colony. Finally, on July 4, 1776, the United States Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, and the United States was officially born, which is also the national day of the United States.
In the decisive Battle of Saratoga in 1771, the United States won a crucial victory. The following year, France entered into an alliance with the United States and declared war on Britain. The Netherlands and Spain then joined the French side, while most of the other European powers formed an alliance of armed neutrality to protect their trade from the British navy. The accession of France finally led to the final British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. The Peace Treaty of 1783 in Paris formally recognized the independence of the United States of America, whose frontier stretched westward to the Mississippi River.
From the point of view of world history, the American Revolution is important not because it created an independent state, but because it created a new and different type of state. The Declaration of Independence declared: "We believe that these truths are self-evident: all men are created equal. Thus, during and after the Revolution, the American people passed laws designed to make this Declaration come true not only on paper but also in life. They confiscated and distributed large estates of Anglophiles, extending citizenship to all adult men (but not women) with the right to vote. Many state governments passed laws prohibiting slaves. Established churches were abolished and freedom of religion became the law of the state. Thirteen states have formally adopted constitutions that include human rights, which guarantees the natural rights of citizens.
These changes were not as extensive and profound as those brought about by the French and Russian revolutions. However, the American Revolution had far-reaching effects at the time. The establishment of an independent republic in the Americas was widely interpreted in Europe as implying that the ideas of the Enlightenment were feasible – that it was possible for a people to establish a state, to develop a viable form of government based on individual rights. As a result, the United States became a symbol of freedom and opportunity, envied as a new continent free from the burdens and shackles of history.
References: General History of the World, Encyclopedia Britannica