United States legislatures. They demanded their rights as Englishmen and "no taxation without representation". The British insisted on administering the empire through Parliament, and the conflict escalated into war. The Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, which recognized, in a long preamble, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights and that those rights were not being protected by Great Britain, and declared, in the words of the resolution, that the thirteen United Colonies formed an independent nation and had no further allegiance to the British crown. The fourth day
Maritime history of the United States (1776–99) Maritime history of the United States (1776–99) The Maritime history of the United States (1776–1799) (not to be confused with maritime jurisdiction or law under law of nations) begins with the British colonists before 1776, American merchant vessels had enjoyed the protection of the Royal Navy. During the American Revolution, American ships came under the aegis of France due to a 1778 Treaty of Alliance between the two countries. The first war that an organized United States Merchant Marine took part in was the American Revolutionary War, which lasted from 1775 to 1783. The first merchant marine action in the