Britain declared the conflict a war for independence before America did

Evidence

After the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, however, the British began seeing the conflict differently. Even as patriot leaders in Congress and the colonies professed their loyalty to the Crown, King George in August proclaimed New England in “open and avowed rebellion,” and in a speech from the throne two months later he declared, “The rebellious war now levied is become more general and is manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire.” With these official pronouncements, Britain declared the conflict to be a war of independence nearly a year before the Americans did so. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 108

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses the conventional sequence in which the Americans unilaterally chose independence; connects to how the Declaration of July 1776 responded to a British-framed war aim. — connects to: Different nations named the same war period according to their own experience of it — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 451

Broader Connections

• Different nations named the same war period according to their own experience of it #qualifies (0.75) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 451