Years ago while reading about the American Revolution I came across the following statistics that for some reason stuck with me.

The author wrote that perhaps only 1/3 of the American colonists were actively rebellious against the British crown. Another 1/3 were actively loyal to the crown and the remaining 1/3 just wanted to be left alone.

Knowing what I know about the war the author’s statistics had the ring of truth to them. Certainly the British must have thought that those in actual rebellion were a relative minority and largely confined to New England hotheads otherwise they might have been more inclined to negotiate rather than fight a rather long tedious war against their American cousins.

It’s the 1/3 who wanted to be left alone that intrigues me. Were they so remote on the frontier that whatever government that was running things was largely irrelevant? Perhaps the 1/3 simply…