America famously declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776, and was ultimately successful in asserting that independence, though they had to fight a successful revolutionary war to obtain such. This thus signified that those that were previously under the rule of a Monarch, namely King George III, as well as under a parliament that they had no direct representation in, were now a separate, independent, and sovereign nation, which meant that the future success of those colonists, and the benefits thereof, were thereby in the full control of what became the United States of America, signifying that the British Empire would no longer be able to impose its will upon America, of which, because a significant percentage of those colonists hailed from the British empire, meant the permanent loss of what had once been colonists loyal to the British Empire, but were loyal no more.
Indeed, it is one thing to fight a war of aggression against another nation, and to lose that war, but that isn't the same thing as fighting a war against one's own colonists, and losing that war; because in actuality, the war of the British Empire against its own colonists, should be more appropriately described as a civil war, because each of the parties before that war were an integral part of the same empire, and to lose part of an empire, is entirely different thing than a war made for conquest and for the obtainment of booty, thereby signifying the indignity that the British Empire had to swallow of their erstwhile colonists of the British Empire, somehow being able to defeat that British Empire, and further to declare their independence from such, was seen as something intolerable by the British, especially considering all the previous support provided by the British Empire to help make the colonists successful..
This is why, we find that those that have an empire, typically keep a very tight grip on those that are in positions of authority within any colony of theirs, so that the empire is not undermined by colonists that are not aligned or loyal to the empire, of which that empire has aided and abetted the colonists in their growth and productivity. For a certainty, the successful independence of those that were the colonists over their parent country, is something that should never have happened, because to agitate for such independence, is traitorous, subject thereby to the penalties of such, which typically would be death, so that those of the colonists that risked their lives and their wealth, gambled in a serious game, in which, they took on the greatest empire of that day and age, and were victorious.
The lesson therefore of those that desire to be an empire, is pretty clear and obvious, which is that those who are designated outside of their domestic nation to be in high positions of authority and power on behalf of that empire, need to be carefully monitored by the home office, in which, also the colonists thereof, need to be not only observed but also manipulated as needed, because to do anything less, opens the door to revolution, and revolutions are very bad for business as well as the sustainability of empire building.