retreat	Patriots	boycott	independence	against
help	evacuated	despite	colonists	shifted
addressed	morale	defeated	concerned	protests

By the fall of 1774, Americans [?] were divided over how to resolve their conflict with Great Britain. The First Continental Congress voted to continue a [?] of British goods. The Second Continental Congress also voted to fight for independence after the shot was fired at Lexington in April 1775.
Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" convinced many colonists that the time was right for [?]. The Declaration of Independence was drafted in 1776. Issues such as women's rights and slavery, however, were not [?]. Nevertheless, the Declaration defined what colonists believed to be their rights, spelled out their complaints [?] Britain, and declared that the colonies were free and independent.
The center of colonial [?] was Massachusetts, where tensions were particularly high. The British became [?] when local militia units seemed to be actively preparing for armed conflict. These militita members called themselves Minutemen because they were ready to fight on a minute's notice.
[?] having fewer resources and less military experience, the [?] won several of the early battles in the Revolutionary War. In 1776 the British [?] Boston but took New York City, driving the Patriots into a [?]. As the winter set in, however, Washington restored his army's [?] at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton by defeating the British soldiers, who were called Redcoats by the colonists because of their uniforms.
After winning a major victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, the Patriots secured much-needed [?] from France and Spain. When the war [?] to the South, combined American and French forces [?] the British at Yorktown. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 officially ended the war and forced the British to recognize the United States.