<P> In the winter of 1775, the Americans invaded Canada under generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery . The attack was a complete failure; many Americans who weren't killed were either captured or died of smallpox . </P> <P> In March 1776, the Continental Army forced the British to evacuate Boston, with George Washington as the commander of the new army . The revolutionaries were now in full control of all 13 colonies and were ready to declare independence . There still were many Loyalists, but they were no longer in control anywhere by July 1776, and all of the Royal officials had fled . </P> <P> Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, the Patriots had control of Massachusetts outside the Boston city limits, and the Loyalists suddenly found themselves on the defensive with no protection from the British army . In all 13 colonies, Patriots had overthrown their existing governments, closing courts and driving away British officials . They had elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside any legal framework; new constitutions were drawn up in each state to supersede royal charters . They declared that they were states now, not colonies . </P> <P> On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution . In May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority . Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey created their constitutions before July 4 . Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown . The new states were all committed to republicanism, with no inherited offices . They decided what form of government to create, and also how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified . On 26 May 1776, John Adams wrote James Sullivan from Philadelphia: </P>

Did other nations help the united states win the american revolution explain