United States History Student Edition

Created in 1783 by British mapmaker Carington Bowles, this map shows the area that made up the new United States of America. It reflected the agreement between Britain and the United States in the Treaty of Paris and included territories that remained under the possession of Britain, France, and Spain.

and shot several colonists. This event became known as the Boston Massacre. The event led colonists to call for stronger boycotts of British goods. In 1773, an incident called the Boston Tea Party was organized as a response to a tax on tea. Colonists dumped hundreds of chests of tea imported from Britain into Boston Harbor. In response, Britain passed several harsh laws that became known as the Intolerable Acts. These laws closed Boston Harbor, replaced the local government in Massachusetts, allowed British officials who broke laws in the colonies to be tried in Britain, and forced colonists to provide housing for British troops. The Fight for Independence The colonists decided to fight back against the taxes and laws, which they considered unfair. In the fall of 1774, elected delegates gathered in Philadelphia in a meeting known as the First Continental Congress. They decided to send a petition to King George III to call for change. They also planned a boycott on British goods. However, the British government was not

responsive to their demands, and the new taxes and laws remained in place. The rising tensions finally led to war on April 19, 1775. Fighting broke out between colonists and British troops in Massachusetts at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The war was fully underway by the following year, when Congress chose a committee to write a declaration stating the independence of the colonies. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, written by a group that included Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, was adopted by Congress. It announced that the Americans were forming a new nation that was free from British rule and would be governed by the people. After the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War continued for several more years. In 1781, a British army surrendered following the nearly month-long siege of Yorktown, Virginia, providing a decisive victory to the Americans, who were commanded by George Washington. In 1783, Great Britain and the new United States of America signed the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the war. First Governments and the Constitution 169

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division [LCCN 74693285]