<Li> New York and New Jersey </Li> <Li> Northern (after Saratoga) </Li> <P> The American Revolutionary War (1775--1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was a global war that began as a conflict between Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies which declared independence as the United States of America . </P> <P> After 1765, growing philosophical and political differences strained the relationship between Great Britain and its colonies . Patriot protests against taxation without representation followed the Stamp Act and escalated into boycotts, which culminated in 1773 with the Sons of Liberty destroying a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor . Britain responded by closing Boston Harbor and passing a series of punitive measures against Massachusetts Bay Colony . Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, and they established a shadow government which wrested control of the countryside from the Crown . Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, establishing committees and conventions that effectively seized power . </P>

Who were the two sides fighting in the revolutionary war