The American Colonies: The Birth Of A New Nation

The Birth of a New Nation

It took 158 years for the American colonies to become a new nation. When the first royal colony, Virginia, was established in 1624 the American colonists considered themselves a part of England. Over time, the American colonists grew separate and wanted more independence. In 1783 the British recognized the American colonies as a nation at the Treaty of Paris. Before the Treaty of Paris the colonists had to win their independence and fight the British in the Revolutionary War. The Americans were victorious because their nation had influential figures and was becoming more politically organized, they exploited Britain and France’s skirmish, and they had a home field advantage. America’s government was becoming more organized and it had influential people with radical ideas which helped contribute to its victory. In 1775 the Second Continental
The initial reason the Congress decided to fight Britain was to convince them to repeal the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts were restraining laws that Parliament enforced on the colonies in 1774. The Congress delegated George Washington to lead the army. They chose him because he was a well respected man from Virginia and this would make the colonists happy, a decision that could have turned out catastrophically. The Congress was lucky that George Washington was a great leader. Washington led many victories such as victory of Yorktown in 1781, which ended the fighting in the Revolutionary War. George Washington was an important facet politically as were Thomas Paine and Richard Henry Lee. Both of these men had radical political views that represented a majority of society. Thomas Paine wrote the Common Sense in 1776. Common Sense was an influential pamphlet that was about