FROM COLONIES TO COUNTRY
PART V — THE BIRTH OF A NATION
From Thirteen British Colonies to the Declaration of Independence
1775–1776
A Country That Did Not Yet Exist
Imagine standing in Philadelphia in May 1775.
Delegates are arriving from across the British colonies.
Some have traveled hundreds of miles.
They represent communities with different economies, political traditions, religious beliefs, and interests.
Virginia's plantation society is not the same as Massachusetts's maritime communities.
Pennsylvania's diverse population differs from the agricultural settlements of the Carolinas.
New York's commercial interests are not identical to those of Rhode Island or Georgia.
Yet representatives from these colonies have gathered to confront a common crisis.
British troops and colonial militiamen have fought at Lexington and Concord.
Armed resistance is spreading.
And the relationship between Britain and its American colonies is becoming increasingly difficult to repair.
But the delegates have not assembled as representatives of an independent nation.
They are still British subjects.
They have no national constitution.
No permanent national executive.
No established federal government.
And no universally accepted plan for independence.
What they do have is a shared problem.
How can thirteen separate colonies defend their political rights when their dispute with the British government has become a war?
The answer will begin to transform colonial resistance into something entirely new.
The Second Continental Congress
On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia.
Delegates gathered at the Pennsylvania State House, the building later known as Independence Hall.
The Congress followed the First Continental Congress of 1774, which had organized colonial resistance and petitioned the Crown.
But circumstances had changed.
The earlier Congress had debated laws, taxation, trade, and constitutional rights.
Now British soldiers and colonial militiamen were fighting.
The delegates faced immediate practical questions.
Who would coordinate the colonial military effort?
How would troops be supplied?
Where would money come from?
How would the colonies communicate?
And could they continue resisting British authority while still claiming loyalty to the king?
These questions exposed the difficulties of cooperation.
The colonies had separate governments and different interests.
Some delegates favored strong resistance.
Others hoped that negotiation might restore the imperial relationship.
The Congress would have to make decisions without knowing whether the colonies would eventually become independent.
The Battle of Bunker Hill
While the delegates met in Philadelphia, fighting continued around Boston.
Colonial forces had gathered outside the city, where British troops remained stationed.
On June 17, 1775, British forces attacked colonial positions on the Charlestown peninsula.
The battle became known as the Battle of Bunker Hill, although much of the fighting occurred on Breed's Hill.
British troops eventually captured the colonial positions.
But they suffered heavy casualties.
The colonial forces demonstrated that they could resist trained British regulars, even though they lacked the organization and resources of a professional army.
The battle did not settle the conflict.
It made clear that the fighting would not necessarily end quickly.
Britain possessed substantial military power.
But defeating colonial resistance could require a prolonged and expensive campaign.
The colonies, meanwhile, needed more than local militias.
They needed a coordinated military force.
The Continental Army Is Born
On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress adopted the forces surrounding Boston as the basis of a Continental Army.
The following day, Congress selected George Washington as commander in chief.
Washington was a Virginian.
He had served during the French and Indian War and possessed military experience.
His selection also carried political significance.
The fighting had begun in Massachusetts.
Appointing a commander from Virginia helped demonstrate that the military effort was not simply a New England conflict.
It was becoming a shared colonial undertaking.
Washington accepted the responsibility and traveled north to assume command.
He faced enormous challenges.
The army lacked consistent supplies.
Soldiers came from different colonies.
Terms of enlistment varied.
Equipment and training were uneven.
And the Continental Congress possessed limited means of raising money or enforcing its decisions.
Washington was not taking command of a modern national military.
He was helping organize a new army while the political future of the colonies remained uncertain.
Still Seeking Reconciliation
Despite the fighting, many colonial leaders continued hoping for an agreement with Britain.
In July 1775, Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition.
The petition appealed to King George III to help restore peace and address colonial grievances.
Its language affirmed the desire for reconciliation.
The same Congress also issued the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms.
That document explained the colonies' reasons for armed resistance.
Together, these actions revealed the uncertainty of the moment.
The delegates were preparing for war while still seeking a political settlement.
They did not yet agree that independence was necessary.
The British government, however, increasingly regarded organized colonial resistance as rebellion.
In August 1775, George III issued a proclamation declaring that rebellion existed in parts of North America.
The possibility of reconciliation was becoming more remote.
A Revolution Without a Single Voice
The colonies did not respond to the crisis with one opinion.
Some colonists supported resistance to parliamentary taxation but opposed separation from Britain.
Others believed the Crown had violated colonial rights so seriously that independence was becoming unavoidable.
Loyalists continued to support British authority.
Some feared that independence would lead to political disorder, economic instability, or domination by local factions.
Other colonists attempted to avoid choosing sides.
They were concerned primarily with protecting their families, businesses, farms, and communities.
Religious beliefs influenced political decisions.
