The American Revolution was a colonial revolt that took place between 1765 and 1783. The American Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies won independence from Great Britain, becoming the United States of America. They defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War in alliance with France and others.

Members of American colonial society argued the position of "no taxation without representation", starting with the Stamp Act Congress in 1765. They rejected the authority of the British Parliament to tax them because they lacked representation in Parliament. Protests steadily escalated to the burning of the "Gaspee" in Rhode Island in 1772, followed by the Boston Tea Party in 1773, during which patriots destroyed a consignment of taxed tea. The British responded by closing Boston Harbor, then followed with a series of legislative acts which effectively rescinded Massachusetts Bay Colony's rights of self-government and caused the other colonies to rally behind Massachusetts. In late 1774, the Patriots set up their own alternative government to better coordinate their resistance efforts against Great Britain; other colonists preferred to remain aligned to the British Crown and were known as Loyalists or Tories.

Tensions erupted into battle between Patriot militia and British regulars when the British attempted to capture and destroy Colonial military supplies at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The conflict then developed into a global war, during which the Patriots (and later their French, Spanish, and Dutch allies) fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War (177583). Each of the thirteen colonies formed a Provincial Congress that assumed power from the old colonial governments and suppressed Loyalism, and from there they built a Continental Army under the leadership of General George Washington. The Continental Congress determined King George's rule to be tyrannical and infringing the colonists' rights as Englishmen, and they declared the colonies free and independent states on July 2, 1776. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, and they proclaimed that all men are created equal.

Answer the following questions:
1. when was the burning of the Gaspee?
2. where did the British to destroy Colonial military supplies?
3. where?
4. did this escalate into a global conflict?
5. what were some of the countries that were involved?
6. who argued for "no taxation without representation"?
7. what act was central to argument?
8. when was that enacted?
9. what was the American Revolution?
10. who allied with the colonials?
11. what followed the burning of the Gaspee?
12. what did the patriots destroy?
13. when did the party take place?
14. did the British rescind Massachusetts right to self govern?
15. how did they do this?
16. what did the patriots do in 1774?
17. did everyone join them?
18. what were these loyalists called?
19. who declared the colonies free?
20. on what day?
1. 1772
2. 1775
3. Lexington and Concord
4. yes
5. France and Spain
6. Members of American colonial society
7. the Stamp Act
8. 1765
9. a colonial revolt
10. France
11. the Boston Tea Party
12. a consignment of taxed tea.
13. 1773
14. yes
15. a series of legislative acts
16. set up their own alternative government
17. no
18. Tories
19. The Continental Congress
20. July 2, 1776.