American revolution question

[BH]

I read in a book years ago that the American Revolution of 1776 was preceded by a previous attempt to revolt and become independent. I cant remember the book title though. I have looked this up and all I can find is rebellions against a local corrupt governor but still wanted ties to the England. I cant find one that was an attempt to be a totally different country.

Anyone here enlighten me more.

 

[Politesse]

Perhaps this was in reference to the grandiose coup for the British throne now known as the "Glorious Revolution", and the considerable upset it engendered during the summer of 1689? Both James II's attempted reforms (which would have included the consolidation of all the colonies into a single client state under his direct rule) and the somewhat legally dubious ascension of William and Mary to the regency created a lot of divided loyalties in the Colonies, and there was much anti-monarchist talk and civil conflict between the colonies themselves, leading to open violence and destruction in places like Maryland and Massachusetts. But the colonies were much smaller and fewer at that time, and there could have been no question of a mass revolt like the Revolution, once order had been restored in England. The legal concessions that William III made in October of that year were momentous in two ways, as in the short term it settled things down in the colonies, but in the long term created part of the legal precedent for rebellion a century later.

If curious about this subject, the classic historian treatment is Michael J. Hall's anthological collection The Glorious Revolution in America, a book I happened across while researching my family geneaology but found to be a most interesting read in its own right. Also available on JSTOR if you library has a subscription to that database.