Well, the new sense of identity led the colonist to have a desire for independence. They viewed themself as independent from Britain, as their own nation pretty much. The British Crown misunderstood that the colonists increasingly saw themselves as a separate people, due to their own voice in their own affairs. The American war for independence was partly a product of the colonists' sense of a distinctive identity as inhabitants of a republican society. But the revolution also helped to nurture a sense of a uniquely American identity. The Revolution was a colonial war for independence, but it was also a struggle over "who would rule at home."