At last the Americans, seeing that King George would never come to terms, declared that they would no longer submit to English rule at all; but would make America a free country and govern themselves. For although they had not meant to do this in the beginning of the trouble, they now saw it was the only thing that could be done. Representatives from all parts of the colonies met at Philadelphia, and there drew up a Declaration of Independence, in which they explained the reasons for their action, and then declared that the American colonies should be from that time an independent nation, forever free from English government. It was on July 4, 1776, that they adopted this declaration; so that July 4th has been celebrated ever since as the nation's birthday. The declaration was read in all the towns amid ringing of bells and universal rejoicing, and thus the rebellion of the colonies against England became a revolution, or complete change of government. More troops were sent from England, and the colonies prepared for a long and desperate struggle.
Volunteers came thronging from the hills of New England, the valley of the Hudson, the plantations of Virginia, and the rice-fields of the Carolinas; the colonists had found out that there could only be strength in union. The war went on, and the Americans had the hardest part of the struggle still to come. They had but little money, and often suffered for food and clothing.
While the English army was well fed and comfortably clothed, the Americans, in winter-quarters at Valley Forge, went hungry and ragged, leaving the prints of their bleeding feet on the snow, and encouraged only by the brave heart of Washington, who, amid the universal discouragement still kept on his way, calm, resolute, and incapable of despair. But better days dawned. Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, devoted his large private fortune to the expenses of the army, and established a system of credit by which money could be raised for the soldiers; and soon after there was a great victory at Saratoga, through which a large part of the English army under General Burgoyne had to surrender to the Americans.
The battle of Saratoga showed the nations of Europe that America was likely to win the day; and France, which was very hostile to England, agreed to help the colonies with men and money. In many ways the cause of the colonists gained new strength, and this was the turning-point of the war. From this time the Americans gained courage and hope as one victory followed another, and finally, on October 19, 1781, the English general, Lord Cornwallis, surrendered his army to Washington at Yorktown, Va., and thus ended the war.
The English troops were called home, and articles of peace between England and the United States of America were signed at Paris.
The United States chose George Washington for the president of the new republic. He was inaugurated April 30, 1789, in New York, which was then the capital.
The Revolution separated us forever from England, and made us, politically, an independent nation. But it could not break the ties of race, which will always make most Americans feel strongly bound to the mother country.
To-day there is no nation on earth to which America turns with friendlier eyes than England, which gave to it its language, its laws, and its religion, and whose brave sons crossed the seas, and through much trouble and peril laid the foundations of this great new country; and, in spite of all differences, the American and Englishman must ever feel that they are both descendants of the brave Norse races that crossed the Northern seas hundreds of years ago to choose for themselves a new home in England, and that no difference of time or place can change the mark of race that proves them brothers.
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