AP U.S. History · Lesson 2

The American Revolution

Know Know it

The Declaration of Independence (July 1776), drafted mainly by Thomas Jefferson, drew on Enlightenment ideas of natural rights and the consent of the governed, and it listed the king's wrongs to justify revolution.

The Continental Army under George Washington faced the world's strongest navy and a large professional army. Americans won by surviving: they avoided losing the army, used local knowledge and militias, and outlasted Britain's will to fight. The victory at Saratoga (1777) brought a French alliance in 1778; French troops, money and above all a French fleet helped trap a British army at Yorktown in 1781. The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized independence and set the western border at the Mississippi.

Colonists were divided. Patriots backed independence, Loyalists stayed loyal to the crown, and many people tried to stay neutral. Tens of thousands of Loyalists left the country.

The war affected groups in different ways, and its effects on women, on enslaved people and on Native nations were not the same. Enslaved people weighed which side offered a better chance of freedom, and thousands fought or fled on each side. Most Native nations that took sides joined Britain, hoping to stop colonial expansion, and the peace treaty left them to face the new nation alone.

Trap The Declaration is not the Constitution

Students often swap the two. The Declaration of Independence (1776) announced and justified independence; it created no government. The Articles of Confederation (ratified 1781) and then the Constitution (written 1787) set up the government. Check the date and the purpose before you answer.

Worked example Easy

Which American victory in 1777 helped persuade France to form an alliance with the United States?

  1. Yorktown
  2. Lexington and Concord
  3. SaratogaAnswer
  4. Bunker Hill

How to solve it

  1. Match the date: 1777.
  2. Saratoga was the big American win that year, and the alliance followed in 1778.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Yorktown was in 1781, three years after the French alliance was signed.
  • B. Incorrect. Lexington and Concord in 1775 were the first clashes, not the victory that won over France.
  • C. Correct. The surrender of a British army at Saratoga in 1777 showed France that the Americans could win.
  • D. Incorrect. Bunker Hill in 1775 was technically a British win, though costly, and came before the French alliance talks.

Explain Explain it

Task verbs: describe, compare

When you describe how an event affected a group, use the same yardstick each time: what did the group hope for, and what did it actually get? Then name one specific law, idea, offer or action that shows the result, with its date.

Worked example Medium

Why did most Native nations that took sides in the Revolution side with Britain?

  1. Britain had promised them seats in Parliament
  2. They saw American settlers as the bigger threat to their landsAnswer
  3. They had been forced to by the Treaty of Paris of 1783
  4. France had ordered its former Native allies to fight for Britain

How to solve it

  1. Ask what Native nations wanted most: to keep their lands.
  2. Ask who threatened those lands: settlers pushing west.
  3. Britain had tried to slow that push, so it looked like the safer ally.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Britain never promised Native nations seats in Parliament, so this was not the reason.
  • B. Correct. Britain had tried to limit western settlement in 1763, while colonists pushed west, so many nations backed Britain.
  • C. Incorrect. The Treaty of Paris came at the end of the war, so it could not have forced anyone to choose sides during it.
  • D. Incorrect. France joined the American side in 1778 and gave no such order to Native nations.

Describe Your turn

Describe one way the American Revolution affected women. Then describe one way it affected enslaved African Americans.

Write it, then compare. Nothing you type here is saved or graded.

Compare with a model answer

A full answer does this

  • Describes an accurate effect of the Revolution on women
  • Describes an accurate effect of the Revolution on enslaved African Americans

Model answer

For women, the Revolution brought the idea of republican motherhood, which held that mothers must raise virtuous citizens; this helped open new academies for girls, though women could not vote in nearly every state. For enslaved African Americans, thousands escaped to British lines after Dunmore's Proclamation offered freedom to those who fought for the king, and several northern states, such as Pennsylvania in 1780, passed laws to end slavery gradually.

Apply Apply it

Practice these topics. AP Practice questions on exactly what this lesson covers, with an explanation for every answer.