July 4 this year marks 250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
In the 18th century, more than a hundred years after the first permanent British colonies emerged in North America, the colonists were growing frustrated with the British Crown.
For the British, as the New World became a battleground for contestation among European powers, they moved to strengthen imperial control over their colonies, reflected in numerous acts passed by the British Parliament. These included the Sugar Act (1764) and the Tea Act (1773).
The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), a conflict between Britain and France, placed a great financial burden on Britain, and a series of taxes were imposed on its American colonies.
The colonists saw these policies as impinging on the principle of liberty, and the American Revolution that would unfold towards the end of the century can be seen as a resistance to this “absolute tyranny”.
Many colonists insisted the British government could not tax the colonies since they were unrepresented in the British Parliament. “No taxation without representation” became a rallying cry during the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765. The Act stated that all printed material produced in the colonies had to carry a stamp purchased from authorities.
It marked Parliament’s first attempt to raise money through direct taxation in the colonies rather than through regulation of trade, challenging the fiscal authority of local elites.
Additionally, it exposed clashing ideas of the British Empire itself. On one hand, American leaders viewed the empire as an association of equals, claiming the same rights as Britons. On the other, the British government saw the empire as a system of unequal parts, subject to the supreme authority of Parliament.
In Give me Liberty! An American History (2008), historian Eric Foner wrote: “No word was more frequently invoked by critics of the Stamp Act than “liberty.” The movement popularised symbols such as Boston’s Liberty Tree and organisations like the “Sons of Liberty,” who enjoyed a broad following among the city’s craftsmen, labourers and sailors.”
Subsequent acts such as the Townshend Act (1767), which imposed new taxes on goods imported into the colonies, further reinforced discontent and led to a boycott of British imports. Women who spun at home were hailed as “Daughters of Liberty.”
Boston Tea Party as trigger
The next major turning point in Revolutionary history was the Boston Tea Party. The Tea Act (1773) sought to bail out the financially struggling East India Company by granting it tax exemptions, enabling it to dump low-priced tea in the American colonies.
Colonists objected to the Act, insisting that paying taxes on this large new body of imports would amount to an acknowledgement of Parliament’s right to tax the colonies.
On December 16, 1773, a group of colonists boarded three ships in Boston Harbour and dumped more than 300 chests of tea into the water in protest. Foner noted, “The loss to the East India Company was around £10,000 (the equivalent of over $4 million today).”
Britain’s response came in the form of the Intolerable Acts (1774), which united the colonies in opposition. To coordinate resistance, the first Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia in September 1774, bringing together prominent political leaders of 12 colonies (Georgia didn’t participate).
The Second Continental Congress convened in May 1775, authorising the creation of an army and appointing George Washington as its commander. It attempted one last effort at reconciliation through the Olive Branch Petition in July 1775, but in vain.
Declaration of Independence
On July 2, 1776, the Congress formally declared the United States an independent nation. Two days later, it approved the Declaration of Independence. It was signed by 56 delegates, and these signatories would forever be identified as the nation’s founding fathers.
Drafted principally by Thomas Jefferson and revised by the Congress, the Declaration became one of history’s most influential political texts. Although much of the Declaration consists of a lengthy list of grievances directed against King George III, justifying the breach with Britain, its enduring impact lay in its ideas of natural rights and liberty.
Among its most famous lines is “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The declaration further asserts that governments are instituted to secure these rights, “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and that the people have the right to alter or abolish any government that becomes destructive of these ends. These principles have also retained their relevance in modern American life and politics.
Britain would only formally recognise American Independence in the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which officially ended the American Revolutionary War. The US also won with the support of Britain’s European rivals — France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic.
Limits of liberty
However, not all Americans shared in the democratisation of freedom.
American Independence was accompanied by the loss of land for many Native American communities. Foner wrote: “Independence created governments democratically accountable to voters who coveted Indian land. Indeed, to many patriots, access to Indian land was one of the fruits of American victory.”
The contradiction between freedom and slavery presented another paradox of the revolution. While writing about mankind’s unalienable right to liberty, Thomas Jefferson himself owned over 100 slaves. The revolution did, however, bring freedom to some enslaved people who fought in the war, particularly those who escaped to British lines.
Furthermore, its language of liberty was adopted within slave communities to demand their own rights. Yet slavery continued to remain entrenched, especially in the Southern states, and would not be formally abolished until the 13th Amendment (1865), which came nearly a century later. Women also remained largely excluded from political rights in the independent US at the time of Independence.
Despite its contradictions, the American Revolution left a lasting impact. A new nation that defined itself as an embodiment of freedom had taken its place on the world stage. The revolution’s ideals of liberty and the nation’s struggle against British rule helped inspire countless subsequent struggles for social equality and national independence across the globe.
The author is an intern with The Indian Express
This painting depicts the forces of British Major General Charles Cornwallis, (who was not present at the surrender), surrendering to French and American forces after the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. (Wikimedia Commons) 
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