That's ridiculous, and you know it -- or should know it, FRiend.
In fact, the American colonies were just that: colonies.
Yes, they wanted all the rights of Englishmen, most notably: "no taxation without representation", but that was just what Britain's king and parliament refused to grant.
Instead, Brits insisted on treating Americans like their other colonies, on a par with (horrors!) the Irish!
So, after years of suffering, of negotiations with, and hostile military actions from Britain, Americans had enough...
MeganC: "The war did not start out as a war for independence.
The British in their history books get this one right:
The war started out as an uprising by British subjects AGAINST THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT which had become tyrannical."
In fact, the war started in 1775 when Brits assaulted Americans as punishment for our "misbehavior", notably at Lexington and Concord.
But more to your point, from their beginnings (i.e., 1619), Americans had elected their own local governments, and by 1774 in response to British Intolerable Acts: the First Continental Congress.
The American Continental Congress petitioned the British King for a redress of grievances, and when that had no effect, took sterner measures.
So, it is precisely that distinction -- between "just government" (which Britain never was) and "tyranny" (which Britain had long been) -- on which the American Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War hinges.
See, there you go again.
Bottom line, the colonies were part of the British empire. So yes, they WERE British.