The loss of the american colonies

THE LOSS OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES

George III took the throne in 1760, his reign is one of the longest in English history, he restored the authority of the Crown and he dismissed the Prime Minister, so the Parliament was dominated by the King himself. American colonies wanted to be independent from Britain because this last had imposed them some taxes but they refused to pay because they had no representatives in Parliament. In 1770 some colonists threw a shipload of tea into Boston harbour rather than pay tax on it. This event was known as the Boston Tea Party. The British Government closed the port. The American War of  Independence had begun. A continental Congress of delegates met George Washington; on 4^th July 1776 in Philadelphia the Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, written by Jefferson in which the colonies claimed "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". After the Treaty of Versailles the new republic of the United States of America adopted a federal constitution in 1787 and George Washington became the first President.