The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire. They combined to become the United States of America.
The colonies first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them from overseas without representation. In July 1776 the colonies severed ties with the British Empire when the Continental Congress issued the United States Declaration of Independence. The American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War for Independence ended in 1783.