Tensions such as these eventually led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. A year earlier, the War of Independence, also known as the American Revolution, began. When the British finally surrendered on October 19, 1781, Americans were officially independent of Britain and set about establishing their own government.

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The Revolutionary Period

	100,000 Miles of Apples! "Johnny Appleseed Was Born"
	A Constitutional Army "Congress Officially Created the U.S. Military"
	A More Perfect Union--Take 1 "The Articles of Confederation Were Adopted"
	A New Kind of Soldier, Armed With a Hammer "Fortifications Built During the Siege of Boston"
	A Revolutionary Partnership "France Allied with American Colonies"
	A Storm From the South: Calhoun "John C. Calhoun Was Born"
	Bluffing the British "British Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton Surrendered"
	Boston Massacre--A Battle for Liberty "Boston Massacre"
	Congress Grants Connecticut the Western Reserve "Congress Grants Connecticut the Western Reserve"
	Extra, Extra, Read All About It! "The Nation's First Daily Newspaper Began Publication"
	First in Freedom "North Carolina Takes a Stand"
	From Slavery to Poetry "Phillis Wheatley, the First African American Published Book of Poetry"
	Go Big Green! "Reverend Eleazar Wheelock Started Dartmouth College"
	Go West, Young Man "Daniel Boone First Saw the Woodlands of Present-Day Kentucky"
	Home for the Holidays "Commander in Chief George Washington Resigned"
	It's An Honor! "Honor Society Phi Beta Kappa Was Founded"
	O, Canada "General Richard Montgomery Captured Montreal"
	One of America's First Spies "Patriot Nathan Hale Was Hanged"
	The British Are Coming! "The American Revolution Began"
	The Power of a Letter "Washington Wrote a Letter to the Continental Congress"
	The Second First Lady "Abigail Smith Married John Adams"
	What is That Curious Book? "Enoch Brooks Signed Hieroglyphick Bible"
	What's Growing in the Garden State? "New Jersey Approved the Constitution"
	Where Is Everybody? "The Continental Congress Ratified the Treaty of Paris"
	Who Is Lewis of Lewis and Clark? "Explorer, Meriwether Lewis Was Born"