The British government now put forth a strong effort to reduce the colonies to sub mission. An army of 55,000, including 17,000 German mercenaries (" Hessians"), was sent, under the command of sir William Howe, to put down this "wicked rebellion." The provincial congress, declaring that the royal authority had ceased, recommended to the several colonies to adopt such governments as might best conduce to the safety and happiness of the people;" and the thirteen colonies soon adopted constitutions as independent and sovereign states. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered a resolution in congress, declaring that "the united colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." This resolution, after an earnest debate, was adopted by the votes of 9 out of 13 colonies. A committee, consisting of Thomas Jef ferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, was instructed to prepare a declaration in accordance with the above resolution; and the celebrated declaration of independence, written by Mr. Jefferson, based upon the equality of men and the universal right of self-government, and asserting that "all gov ernment derives its just powers from the consent of the governed," on July 4, 1776, received the assent of the delegates of the colonies, which thus dissolved their allegiance to the British crown, and declared themselves free and independent states, under the general title of the 13 United States of America—New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia—occupying a narrow line of the Atlantic coast between Canada and Florida, e. of the Alleghanies, with a population of about 2,500,000.
After the evacuation of Boston, gen. Washington, with the remains of his army, thinned by the hardships of winter, hastened to New York. On July 2, gen. Howe, being join'ed by his brother, admiral lord Howe, and sir Henry Clinton, found himself at the head of 35,000 men; defeated the Americans on Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776, com pelled the evacuation of New York, and secured the possession of its spacious harbor, and the river Hudson. Gen. Washington, with inferior and undisciplined forces, retreated across New Jersey, closely followed by the English, hoping to save Phila delphia. Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton, the chief towns in New Jersey, were taken, and the British awaited the freezing of the Delaware to occupy Philadelphia. On Christmas night, gen. Washington, by crossing in boats among floating ice, made a suc cessful night-attack upon a Hessian force at Trenton, and gave new courage to the desponding Americans, who recruited the army, and harassed the enemy with a winter campaign.
In the meantime Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin had been sent to France to solicit recognition and aid. The recognition was delayed, but important aid was privately given in money and supplies, and European volunteers—the marquis; de Lafayette, baron Steuben, baron de Kalb, Kosciusko, and Pulaski—rendering the most important services. Efforts were made to induce the British colonies of Canada and Nova Scotia to unite in the struggle for independence, and an expedition was sent against Montreal and Quebec, led by Bens. Montgomery and Arnold. The Canadians refused their aid; Montgomery was killed Arnold wounded, and the remains of the expedition returned after terrible In 1777, after several severe actions in New Jersey, generally disastrous to the Americans, the British took possession of Phila delphia; and Washington, with the remnants of his army, went into winter-quarters at Valley Forge. where they suffered from cold, hunger, and nakedness.
While Washington was unsuccessfully contending against disciplined and overwhelm ing forces in New Jersey, gen. Burgoyne was leading an army of 7,000 British and
German troops, with a large force of. Canadians and Indians, from Canada into northern New York. to form a junction with the British on the Hudson, and separate New Eng land from the rest of the rebel confederacy. His march was delayed by felled trees and destroyed roads; his foraging expeditions were defeated; and, after two sharp actions at Stillwater and 'Saratoga, with but three days' rations left, he was compelled to capitulate, Oct. 17: and England, in the midst of victories, heard with dismay of the loss of an entire army. The Americans gained 3,000 muskets, and a large train of artillery. Feeling the need of more unity of action, articles of confederation, proposed by Franklin in 1775, were adopted in 1777, which constituted a league of friendship between the states, but not a government which had any powers of coercion.
In 1778. lord Carlisle was sent, to America by the British government with offers of conciliation; it was too late. France, at the same time, recognized American indepen dence, and sent a large fleet and supplies of clothing, arms, and munitions of IT ar to their aid; and gen. Clinton, who had superseded gen. Howe, finding his supplies at Philadel phia threatened, :returned to New York, defeating the Americans at Monmonth.
The repeated victories of the British armies, the aid afforded by great numbers of Americans who still adhered to the royal cause, and furnished during the war not less than 20,000 troops, and the alliance of large tribes of Indians, who committed cruel rav ages in the frontier settlements, did little toward subjugating the country. Portions of the sea-coast of New England and Virginia were laid waste; but the kings troops were worn out with marches and tedious campaigns, and even weakened by victories_ Spain, and then &Hand, joined in the war against England, and aided the Americans. Paul Jones, with ships fitted out in French harbors, fought desperate battles under the American flag on the English coast. But the king and parliament were determined to maintain the honor of the crown and the integrity of the empire. In 1780, 85,000 sea men were raised, and 35,000 additional troops sent to America, and a strong effort was made to subjugate the Carolinas, where the war became of a bitter partisan character, and was conducted with spirit by Sumpter, Marion, and other southern chieftains. Lord Cornwallis, with a large army, marched from Charleston, through North Carolina, pur suing; and sometimes defeating, the American gen. Gates. Worn out with his success, he arrived in Virginia, where he was confronted by gen. Lafayette. In the mean time, admiral de Varney had arrived upon the coast with a powerful French fleet, and 6,000 soldiers of the elite of the French army, under count de Rochainbeau. Cornwallis was obliged to fortify himself at Yorktown, blockaded by the fleet of count de Grasse, and besieged by the allied army of French and Americans, waiting for sir Henry Clinton to send him relief from New York. Oct. 19,1781, he was compelled to surrender his army of 7,000 men—an event which produced such a change of feeling in England as to cause the resignation of the ministry, and the dispatch of gen. sir Guy Carleton to New York with offers of terms of peace. The preliminaries were signed at Paris, Nov. 30,17::2; and on Sept. 3,1783, peace was concluded between England and France. Holland, and America. The independence of each of the several states was acknowledged, with a liberal settlement of territorial boundaries. In April, a cessation of hostilities had been proclaimed, and the American army disbanded; New York, which bad been held by the English through the whole war, was evacuated Nov. 25; on Dec. 4, gen. Washington took leave of his companions in arms, and, Dec. 23, resigned into the hands of congress his commission as commander.