Well, there was.
That’s what this Scottish bid for independence lacked: When we broke away from the crown, it was our Continental Congress that took up the question of Independence (thank you, Virginians) and produced an instrument in the form of the Declaration of Independence. Congressional representatives from all 13 colonies voted unanimously in favor of it, then it was released to the people. It was an article that set before mankind the subject of the matter in terms so plain so as to command their assent.
All the Scottish ‘Yes’ campaign did was print up buttons and signs and threw up an incoherent website that raised more dubious questions than it answered. They didn’t know what they were talking about.
Turns out that the Scottish nationalists didn’t even have as much support for independence as the American colonies already had before the ‘Shot Heard Round The World’ a year before our Continental Congress voted for Independence.
It didn't go to a democratic vote.
That's the difference.
Democracies are the bane of civilization.
/johnny