Imagine that it’s the fall of 1783, and your whole town is excited. The American colonists have won the war against Britain!
The British king and Parliament no longer rule this land. That means you don’t live in “the colonies” anymore. Now you live in an independent nation. It is called the United States of America. Your father slaps your uncle on the back and laughs. He says something he says a lot lately: “We’re Americans now!”
The American Revolution had a big effect. It influenced the French Revolution. It also boosted the rise of nationalism in Europe and independence movements around the world. Citizens of this young country felt proud. Many new ideas back then made that national pride even stronger. By 1845, many Americans believed in “manifest destiny.” That was the idea that the United States was meant to control the land all the way west to the Pacific Ocean.
