1. By Diane Hamel

2. Battles of Lexington and Concord The Revolutionary War in America led to the birth of a new nation. The war, also known as the American Revolution, began on April 19, 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

3. Growing Tension in the Colonies For about a decade, tension had been mounting between Great Britain and the American Colonies. The colonists had grown used to a self-government.

4. The Stamp Act The British government began passing a series of laws to increase its control over the colonies. These laws, such as the Stamp Act, ordered the colonists to pay taxes without their consent.

5. Taxation Without Representation The colonists became angry because they had no representatives in the British government to vote on these unfair laws.

6. The Boston Tea Party The colonists began to protest. In 1773 a group of men dressed up as Native Americans, climbed aboard tea ships in Boston Harbor, split open hundreds of boxes and dumped 90,000 pounds of loose tea into the harbor.

7. April 19, 1775 Soon after, The American Revolution began as open conflict between the United Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain. The Continentals were like a small man about to do battle with a giant. How could the colonies defeat such a large army?

8. The Continental Army When the war began, there was no American army. Instead, the colonies had their own militias. The militias were part-time soldiers made up of farmers and merchants.

9. The British Army The British Army was one of the strongest armed forces in the world. They were large and professional.

10. Motivation to Win The Continental soldiers had a special advantage over the British. They had a stronger motivation to win. They were defending their rights as described in the Declaration of Independence.

11. The Battle of Yorktown In the summer of 1781, the Continentals and their French allies trapped British supply ships in the port of Yorktown. After a week of heavy cannon fire, the British surrendered.

12. The Treaty of Paris In September 1783, the war finally ended with a set of agreements called the Treaty of Paris. Britain agreed to recognize the United States as an independent nation.

13. Citations and Sources http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.britishbattles.com/images/ yorktown/yorktown-french.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.britishbattles.com/military- prints/american- revolution.htm&usg=__IaAqyKTdoXzLpmiflo1fJ5fShZI=&h=281&w=460&sz=33 &hl=en&start=5&sig2=LqfAhKHunnJGEibC5DOnrA&um=1&tbnid=5zSibqAoGF H8IM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbattle%2Bof%2Byorktown %26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4DMUS_enUS307%26um%3D1&ei=5MwrSrCcOYn KMq-RwNgJ Bower, Bert, and Lobdell, Jim. History Alive! Americas Past. Teachers Curriculum Institute, 2003 http://americanhistory.about.com/od/revolutionarywar/a/amer_revolution.htm http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/more/weisgerber.htm http://www.42explore2.com/revolt.htm Google.com for images