During the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) the American colonists fought to be free from Great Britain. The colonists wanted to start our country. The final battle of the war was at Yorktown in the state of Virginia. The Americans won and the United States became a new nation.

During wars, armies fight on the land and navies fight on the seas. During the Revolutionary War, the army and navy of Great Britain were more powerful than those of any other country in the world. However, the army and navy of the United States won the war, and we became a new nation. We were free from being ruled by Great Britain.

The highest law of the United States. It is a plan for how our government is organized and run. It creates three branches at the national level. They are the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. It also provides for the same branches at state and local levels. The Constitution also says what the government must do, such as protecting people's lives, freedom, and property. It also says what the government cannot do, such as taking away basic rights of the people. The Constitution was created in 1787 during the Constitutional Convention. The government created by the Constitution began in 1789.

The meeting held in Philadelphia in 1787 at which the U.S. Constitution was written.

A government run by elected representatives of a part or all of the people in a country.

The war fought by the American colonists to gain their freedom from Great Britain.

The power of the president to stop a bill passed by Congress from becoming a law.

George Washington was born in Virginia in 1732. He grew up there on several plantations along the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. He was not particularly well educated, but did learn surveying. In 1753, he began his service to the country, which was to continue throughout his life, despite his desire to live a more private existence. Washington's efforts as commander of the Continental Army are well known. After the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, Washington returned to his home, Mount Vernon. Although he did not initially want to attend the Philadelphia Convention, his friends convinced him that his presence was necessary. He was elected president of the convention but spoke little. His presence and approval, however, were important. Nearly everyone assumed that Washington would be the first president of the United States, which, of course, he was, serving from 1789-1797.