Data from the US Census in 2000 The Thirteen Colonies gradually obtained more , albeit limited , self-government . British mercantilist policies became more stringent , benefiting the mother country which resulted in trade restrictions , thereby limiting the growth of the colonial economy and artificially constraining colonial merchants ' earning potential . The American Colonies were expected to help repay debt that had accrued during the French and Indian War . Tensions escalated from 1765 to 1775 over issues of taxation without representation and control by King George III . Stemming from the Boston Massacre of 1770 when British Redcoats opened fire on civilians , rebellion consumed the outraged colonists . The British Parliament had imposed a series of taxes such as the Stamp Act of 1765 , and later the Tea Act of 1773 , against which an angry mob of colonists protested in the Boston Tea Party by dumping chests of tea into Boston Harbor . The British Parliament responded to the defiance of the colonists by passing what the colonials called the Intolerable Acts in 1774 . This course of events ultimately triggered the first shots fired in the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 and the beginning of the American War of Independence . A British victory at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 agitated tensions even further . While the goal of attaining independence was sought by a majority known as Patriots , a minority known as Loyalists wished to remain as British subjects indefinitely . When the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia in May 1775 , deliberations conducted by notable figures such as Benjamin Franklin , Thomas Jefferson , John Hancock , Samuel Adams , and John Adams eventually resulted in seeking full independence from the mother country . Thus , the Declaration of Independence , unanimously ratified on 4 July 1776 , was a radical and decisive break . The United States of America became the first colony in the world to successfully achieve independence in the modern era
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
United Kingdom–United States relations