The resistence started in Boston with the British troops called in to control mobs.  The people of Boston did not to be in a “police state”, enforced by the Redcoats.  When protesters and rioters would express their opinions, British soldiers would respond.  The redcoats were all over town and always a reminder of British rule.  Fights started to break out as the mobs became more aggressive.  March 5, 1770 the rioting resulted in the Boston Massacre where five colonists were killed.  The potential for full scale violence reached a point where Thomas Hutchison ordered the troops out of Boston.  As tension continued to rise between the two sides more troops arrived in the colonies.  General Gage wanted to get all the ammunition and gun powder from Concord.  There troops were met with resistance from the militia.  Undermanned, under armed, and inexperienced the British troops were able to withstand the attacks of the militia.  This was the largest amount of colonists killed by British troops at this time.  News traveled fast about the battles at Lexington and Concord.  The next major battle was Bunker Hill.  The colonists eventually retreated, but were much more successful in this campaign, considering how out manned they were and the Royal Navy was assisting ground troops.

This war was fought with straight forward battalions attacking.  Trench warfare would be a good term to describe some battles.  George Washington wanted the militia soldiers to be more organized and disciplined, like the British troops.  The militia was very inexperienced, with the exception of a limited number of enlisted men.  Washington did use the harsh New England winters to his advantage.  Being a revolutionary soldier was not easy; cold weather, limited food and supplies, in addition to long treks to battle were just a few hardships.  Women had to take a much larger role at home due to farmers and shop owners fighting in this war.

The resistance to British control really began in earnest with the passage of the Circular Letter in the Massachusetts Legislature due to the Townshend duties.  It was not strongly worded, but rather asked colonial legislatures to harmonize with each other (Middlekauff, 2005). This caused the governor of Massachusetts to dissolve the legislature.  The letter made its rounds among the colonies, and before long they were sending petitions to the king challenging the constitutionality of the new duties laid on them by the Townshend Acts. This, in turn, led the colonies to agree to stop importing British goods. The colonial governors and Ministry then asked for additional British troops, especially in the Boston area. This was bad move, particularly since the soldiers were committing crimes and taking employment away from the laborers when they were not on duty. The colonists replied by refusing to obey the Quartering Act of 1765 and also by mobs rioting in the streets. The mob violence against soldiers led to the Boston Massacre of 1770, when five civilian were killed and more injured (Middlekauff, 2005). There was an uneasy truce until the Tea Act of 1773, which looked like another act by Parliament to tax the colonists. The radical then decided to turn the bay into tea with the Boston Tea Party. Parliament then passed five acts (called the Intolerable Acts), which was meant to punish Massachusetts. This angered the colonists even further, so they started smuggling goods into the colonies further down the shoreline. To counter this, General Gage had British troops attempt to capture arms and ammunition at Concord. The radicals found out about the troop movement and decided to arm themselves and repel the British. The armed resistance began in earnest when the British reached Menotomy, where there were 273 British casualties and 95 American casualities(Middlekauff, 2005). This stared the armed resistance and war.  the war was fought on the British side by there traditional style of marching in columns and attacking in mass. The American also fought in a similar style, but also used guerilla tactics and sniper fire as well. The British troops were supported early on by the Tories (Loyalists) who gave them food, housing, and other aid.  the colonists supported each other as well as some of the more wealthy radicals, (Samuel Adams, John Hancock, George Washington) financially supporting the war.

References:

Middlekauff, R. (2005). The Glorious Cause. In The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789.  Second edition. Oxford University Press Inc.

As a practical matter, the Declaration of Independence announced to the world the unanimous decision of the thirteen American colonies to separate themselves from Great Britain.  A true revolutionary significance,then as well as now,  is the declaration of a new basis of political legitimacy in the sovereignty of the people (The Heritage Foundation).  The American’s final appeal was not to any man-made decree or evolving spirit, but to a postulated set of basic human rights that is inherently possessed by all men. It justified the right to revolt against a government that could no longer guarantee their natural rights. Another way in which this was a revolutionary document is that it had and still has tremendous influence outside the United States.  This was especially true with France during the French Revolution. It was also revolutionary in the fact that it still carries the message of equality for all people. Self-evident truths are not restricted to any one era or nation; they are as true today as they were in 1776, as true in America as they are in North Korea, Vietnam, or China. (The Heritage foundation) It was not revolutionary in the way it was used for personal attacks.  It attacked the King, but said little about Parliament and nothing about the Ministry.  Those two had more to do with the colonists revolt that the crown did.  It is true King George III almost always went along with Parliaments’ legislation and he also never redressed  the petitions sent to him by the colonies. It was stretching the point to say the King had acted with “absolute tyranny”.

References:

The Heritage Foundation. (n.d.). The Declaration of Independence. Retrieved March, 15, 2017. http://origin.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/the-declaration-of-independence

     In the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence the writers used terms such as: “to institute a new government”, “it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government”, and it becomes necessary to dissolve the political bands” to establish this as a revolutionary document.  The writers were stating these complaints because they felt these were issues that denied their human rights.  The body of the Declaration of Independence lists grievances that the colonists believed they had addressed but fell of deaf ears in Parliament and with the king.  The colonists and the Second Continental Congress felt that these unanswered grievances were cause for revolution.  This document directly insults the king by calling him a tyrant and calling out the king directly with using “He” to start many of the complaints.  The closing paragraphs the writers announce their separation, ultimately revolting against England.

The final version of the Declaration of Independence was not as emotional as the draft composed by Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson’s draft called out all British people not just the king and Parliament.  “For many reasons the Jeffersonian draft is a much more powerful statement than the one finally approved by Congress” (MiddleKauff, 2005). Jefferson thought he was inciting the feelings of the public not just listing the grievances and announcing independence.

Middlekauf, Robert. 2005. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution 1763-1789. Oxford University Press Inc. New York, NY