Was the war avoidable? What if the colonists had continued to negotiate? They might not have gotten far with King George, but could they have waited a few years for another monarch and had their interests better represented?

Would we have been like Canada, maintaining an awkward dependency on Great Britain while gradually weaning ourselves to independence without bloodshed?

Were Canada and the Colonies like two offspring entering adolescence, the one to the south the rebellious child that severs ties in a dramatic dangerous way, the one to the north more oblivious to the sometimes unjust rule of the parents?