Economic interests mattered.
Regional differences remained important.
Even among the delegates to Congress, agreement developed gradually.
The movement toward independence was not the expression of a single, unanimous colonial belief.
It was the result of arguments, experiences, and changing judgments during a period of extraordinary uncertainty.
The War Reaches Beyond Massachusetts
During 1775, fighting and military preparations spread beyond New England.
Colonial forces captured Fort Ticonderoga in May.
The fort's artillery would later become important to the American siege of Boston.
Congress authorized an invasion of Canada, hoping to weaken British control and possibly encourage support for the colonial cause.
The campaign ultimately failed.
American forces also confronted British authority in the southern colonies.
Political divisions intensified in communities where Loyalists and Patriots lived alongside one another.
The conflict was becoming more geographically extensive.
And the consequences were increasingly difficult for ordinary people to avoid.
Trade was disrupted.
Governments struggled to maintain authority.
Families faced divided loyalties.
The colonies were moving from political protest into a prolonged military and political struggle.
The Meaning of Liberty Was Already Contested
As colonial leaders defended their political liberties, fundamental questions remained unanswered.
Who would enjoy those liberties?
Who would possess political rights?
And what would independence mean for people who had been excluded from colonial government?
Enslaved Africans and African Americans lived throughout the colonies.
Their labor supported agriculture, commerce, households, and other parts of the economy.
The language of liberty raised obvious contradictions in societies where human beings could be legally held as property.
Some enslaved people sought freedom by joining British forces.
In November 1775, Virginia's royal governor, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation offering freedom to certain enslaved people belonging to rebels who joined British forces.
The offer was limited and served British military objectives.
Nevertheless, it demonstrated that enslaved people could see the conflict as an opportunity to pursue their own freedom.
Others sought freedom through service with Patriot forces, escape, petitions, or other means.
The struggle over independence would not resolve slavery.
But it would bring the contradiction between proclaimed liberty and human bondage into sharper focus.
Indigenous Nations and an Uncertain Future
Indigenous nations also faced difficult choices.
Many had maintained diplomatic and commercial relationships with British officials.
Some viewed colonial expansion as a greater immediate threat to their homelands than continued British imperial rule.
Others had different experiences and strategic interests.
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Cherokee communities, and numerous other Indigenous nations would confront difficult decisions as the war expanded.
These decisions were not uniform.
Indigenous nations had their own governments, political disagreements, and priorities.
For many, the central concern was not whether British colonists should govern themselves.
It was whether the outcome of the war would threaten Indigenous land, sovereignty, and survival.
The independence movement was developing within a continent already occupied and governed by many peoples.
The creation of a new nation would not erase those existing societies or their claims.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense
In January 1776, a pamphlet appeared in Philadelphia.
Its title was Common Sense.
Its author was Thomas Paine.
Paine was an English-born writer who had arrived in America in 1774.
His pamphlet challenged the idea that the colonies should remain permanently connected to the British monarchy.
Rather than focusing only on particular taxes or parliamentary measures, Paine questioned hereditary monarchy itself.
He argued that independence offered the colonies an opportunity to establish a government on different principles.
His writing was direct, forceful, and accessible.
It reached readers beyond the established political leadership.
Common Sense circulated widely and helped make independence a subject of broader public discussion.
Paine did not create the independence movement by himself.
Other writers and political leaders had already begun advocating separation.
But his pamphlet helped transform the debate.
The question was no longer simply how Britain should govern the colonies.
It was increasingly whether Britain should govern them at all.
George Washington and the Evacuation of Boston
Meanwhile, Washington continued organizing the Continental Army outside Boston.
The British occupied the city.
American forces sought to force their withdrawal.
Artillery captured at Fort Ticonderoga was transported to Massachusetts through the efforts of Henry Knox and others.
In March 1776, American troops fortified Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston Harbor.
The position threatened the British military presence in the city.
British commander William Howe decided to evacuate.
On March 17, 1776, British forces departed Boston.
The evacuation was an important American success.
But it did not end the war.
British military power remained formidable.
The conflict would soon move to other locations, including New York.
The military struggle was becoming inseparable from the political question of independence.
The Colonies Begin Considering New Governments
As royal authority weakened or collapsed in several colonies, political leaders faced another problem.
If British governors could no longer exercise authority, who would govern?
Colonial conventions and assemblies began establishing alternative arrangements.
Some colonies moved toward creating new constitutional governments.
On May 10, 1776, Congress recommended that colonies lacking governments adequate to their circumstances establish new ones.
On May 15, Congress approved a preamble supporting the suppression of authority exercised under the Crown in favor of government established through the people.
These decisions marked an important transition.
The colonies were no longer merely protesting imperial policies.
They were beginning to replace royal political authority.
That raised questions extending far beyond the immediate war.
How should a government be organized?
Who should choose its representatives?
