With rare exceptions, like meteor strikes or volcano eruptions, most important historical developments occur in reaction to trends, ideas or actions. They may be instantaneous reactions to an invasion or government measures taken to counteract longer trends, like immigration or birth rates. The American Revolution is one of the more important events of the past few hundred years for understanding modern history. It was also one of the seminal moments of the Enlightenment, where for the first time portions of Enlightenment political philosophy were used to help create an entirely new country. In this lesson, we're going to look at the immediate events that led to the open rebellion by the American colonies up to the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. When Washington and French forces forced Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, the fledgling nation's existence was secured - a victory with effects felt worldwide in the late eighteenth century. Most notably in France, Ireland, and Poland, revolutionaries and luminaries looked to America and its embrace of Enlightenment-era principles as an example for their own countries' political struggles. In America, the end of the revolution marked an exciting time where the restraints placed on the colonists by their British overlords were removed and settlement of the West was opened, and the politically-minded colonists possessed a blank slate on which they could create any government they wanted. With these exciting prospects in mind, it's also important to remember that the American Revolution didn't benefit everyone. Britain experienced a series of political and economic upheavals as a direct result of the war, and colonists still loyal to the British crown were forced to uproot their families and move north to Canada. Above all, the American victory was a complete disaster for the Native Americans who had depended upon British authority to block the colonists' westward migration.