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One of the greatest ideas to emerge from the American Revolution is the Enlightenment concept of the **social contract** and **natural rights**: governments exist only to protect the people's rights. The American Revolution proved that a society could thrive without a king. This success provided a working blueprint and inspired other nations to create their own democratic societies. However, was all the bloodshed necessary? Many colonists believed it was not. One famous example is the relationship between Founding Father Benjamin Franklin and his son, William. While Benjamin was a prominent Patriot leader, William remained fiercely loyal to the Crown, serving as the royal governor of New Jersey. The two became estranged and never reconciled, with Benjamin eventually cutting William out of his will. Additionally, in 1774, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fluger married twenty-four-year-old Henry Knox. Lucy's parents were Loyalists, and Knox was a Patriot. When the British evacuated Boston after the siege in 1776, Lucy Knox's family left for England. Lucy was crushed by her family's absence and wrote a letter to her sister: *"Oh my Sister, how horrid is this war, Brother against Brother – and the parent against the child – who were the first promoters of it I know not but God knows – and I fear they will feel the weight of his vengeance – tis pity the little time we have to spend in this world – we cannot enjoy ourselves and our friends – but must be devising means to destroy each other – the art of killing has become a perfect science."* Were the reasons for the war such as "Taxation without representation," a justifiable reason to kill each other? Was there a better way to gain freedom? Canada did not need a violent war to win its independence. It achieved self-rule through a peaceful, step-by-step process of legal reforms and negotiations that spanned over a century. Let's debate the possibilities of freedom and progress without war.