Yes they were. When the sovereign cannot make somebody do what they don't want to they are not sovereign anymore (Hobbes). The King of England couldn't coerce the colonists anymore so therefore he lost his status as sovereign and a new sovereign became real.

They did more than ever because they expanded the idea of rights, which cannot exist outside of the social contract.

This post was edited by Skinned on May 15 2013 08:18am

To the letter. They took very seriously the idea that the only justifiable revolution was one where the sovereign broke the social contract. They were directly inspired by the writings of Locke and Montesquieu. Any other questions?

One just had to read the Declaration of Independence to realize this. It was more or less a breakup letter and listed the grievances one by one. Brilliant work.

you said "I do not adhere to the cultural norms when it suits me to do otherwise" which implies that that you do[I][/I] adhere to the cultural norms when it suits you to do so.