The American Revolution was not just a war between America (the American colonies) and Britain; it was also, in a broader sense, a civil war among the American colonists themselves. While the colonists were united in their desire for independence from British rule, the Revolution divided American society into various factions, and there were Americans who remained loyal to the British Crown. These loyalists, often called Tories, were in conflict with the patriots or revolutionaries who sought independence.
The American Revolution included not only military conflicts with British forces but also political and social divisions within the American colonies. This internal division and the loyalist-patriot conflict are often referred to as a civil war within the larger context of the American Revolution.