Did the United States have independance before the War of 1812?

Lynn	sure did 1776 Jun 13 07, 10:19 AM

lanfranco

Well, we declared our independence in 1776, but we had to spend the next several years fighting to make it a reality. By 1812, however, it had long been a done deal (though some of the British don't seem to have been too sure about that): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution Jun 13 07, 10:31 AM

billythebrit

Independence and the birth of the United States is certainly 1776. Hence the massive celebrations of its bicentenary in 1976. The US severed all ties with the British Crown, allowing the US to chose their own leader and head of state. But how things work out: we have ended up with a glorious Queen in a crown, and they have ended up with a hick in a cowboy hat. Jun 13 07, 3:21 PM

queproblema

Billy, I'm sure I'll find opportunity to quote your amusing last sentence, but it's not fully accurate. Tony Blair, not QEII, is George Bush's parallel. And he's not a bona fide hick. As Frankie said, we DECLARED independence in 1776, but saying and being are two different things. We started fighting at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and signed the Treaty of Paris with the U.K. in 1783. Congress ratified it in 1784. George Washington was the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army from 1775 until he famously resigned from service in 1783 to return, like Cincinnatus, to his farm. He was sworn in as President of the fledgling Republic in 1789. http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.html Yes, we were independent before the War of 1812, but the war proved it and forced Great Britain to realize that the United States had indeed "assume[d] among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them." http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/ Jun 13 07, 5:12 PM