Geschichte der USA

Tarring and Feathering a Tax Collector

The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies to pay for the war. The colonists widely resented the taxes because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule.

Geschichte der USA

General George Washington crossing the Delaware at the Battle of Trenton on Christmas night 1776 by Emmanuel Leutze

Treaty of Paris, 1783

Geschichte der USA

Lord Cornwallis George Washington

The defeat at Yorktown did not destroy Cornwallis’s career, however. In 1786, he was appointed governor-general of India, where he brought important reforms to the civil service and the judiciary. He also instituted a major land reform and led military campaigns against native uprisings. In 1792, he was made a marquess for his service in India.In 1798, Cornwallis became viceroy and commander-in-chief in Ireland. He won some measure of respect from both Roman Catholics and Protestants for his sincerity and dedication. Other contributions included quelling a rebellion in 1798 and thwarting a French invasion. He supported the Act of Union in 1801, which joined the British and Irish in Parliament, but resigned when the king failed to guarantee political rights for Catholics.Cornwallis served as minister plenipotentiary during the negotiation of the Treaty of Amiens (1802), which brought a cessation in the Napoleonic Wars.In 1805, Cornwallis returned as governor-general in India, but died shortly after his arrival.

Geschichte der USA

Declaration of Independence, 4th July, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all 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.--

John Trumbull

men

poor white men

women

blacks

Indians

Geschichte der USAThe Constitutional Convention 1787

Benjamin Franklin George Washington Alexander Hamilton

Geschichte der USA

In 1790 the rivalry of Northern and Southern states for the capital’s location ended when Jefferson’s followers supported Hamilton’s program for federal assumption of state debts in return for an agreement to situate the national capital on the banks of the Potomac River. George Washington selected the exact spot. The “Federal City” was designed by Pierre L’Enfant and laid out by Andrew Ellicott. Construction began on the White House in 1792 and on the Capitol the following year.  John Adams was the first president to occupy the White House. Congress held its first session in Washington in 1800, and Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in the new capital. In the War of 1812 the British sacked (1814) Washington, burning most of the public buildings, including the Capitol and the White House.

The White House

The Capitol

The Pentagon

Geschichte der USA

George Washington, 1732 - 1799

Mount Vernon estate

Washington crossing the Delaware