Why and how did American colonists forge a new, independent nation?

Increased taxes and government control sparked colonial protests in the New World, where the era of liberal political revolution began. After revolting against their home country, the thirteen mainland colonies of British North America succeeded in establishing a new unified government. Participants in the revolution believed they were demanding only the traditional rights of English men and women. But those traditional rights were liberal rights, and in the American context they had strong democratic and popular overtones. In founding a government firmly based on liberal principles, the Americans set an example that would have a forceful impact on France and its colonies. Yet the revolution was a grievous disappointment to the one-fifth of the American population living in slavery who were denied freedom under the new government despite its liberal principles.