Prior to July 4th, 1776, the United States of America was a set of colonies owned by King George III’s England. The story of our independence is familiar enough: some guys in red face threw tea into the Boston Harbor, representation in the media without taxation was the talk of the town, British people were tar and feathered, and, finally, America was born. As it turns out, historical causality is a tricky thing to tease out. The haphazard list of events we associate with the American Revolution...