The British government's Proclamation of 1763 forbade American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The Battle of Saratoga is considered by many historians to be a major turning point in the American War of Independence. During the battle the Continental Army surround their British counterparts and forced its timely surrender. Prior to the battle most European nations had doubted the ability of the colonists to resist the might of the British Empire and had therefore been reluctant to commit troops and naval forces to a lost cause; however, victory at Saratoga finally convinced the French government that the Americans could achieve independence, and they formally entered the war under a Franco-American alliance. The impact that the French armed forces, and its navy in particular, were to have on the war cannot be understated.

The “Power of the Purse” is the name used to describe the power gained by the Houses and representative governments of the New World over the levying of taxes and control over the payment of the Governor. In the Early Colonial Period the Governor often acted as a supervisor, whose mandate came “directly from the crown”. This mandate often allowed the Governor to act unilaterally, and it was only by ensuring control over the finances that the Representative governments could pass laws that benefitted the colony, as opposed to those that benefitted the Governor. It was extremely important for fostering democracy in the New World. 

In 1676 Nathanial Bacon and several other small farmers rose up against Virginia's governor William Berkley for a number of reasons. Bacon and his posse wanted to fight off the Natives and take their land (something that Berkley was keeping them from doing). Berkley also delegated most of Virginia's farming land to his cronies. Bacon burned Jamestown and ruled Virginia, looting Berkley's cronies' lands until British forces arrived and unseated the uprising. In the end, 23 of the rebels were hanged. Bacon himself died of dysentery shortly after taking over. 

Following the Rebellion, the colonial elite, not wanting to have to cede lands to anyone, began to rely more heavily upon slave labor and less so on indentured servants.

Berkley's failure to suppress the uprising showed the British that they would need to have tighter control over the colonies to keep similar rebellions from happening in the future.

John Locke's theories of natural law, articulated in his work Two Treatises of Civil Government (1689), influenced Thomas Jefferson, among others, and consequentially influenced the United States Declaration of Independence. The two treatises consist of a critique of patriarchal, aristocratic governments, and a separate outlining of Locke's own theories about an ideal society based on the principles of social contract theory.

Thomas Paine wrote The Rights of Man (1791), in which he defended the French Revolution. Isaac Newton wrote The Principia (1687), in which he outlined the three universal laws of motion. Adam Ferguson wrote An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767), in which he laid out his theories on division of labor. Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776), in which he laid out his basic theory of a free market economy. Ferguson and Smith were both Scottish, not English.