REVOLUTION

The timeline of the American Revolutionary War is interesting.  The beginning is generally accepted to be April 18, 1775.  Two lanterns were lit in the Old North Church Steeple to indicate the British were coming across the Charles River and Paul Revere began his famous ride warning his countrymen.  This church is in Boston where a year before we had seen a Tea Party in protest to British taxes imposed on the colonies.  The First Continental Congress had been convened just a few months prior where the seeds of revolution and the call to independence had taken root.

The Treaty of Paris officially ended the War but it wasn't signed until September 3, 1783 and wasn't ratified by congress until January 1784.   The last real battle of the War was fought in Yorktown, PA from September to October 1781.

Our Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776 - long before the fighting ended.

*o*