King George III did not listen to the protests of the colonists. More and more colonists wanted independence. These people were called patriots.

There were still some colonists that wanted to stay under British rule. They were called loyalists.

The First Continental Congress decided that states should organize militias. These militiamen were often called minutemen because they could be ready to fight in a “minute”.

These militias needed weapons to fight, so they started secretly collecting and hiding their weapons from the British.

British soldiers in Boston learned of weapons being stored by patriots in the town of Concord. They decided to seize them.

Paul Revere and others warned the people that the British were on their way to Concord to get the patriots' weapons.

Patriots gathered in the town of Lexington to stop the British. A small battle took place, starting the Revolutionary War on April 19, The British easily beat the militia.

More minutemen gathered and stopped the British at Concord giving the victory to the patriots.

The Continental Congress met again in Philadelphia starting in May of 1775 to decide what to do. Carpenters’ Hall in 1775

They decided to create a Continental Army, and they chose George Washington as the commander in chief.

Trying to find a peaceful solution with Britain, they sent King George III the Olive Branch Petition. He refused to even read it. War was now the only choice!

In 1776 Thomas Paine wrote a small book called Common Sense. It gave many reasons why colonists should declare their independence from Britain. It inspired even more people.

The Second Continental Congress decided to declare that the American colonies were free and independent from British rule.

So they formed a small committee to write the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson did most of the writing with help from John Adams, Ben Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.

This committee presented a draft to the Continental Congress. After some debate and editing, the Declaration of Independence was rewritten and approved on July 4, 1776.

The Declaration stated why the colonies wanted their independence, listed ways in which Britain violated the colonists’ rights, and declared the colonies free from British rule.

The Declaration of Independence was signed on August 2, 1776, by 56 men.

This newly declared nation needed a government to keep order and laws to govern it. The Continental Congress debated and argued about how the new government should work.

They finally created and approved a new set of laws called the Articles of Confederation in 1777 which created a new government.

Because the delegates were afraid of giving the government too much power like the king and Parliament had in Britain, the Articles formed a weak central government.

In the new government, there was no main leader or president. There was a congress, but it also had little power.

The Continental Congress (now called the Congress of the Confederation) wanted the states to have more control over their citizens than the federal government.

On September 28, 1776, Pennsylvania created its own state constitution that set up the government for the state.

It created a one-house legislature, or law-making body with representatives from each county.

It also listed the rights of all Pennsylvanians in the Declaration of Rights.