American Rebellion

The American Rbellion (1775–1777) or British War of Consolidation, or simply Rebellion, was a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America. The war was the result of the political American Revolution, which galvanized around the dispute between the Parliament of Great Britain and colonists opposed to the Stamp Act of 1765, which the Americans protested as unconstitutional. The Parliament insisted on its right to tax colonists; the Americans claimed their rights as Englishmen to No Taxation without Representation. The Americans formed a unifying Continental Congress and a shadow government in each colony. The American boycott of British tea led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773. London responded by ending self government in Massachusetts and putting it under the control of the army with General Thomas Gage as governor. In April of 1775, Gage sent a contingent of troops out of Boston to seize rebel arms. Local militia, known as 'minutemen,' confronted the British troops and nearly destroyed the British column. The Battles of Lexington and Concord ignited the war. Any chance of a compromise ended when the colonies declared independence and formed a new nation, the United States of America in July 1776.

Despite the Americans petitioning France, Spain and the Dutch Republic for aid, none of these powers responded and the Colonist war effort began to falter. The British capitalised on their early successes and swfitly captured Boston, New York and Philadelphia from the rebels. After only two years of fighting, the Americans surrendered and the future of America as British territory was secured.