Alarmed by the developments in Massachusetts, the colonies convened the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia on September 4, 1774. Independence and revolution were not on the agenda. The primary action was the adoption of a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which reiterated the colonists' opposition to taxes and reasserted their right to home rule. The delegates also agreed to boycott British goods and raise their own troops. Ultimately, their goal was to reclaim colonial autonomy — not independence.

By the time the delegates gathered for the Second Continental Congress in the spring of 1775, fighting had already begun between the colonists and the British army. Skirmishes had taken place at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, and the port of Boston was under British occupation. The Congress appointed George Washington commander in chief of the ragtag militia that had formed outside of Boston, even though there was no formal declaration of war against England.

With the colonists evenly divided between British loyalists and revolutionaries, heated debate engulfed the thirteen colonies. Virginian Thomas Paine brilliantly articulated the revolutionary cause in his pamphlet Common Sense, which sold more than 120,000 copies in the early months of 1776. “It is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance,” wrote Paine. It was a sentiment that was sweeping the colonies.

The Declaration of Independence

In the spring of 1776, the Second Congress set out to formally declare its independence from Britain. A young Virginian named Thomas Jefferson was assigned the task of drafting the document, which he presented to the full Congress in late June. After debate and revision, the Congress adopted Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, and with that step embarked on one of the most momentous experiments in all humankind. There would be no turning back.

The Declaration of Independence accomplished three things:

• It laid out a new governing principle — specifically, that all persons are created equal with certain unalienable rights, and that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed.

• It set forth a specific list of grievances against King George III.

• It formally declared war against Britain.

Winning the War

The Declaration of Independence made it clear to Britain that the colonies were fighting for their sovereignty. King George III and the British Parliament expressed little concern, and with good reason: few believed that a disorganized militia of peasants and farmers could prevail over the greatest army in the world.

For much of the war, the colonists suffered one defeat after another, overwhelmed by the better-trained, better-equipped, better-funded, and better-fed British army. On more than one occasion, it took everything George Washington could muster to keep the Continental Army from disbanding. But the revolutionary spirit gained momentum as the war progressed. With victories at places like Cowpens, South Carolina; Monmouth, New Jersey; and Saratoga, New York, the tide turned for the Continental Army. On October 19, 1781, George Washington defeated British General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, forcing England to sue for peace. After six long years, the war was finally over.