"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" - Patrick Henry
The American Revolution
The American Revolution(1775-83) is also known as the American Revolutionary War and the U.S. War of Independence. The conflict arose from tensions between the people of the 13 North American colonies ruled by Great Britain and the colonial government, which represented the British crown. American colonies saw that King George III of England's government was over-taxing them without proper representation or their say in it which led the angered colonists to rebel against Britain committing acts such as the Boston tea party, the Boston Massacre, and Burning of the Gaspee. Issues between British troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the start of the conflict, and by the next summer the rebels were raging a full war for their independence. France entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what was just a civil war into an international conflict. After France's assistance helped the Continental Army force the British to surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1779, the Americans effectively won their independence.