Editing Thirteen Colonies (section)

==American Revolutionary War==
{{main|American Revolutionary War}}
{{Further|Continental Army|Patriot (American Revolution)}}
[[File:British colonies 1763-76 shepherd1923.PNG|thumb|A map of the Thirteen Colonies (in red) and nearby colonial areas (1763–1775) just before the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]]]
In response, the colonies formed bodies of elected representatives known as [[Provincial Congress]]es, and colonists began to boycott imported British merchandise.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Breen |first=T.H. |title=American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People |date=2010 |pages=81–82}}</ref> Later in 1774, 12 colonies sent representatives to the [[First Continental Congress]] in [[Philadelphia]]. During the [[Second Continental Congress]], the remaining colony of Georgia sent delegates as well.

Massachusetts Governor [[Thomas Gage]] feared a confrontation with the colonists; he requested reinforcements from Britain, but the British government was not willing to pay for the expense of stationing tens of thousands of soldiers in the Thirteen Colonies. Gage was instead ordered to seize Patriot arsenals. He dispatched a force to march on the arsenal at [[Concord, Massachusetts]], but the Patriots learned about it and blocked their advance. The Patriots repulsed the British force at the April 1775 [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], then lay [[Siege of Boston|siege to Boston]].{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|pages=132–133}}

By spring 1775, all royal officials had been expelled, and the [[Continental Congress]] hosted a convention of delegates for the Thirteen Colonies. It raised an army to fight the British and named [[George Washington]] its commander, made treaties, declared independence, and recommended that the colonies write constitutions and become states,{{Sfnp|Middlekauff|2005}} later enumerated in the 1777 [[Articles of Confederation]].{{Efn|The States of: New Hampshire; Massachusetts bay; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; Connecticut; New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Delaware; Maryland; Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; Georgia (see [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation_and_Perpetual_Union Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union]).}}

In May 1775, the [[Second Continental Congress]], assembled in the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia, began recruiting soldiers for the Revolutionary War against the British, printing its own money, and appointing [[George Washington]] as commander of Patriot militias. Those from New England that had launched the [[Siege of Boston]], which forced [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British troops]] to withdraw from [[Boston]]. The patriot militias later were formalized into the [[Continental Army]] under Washington's command.

=== Declaration of Independence ===
{{Main|United States Declaration of Independence}}
The Second Continental Congress charged the [[Committee of Five]], including [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Robert R. Livingston]], and [[Roger Sherman]], with authoring the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. The committee, in turn, asked Jefferson to author the first draft, which Jefferson largely wrote in isolation between June 11, 1776, and June 28, 1776, from the second floor of a three-story home he was renting at 700 [[Market Street (Philadelphia)|Market Street]] in Philadelphia, now called the Declaration House and within walking distance of [[Independence Hall]].<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/declarationhouse.htm "Visit the Declaration House"], [[National Park Service]] official website</ref> Considering Congress's busy schedule, Jefferson probably had limited time for writing over these 17 days, and he likely wrote his first draft quickly.{{rp|page=104}}

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted and issued the Declaration as a letter of grievances to King [[George III]];

With the help chiefly of France, they defeated the British in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. The decisive victory came at the [[Siege of Yorktown (1781)|Siege of Yorktown]] in 1781. In the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]], Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States of America.<ref name="EiVQB">[[#mays2019|Mays 2019]], p. 8</ref><ref name="9w1sv">[[#wallaceray2015|Wallace 2015]], "American Revolution"</ref>