What powers should legislatures possess?
What limits should exist on executive authority?
And how could political liberty be protected?
Those questions would occupy Americans for years.
Virginia Takes an Important Step
In May 1776, Virginia's revolutionary convention instructed its delegates in Congress to propose independence.
The convention also began developing a new state constitution.
On June 12, Virginia adopted a Declaration of Rights, principally drafted by George Mason.
The declaration asserted principles concerning natural rights, popular sovereignty, government accountability, and civil liberty.
Its language would influence later American political thought.
But the document also existed within a society deeply shaped by slavery and unequal political rights.
Its ideals and their actual application were not the same.
Virginia's actions helped move the wider colonial debate toward independence.
The colony was no longer asking only for changes to British policy.
It was preparing to become an independent political community.
Richard Henry Lee's Resolution
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution in the Continental Congress.
It proposed that the united colonies were, and ought to be, free and independent states.
The resolution also called for steps toward foreign alliances and a plan of confederation.
These proposals reflected the practical realities of independence.
Declaring separation was one thing.
Maintaining it would require military success, diplomatic relationships, and a workable political union.
Congress debated Lee's resolution.
Some delegates were ready to support independence.
Others believed their colonies needed more time.
The question was postponed temporarily while delegates consulted and political support developed.
But Congress also appointed a committee to prepare a declaration explaining the reasons for separation.
The decision was approaching.
The Committee of Five
Congress selected five men to prepare a declaration.
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia.
John Adams of Massachusetts.
Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania.
Roger Sherman of Connecticut.
And Robert R. Livingston of New York.
Jefferson became the principal drafter.
He drew upon political ideas already circulating in the colonies and the wider Atlantic world.
Natural rights.
Consent of the governed.
The purpose of government.
And the right of a people to alter or abolish a government that violates its fundamental responsibilities.
These ideas had intellectual roots in European political philosophy, English constitutional traditions, colonial political debates, and earlier American declarations.
Jefferson's task was not to invent every principle from nothing.
It was to express the case for independence in a document that Congress could adopt.
The result would become one of the most influential political statements in history.
The Declaration's Central Argument
The Declaration of Independence made a profound claim about political authority.
It asserted that people possess fundamental rights and that governments are established to secure those rights.
It described governments as deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
It also argued that when government becomes destructive of those purposes, the people possess a right to change or replace it.
The Declaration did not suggest that every political disagreement justified revolution.
It acknowledged that longstanding governments should not be changed for minor or temporary reasons.
Instead, it presented a series of grievances intended to demonstrate that separation had become necessary.
The document accused King George III of repeated abuses of authority.
Its list of grievances reflected years of colonial disputes concerning government, legislation, military power, trade, and political rights.
The Declaration was both a statement of political principles and an explanation of a specific historical decision.
It announced why the colonies believed independence was justified.
The Debate Over Slavery
Jefferson's draft included language criticizing the slave trade and blaming the king for its continuation.
Congress removed that passage during revisions.
The reasons reflected the political divisions and interests within the colonies, including the involvement of colonial societies in slavery and the Atlantic slave trade.
The final Declaration did not abolish slavery.
Nor did it establish equal political or civil rights for everyone living in the new states.
The contradiction between universal language about human equality and the continued existence of slavery would become one of the most consequential issues in American history.
Some Americans would later use the Declaration's principles to challenge slavery and other forms of exclusion.
Others defended systems that denied those principles in practice.
The founding of the United States established ideals whose meaning and application would remain contested for generations.
July 2, 1776 — The Decision for Independence
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to approve the resolution for independence.
The vote followed weeks of debate and political developments within the colonies.
The delegates had taken a decisive step.
They had agreed that the colonies should separate from Britain.
John Adams believed July 2 would be remembered as a great anniversary.
But the date that became most closely associated with American independence was still two days away.
Congress continued revising the text of the Declaration.
The delegates debated its wording and made changes.
The document needed to explain the decision to the colonies, to Britain, and to the wider world.
On July 4, Congress adopted the final text.
July 4, 1776 — The Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
The document announced that the thirteen colonies regarded themselves as free and independent states.
It rejected their political allegiance to the British Crown.
It asserted that the new states possessed the authority to conduct war, make peace, form alliances, and engage in the other acts of independent states.
The Declaration was not the end of the Revolution.
The war continued.
British forces remained powerful.
The new states lacked an established permanent national government.
And the outcome of the struggle was uncertain.
But the political decision had been made.
The colonies had declared their intention to exist outside the British Empire.
A new chapter in American history had begun.
Fifty-Six Signers, Different Backgrounds
The Declaration ultimately bore the signatures of fifty-six delegates.
They came from different colonies and backgrounds.
Some were lawyers.
Others were merchants, planters, physicians, or men involved in public affairs.
They did not share identical political beliefs.
