Chapter 6: Securing Independence, Defining Nationhood, 1776-88 The Prospects of War The Revolution gave white northerners and southerners their first real chance to learn what they had in common, and they soon developed mutual admiration. In July 1776, the thirteen colonies had declared independence out of desperation and joined together in a loosely knit confederation of states. Only as a result of collective hardships experienced during eight years of terrible fighting did the inhabitants cease to see themselves only as military allies and begin to accept one another as fellow citizens. Americans remained divided over some basic political questions relating to the distribution of power and authority. Loyalists and Other British Sympathizers