THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

 The American Revolution.

Causes:

1.- Ideological.: The Enlightment ideas had spread in the  colonies. They demanded liberty and equality.

2.- The political situation. Great Britain increased the taxes that the citizens of the colonies had to pay. Since the colonies didn’t have members in the British Parliament they refused to accept a group of acts  ( laws) that hadn’t been voted by their representatives.

3.- Economic: The rich land-owners in the colonies wanted the control over economy and commerce.

The beginning of the war.

The war started when the British Government increased taxes for the colonies. One of the most important episodes took place in Boston in 1773. Several American people disguised as Indians dropped the tea stored in the ships in Boston harbor.

This action was a protest for the increasing taxes in day-life goods, such as tea.

The American colonists began to arm themselves and the war finally broke out in 1775.

          The Colonists were supported by France and Spain, those nations thought that the revolution could weak the power of Great Britain.

        The colonists proclaimed the Declaration of Independence on 4^th July 1776. Great Britain Recognized the independence of the USA in 1783, after the military defeat in Yorktown.

              The US Constitution ( The first in History) was  written in 1787. It established a Federal Republic with some of the ideas of Enlightenment:

              .- Popular sovereignty. ( limited to male citizens)

              .- Separation of powers.

 Its first president was George Washington, a rich land-owner who had acted as the general of the revolutionary troops.

              The American Revolution had an important impact in Europe, reinforcing the feelings against absolute monarchy.

 George Washington.

George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1732. During The American War of Independence, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the rebels forces that fought the British.

After the war had ended, Washington presided over the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where the Constitution of the United States was written.

In 1787, Washington was elected as the first President of the United States. During his time in office, he supported the Bill of Rights, which guaranteed the basic rights of all the citizens. He was president until 1797, and died two years later in Mount Vernon, his home in Virginia.