A tired canard is surfacing again in the era of wokery: “Estimates suggest that only about a third of the colonial population actively supported independence.” This misconception originates from misreading an 1815 letter written by John Adams. Adams referenced Americans’ attitudes toward the French, not the American Revolution. English tyrannies weren’t welcome here by 1776. Straightforward facts tell the story, beginning with the Revolution’s impetus, the Stamp Act, effective Nov. 1, 1765, long before Boston’s December 1773 Tea Party. It was indeed a relatively modest tax. What enraged colonists was its purpose; namely, subsidizing British continental wars that had stretched...