They disagreed on economic questions, government powers, and the future organization of the states.
Nor did they represent every person living in America.
Women could not participate equally in the political system.
Enslaved people remained denied basic freedoms.
Indigenous nations maintained their own political identities and were not represented as members of the new American government.
Many colonists remained loyal to Britain.
Nevertheless, the signers committed themselves to a shared decision.
The colonies would seek independence.
Their differences would not disappear.
Those differences would become central to the difficult work of building a new political system.
What Independence Did — And Did Not — Accomplish
The Declaration changed the political objectives of the revolutionary movement.
The colonies were no longer officially seeking only the restoration of their rights as British subjects.
They were claiming the status of independent states.
But the Declaration did not create the Constitution of the United States.
It did not establish the three branches of the present federal government.
It did not create the presidency.
And it did not resolve how authority would be divided between the states and a central government.
Those developments would come later.
The Continental Congress continued coordinating the war and national affairs.
The states developed their own governments.
Congress also began work on a plan of confederation.
The Articles of Confederation would be approved by Congress in 1777 and would take effect after ratification in 1781.
The present Constitution would not be drafted until 1787.
Independence was therefore the beginning of another great political challenge.
The colonies had declared that they would no longer be governed by Britain.
They still had to decide how they would govern themselves.
WHAT THE DECLARATION MEANT
The Declaration of Independence was significant for several reasons.
It Announced Political Separation
The thirteen colonies formally declared that they no longer accepted British sovereignty.
It Explained the Reasons for Independence
The document presented grievances against the Crown and argued that the political relationship had become intolerable.
It Expressed Principles of Government
The Declaration emphasized natural rights, the consent of the governed, and the responsibility of government to secure those rights.
It Created a Shared Political Objective
The colonies remained distinct states, but they now claimed independence together.
It Presented the American Cause to the World
The Declaration helped explain the revolutionary movement to foreign governments and international audiences.
It Left Major Questions Unresolved
Slavery, political exclusion, Indigenous sovereignty, economic differences, and the structure of national government remained matters of profound disagreement.
The Declaration announced independence.
It did not settle every question about what independence should mean.
FROM COLONIES TO COUNTRY
Our story began with the Mayflower.
In 1620, a group of passengers crossed the Atlantic and established a settlement at Plymouth.
They entered a continent already inhabited by Indigenous nations with established societies, governments, and commercial networks.
Over the following generations, British settlements expanded.
Colonial communities developed different economies, religious traditions, and political institutions.
Local assemblies gained experience in government.
Trade connected the colonies to the wider Atlantic world.
Slavery became deeply embedded in colonial economies.
Indigenous nations confronted increasing pressure on their territories.
And Britain continued exercising imperial authority over its North American possessions.
The French and Indian War transformed the relationship between Britain and its colonies.
Victory brought debt, new territories, and new administrative challenges.
British policies intended to strengthen the empire generated resistance among colonists who believed their established political rights were being threatened.
For more than a decade, the two sides disputed taxation, representation, trade, and political authority.
Those disputes gradually became organized resistance.
Organized resistance became armed conflict.
And armed conflict forced colonial leaders to confront the possibility of independence.
On July 4, 1776, the colonies adopted a declaration announcing that they intended to become independent states.
But the history of the United States was only beginning.
THE GREAT EXPERIMENT BEGINS
The Declaration established an extraordinary political claim.
Government should derive its legitimate authority from the people it governs.
But declaring that principle was not the same as putting it into practice.
How would the states cooperate?
Who would possess authority over national affairs?
How would laws be made?
How would taxes be raised?
How would trade be regulated?
What powers should government possess?
And what protections would prevent those powers from being abused?
These questions would divide Americans almost immediately.
Some favored stronger national institutions.
Others feared concentrating too much authority in a central government.
Different regions had different economic interests.
Political leaders disagreed about representation, executive power, federalism, and individual rights.
The independence movement had united the colonies around a common objective.
Building a lasting government would require a different kind of agreement.
One that would demand years of debate, disagreement, and compromise.
The colonies had declared themselves free. Now they had to determine what kind of country they would become.
THE STORY CONTINUES
NEXT — THE GREAT EXPERIMENT
The Founders, Their Disagreements, and the Challenge of Building a Republic
Our five-part journey from the early colonies to American independence is complete.
The next chapter of American history leads into the already established Politics 1776 series, The Great Experiment.
That series explores the Founders' different political philosophies, the debates surrounding government and representation, the economic questions facing the new nation, and the compromises that shaped the Constitution.
We will not repeat those articles unnecessarily.
Instead, we will connect this completed series to the existing work and then continue the historical journey into the next period that has not yet been covered.
Because declaring independence was only the beginning.
Building a country would become the next great challenge.
Our Money Matters.
Our Choices Matter.
Our Voice Matters.
The People. The Voice. The Future.
Politics 1776