CITIZENSHIP

HOW OUR NATION CAME TO BE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
was born out of a desire for freedom. The colonists who settled much of the eastern coast of North America were ruled by a British government that increasingly limited rights the colonists believed they should have. For example, Americans had to let British soldiers stay in their homes. They were required to obey British laws and pay British taxes even though they had no legal way to make changes when they felt those laws and taxes were unfair.
The colonists decided they would be better off if they governed themselves. They declared their independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776, but the British did not want the colonies to slip out of their control. Armies arrived to put down the rebellion, and the Revolutionary War dragged on for five bitter years. Many lives were lost before a treaty signed in 1781 signaled the end of the war and the recognition of the United States as an independent nation.
Representatives of the thirteen states gathered to write the United States Constitution-the blueprint to build a government for the new nation. Even in the 1700s there were too many people to meet together every time a law had to be made. The Constitution solved that problem by making ours a representative democracy, in which citizens vote for officials who then represent them in the government. A country governed in this way is called a republic.