The United Stated of America; The war and the Declaration of Independence

The independent movement was an inevitable step to break through from the British policy and the way the Britain imposed the rules and dictated taxes and financial spendings. Scarcely the king took into a consideration another violent upheaval. After the Boston Tea Party it was some time of peace and quiet, the new financial liabilities were implemented; willy-nilly – anyone had to agree and pay it through on and on. So people did with plotting behind. It was their money and they wanted to spend it the way their representative government tells them, not the king and the Britain which were so far-away.

Om 18^th of April 1775 the British soldiers retreated from Boston, the units were about to seize the weapons in the other town – Concord. Everyone knew the soldiers were coming, the light signals were on – the British units came across several smaller or bigger ambushes made by farmers and tradesmen. Small town of Lexington was famous due to the bravery of so-called „Minutemen”. This bizarre name came form the promise they all made – that they will be ready to take up their gun and fight within a minute.The brave ones – Minutemen were dead literally within minutes – the shots were fired – the American War of Independence began. Concord and other small villages were conquered. The roads around Boston were shot down one by one; American offensive was gathering all around the city of Boston – the ring of armed soldiers was closing. The fight was fierce resulted in many casualties on both sides; to stop it and make some onset of the agreement in May 1775 a second Continental Congress took place in Philadelphia – it was standing for the first American government. The Congress set up the army – 17,000 soldiers under the command George Washington. Washington was a very experienced soldier – the landowner of Virginia – experienced in wars – he fought in the French and the Indian War. The representatives of the Continental Congress sought help whenever they could – the Britain's old enemy France appeared as a perfect one.

The voice of revolution was heard loud out and proudly represented by Thomas Pine, he was a republican who came from England to America in 1774. he wrote a brilliant manifesto – a pamphlet called „Common Sense”. In which he encouraged to take the action in own hands and go a separate way: „it is time to part”. His short but powerful wok made him very noticeable and famous. People reading it said '' it is me, he writes about me, I should follow My belief, I will do it''. This is how it worked. George Washington called it „sound and unanswerable”. In his another equally strong pamphlet called „The Crisis” Paine wrote „(...) The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands now deserves the love and thanks of men and women (...)” it was deeply spiritual read in the darkest moments of the battle. For many it meant the salvation from despair. A life-saver manifesto.

The war escalated and spread throughout Massachusetts. It truly was a full-scale war. On 2^nd of July the Congress made decision many believed it was just a careless whisper – they cut all political ties with Britain and declared the colonies as „free and independent states”. It followed another outstanding document – on 4^th of July 1776 portrayed the most important document in American history – the Declaration of Independence. The document officially named the colonies of America – the United States of America. The declaration was more than a statement, it was a notion so unfamiliar to Britain and Europe. It stated that men had a right to live one life in liberty and pursuit of happiness, the government can only justly claim the right to rule if they have the agreement of those they govern „the consent of the governed”.

In 1777 the Marquis de Lafayette – a young French aristocrat landed in America. He came to fight for a new society and avenge the death of his father who died fighting the the British during the Indian War. Pure idealist. He served without pay in the American army, became a major-general on the staff of George Washington. He won Washington's respect in final acts of war and the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. After the war he returned to France where he supported the American, however, shortly after the French Revolution broke out he was imprisoned, furthermore all his estates and belongings were taken out of him. His life was saved by the Congress who voted and agreed to pay $24,424 to make him free. As an old gentleman he returned to America, he was greeted as a hero a living symbol of this nation who helped them to pursue their dreams of becoming an independent country. He was given a land in Louisiana as a token of gratitude.

The ideas were deeply rooted into the history the newcomers brought with them to a new land. Some ideas were derived from the English thinker John Locke. It all produced the definition of the democratic government. The government consist of representatives elected by people; the rights were given to individual citizens. The revolutionary document made people much more eager to fight for their own well-being – tired, loss in number they didn't give up. The critical point came when the British captured New York – in September 1776. the hope was almost lost; the breakthrough came in October 1777 in Saratoga in northern New York. The British commander was cut of food supplies and his army exposed to starvation. He was no given any choice but surrender. So did he. His units were put on board ships and as prisoners set back home. The victory at Saratoga enters a new chapter in American history – it was a chance for Benjamin Franklin – the American ambassador to France to join the fight. He persuaded the French king Louis XVI to join the war, it resulted in signing in February 1778 an alliance between France and America against Britain.

The year 1778 was a remarkable one; the fights took place mostly in the southern parts of the colonies, in September 1781 George Washington and general Cornwallis surrounded the troops at Yorktown. The British soldiers hoped the help will come from the sea – the counted on the ship which were about to come from Britain, there was a quite opposite – there were ship soon but not the British but the French ones. On 17^th of October 1781 it was over. The war finished. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris officially recognized the colonies as independent nation – the treaty granted a new United Stated of all North America from Canada in the North to Florida in the south and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River. End of story! New Nation – Something new to tell.

Bibliography:

1. The Norton Anthology of American Literature.
2. A History of American Literature, A. Grey
3. An Outline of American History.
4. An Illustrated History of the USA.