The beginnings

The United States became an independent country during its War of Independence (1775-1783) against England.

George Washington played a leading military and political role.

On July 4th 1776, a year after the beginning of this war, the American Declaration of Independence announced that the colony was separating from Britain.

The Frenchman Lafayette participated in this war to help the Americans.

After the war George Washington chaired the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution, and was then elected the first President of the United States, serving two terms.

The Declaration of Independence - extract

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the Governed."