Declaration of American Independence?

The Declaration of Independence asserted that the American colonies were "Free and Independent States." Americans' victory in the Revolution made this assertion a reality. The Treaty of Paris granted the United States possession of lands stretching westward to the Mississippi River.

The American Revolution also had its losers. Because Americans now laid claim to all land east of the Mississippi River, Indian peoples along the Western frontier faced a serious threat to their homelands. The British Empire had restrained westward expansion, while the United States, as many Indians feared, soon proved much more aggressive. Many Loyalists, afraid that they would be treated harshly for supporting the British Empire, fled the United States for Canada or England. Roughly one out of five New Yorkers and one out of seven Georgians fled the U.S. after the Revolution's end.

Many other issues remained to be settled. Would the Declaration's promises of equality and rights be extended to women? To slaves? How far would the Revolution go? As Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote in 1783, "The American War may be over, but that is far from being the case with the American Revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of a great drama is closed."