KPR exam Essay

Faculty of Philosophy and Arts

University of West Bohemia

Outline of Anglo-American Countries 1

On the road to independence Essay

2nd year, full-time, Political Science, International Relations – Territorial Studies

The American Revolutionary War started in 1775 and ended eight years later in 1783. As many knows the Revolutionary War ended giving Americans independence. But independence was not the original intent. So why thirteen American colonies decided to establish an independent republic in the end?

After the French and Indian War that took place in 1754 to 1763, one of the first and also biggest problems occurred, when King of the England along with British Parliament decided to tax the American colonies. As England helped Americans in war by sending their troops to colonies and commanded them to stay and protect colonies after the end of the war, the expenses rose. Expenses from the troops were so high that the King of England and Parliament needed money to pay for their war debts, so they decided to increase taxes in colonies to cover all of the expenses. As American colonies were dependent on goods that England sent, it was nonsense to tax Americans for buying British goods such as tea et cetera when British people living in England are not paying such a tax but British people in American colonies are.

Tax on import of British goods led to several protests, where people showed how dissatisfied they are and of the most famous protest is called the “Boston Tea Party”, where Americans dressed up as Indians, sneaked up into the British ships and threw all of the British tea into the ocean.

At first, Americans did not want to establish an independent republic. All they wanted was to break free from following rules and laws given by the King of England and Parliament and wanted to have their own representatives in the government. But the British Parliament refused colonists to have their own representatives in the government, so all thirteen American colonies decided to break away from the England and started forming their own country called “The United states of America”.

Thomas Jefferson, who later served as a third president of the United States of America, wrote document called the “Declaration of Independence” where he stated how American colonies believed what kind of rights they had, that people have right to be free and right to live how they want to live. Thomas Jefferson sent the Declaration of Independence to the King of England but as the King did not liked the idea of the American colonies breaking away from England, he declared a war to the colonies, which led to the eight years of war and started the Revolutionary War in 1775.

The United States of America was legally separated from England and created on July 4th, 1776, which is now celebrated every year as a “Independence Day”, while still in war with Great Britain. The Revolutionary War ended when Great Britain acknowledged separation of America and the Treaty of Paris was signed. This treaty put and end to the American Revolutionary War in 1783, freeing former American colonies and forming independent country called the United States of America, with first president in office George Washington.