To the modern student of history, the revolutionary break by the American colonies from Great Britain may seem as inevitable as it was necessary. But in the 1770s, that was not the common perception. The initial effort by the framers of the American system of government was not to separate from Great Britain and form a new government but to be accepted by Great Britain as an equal partner—to be given the rights and responsibilities of full British citizenship. Early efforts to secure such acceptance met with contempt and refusal, and by 1776 the Founding Fathers were forced to make a choice: subservience or revolution.