Summary of build up to independence

• England, France and Spain commence colonisation of North America (plus the Caribbean and India c. 1600.
• England and France struggle for world domination in a hundred years war from c. 1650-1763. England a small Protestant island of some 5 million people and France its large neighbour across the English Channel, a Catholic country of some 20 million people.
• France is run by a royal family dictatorship and the Catholic Church and England who after Elizabeth 1st find it extremely difficult to find a suitable Protestant King (or Queen) is run by a Parliament of wealthy generally arrogant men and a King chosen by Parliament.
• England's state religion is the Church of England, a hybrid of Catholic and early Protestant religions developed by Elizabeth 1st with her mainly catholic bishops. All other religions are banned.
• English colonists in North America are mainly religious refugees in the north around Boston and wealthy entrepreneurial farmers in the south around Virginia. After 1700 that is 100 years of the commencement of colonisation both areas are prospering with those in the south sending their young men back to England for an education and in the north men and some women being educated in local schools and universities in a Puritanical theme where God supports hard work and kinship. This God does not support lazy people like native American Indians.
• 200 miles north of Boston the French have settled down the St Lawrence sea way where it is too cold for profitable farming but where a living can be scratched from the land with help from the local Indians by trapping firs for export back to Georgian Europe. The St Lawrence takes the French far inland to the Great Lakes and south via the Mississippi to the Mexican Gulf.
• In the far south the Spanish are plundering the land by pinching gold and silver discovered by the local Indians and setting up small religious settlements with the object, supported by the Pope, of converting the Indians to the "superior" Catholic Faith.
• In 1700s the English Kings called the Georges, are all German, as there are no suitable English born Protestants. The early Georges can neither speak English nor seem to want to set an example to be admired. Indeed George 1st arrives in England with two mistresses and leaves his wife locked in prison in Germany. The only benefit of this is that George has to choose a senior minister to be called Prime Minister to run the country on his behalf. Walpole is the first English Prime Minister the first of many excellent such first ministers.
• Americans who visit England for trade and education do not return with high praise of the politics and morals of the old country although it is rapidly becoming the most powerful nation in the world via trade between India and America into Europe which fuels the industrial revolution. (Tobacco, Sugar, Furs,Pelts, Fabrics- Chince, Cotton, Spices, Tea, Fish, Silks and Cocaine.)
• 1763 England is now acknowledged as the world superpower as it removes any vestige of French aggression from both India and North America.
• Just before this date George 3rd came to the throne in 1760. He was only 22 and had hardly ever ventured outside his palace at Kew in west London. He had never developed the skill of finding the right advisors and was not supported by good Prime Ministers or Chancellors of the Exchequer. The right man for the time was Minister Pitt (the elder) who George did not spot but Pitt became sick during the majority of the next 20 years. As a result of this George was persuaded and indeed supported two concepts which lost the English their American colonies.
• The first concept was the idea of letting American lands west of the Appellations be given to the new English ruled French colonists in Quebec.
• The second concept was the idea of taxing the American colonialists in order to pay for the war effort. This was taxation without representation. In spite of these humilities only some 10% of the colonists wanted home rule (Independence).
• The third element which thinking Americans realised, was that they did not wish to be ruled by the sort of Kings which sat on the English (or any other) throne and they were particularly influenced by such Enlightenment writers as Englishman John Locke and Frenchman living in England Voltaire and later Englishman Thomas Paine.
• In addition to this Americans may not have declared independence if the following three American men were not alive at the time:
• Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). He lived in London for about 25 years prior to 1776 as political representative of a number of colonies. Franklin was an educated man and a noted scientist. He communicated his thoughts of the English scene to his base in Philadelphia the largest city in America at the time.
• Samuel Adams (1722-1803) A Boston based Puritan political revolutionary who hated the English and their arrogant ways. He set up the first effective militia recruited from Boston dockers which using gorilla tactics against the New England British standing army gave the rest of the colonies the courage to form an army to oust the most powerful nation in the world from their land.
• George Washington (1732-1799) A wealthy farmer from Virginia who fought successfully with the English against the French in the Ohio valley and then 15 years later was persuaded by the Philadelphia conference to form an Army out of the various militia to oust the English. A man of noted high morals and integrity who became America's first President.

The Founding Fathers of the United States of America

The men who were largely responsible for the initial social and political developments of the United States were looking to develop a country which was appreciably more fairly run than England were power was in the hand of a few, often corrupt aristocrats, with weak morals and an unelected King who was also head of the state Church of England the only legal religion.

• George Washington (1732-1799) a natural (military) leader with impeccable morals who became the first President. (Virginia)
• Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) scientist, philosopher, diplomat and businessman working both in England and France as a diplomat. (Pennsylvania)
• John Adams(1735-1826) Lawyer and intellectual responsible for developing much revolutionary thought. Became first vice President and second President. (Boston Massachusetts)
• Samuel Adams (1722-1803) A Business man and revolutionary nobody in power realy liked. Became governor of Massachusetts. Cousin of above. (Boston Massachusetts)
• Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Lawyer, politician (in Virginia) and diplomat (to France) largely responsible for authoring the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The third President of the US. (Virginia)
• Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) First Secretary to the US Treasury, set of the first federal bank, was killed in a duel. (Born in the Caribbean of mixed race)

The Constitution of the USA
The founding fathers developed a written document stating the objectives and rules of government and a series of checks and balances to minimise corruption and permit the voice of the people to be heard by those in charge. The Constitution ratified in 1788 consists of 7 articles and 27 amendments of which 10 are a Bill of Rights. The Constitution defines the separation between the President (the executive), Congress (Legislature) and the Supreme Court (Judiciary). The Bill of Rights as defined by Jefferson are what people are entitled to against every government on Earth and include:

• Freedom of the Press, of speech and of Religion.
• The right to carry arms.
• Prohibition of being compelled to quarter troops.
• Protection against unlawful search and seizure.
• The right to a fair and public trial by jury.
• The right of due process of law.
• Prohibition of cruel punishments.