There are a couple of things that it’s kind of important to remember about American history.

First, by this point Independence was still NOT on the table for the Continental Congress. That’s not to say that there wasn’t talk about it, but little of it was in earnest. Americans were fighting the British because of all the business that was going on in Boston. If everybody just settled down then the decision to politically separate wouldn’t have been made.

Second, once the war did start, it was by no means a foregone conclusion that the Americans would win. In fact, they didn’t have a snowball’s chance of winning. It took several years of effort and the help of at least a couple of other nations to get the job done. (And not to get too political, but current events have some of these same nations glancing at us askance, after all this time. )

The Continental Congress’ Committee of Proclamations studied King George’s announcement that the Colonies were in rebellion, and prepared a very careful response, including the suggestion that “rebellion” has no legal definition and is therefore semantically null. And for all that, it still holds out some hope that things can get back to normal, maybe.

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