Where do your Loyalties Lie?

Independence Day is forthcoming. Within a Fortnight, Americans will take to their grills, pools and picnics and then crane their necks skyward to see the explosive night sky. A recurrent theme in my current project is loyalty. Despite research, intelligent conversations with intelligent individuals, and the handy dandy dictionary, I still don't have a firm grasp on the concept. Our American forbears never intended a break from the crown, a revolution, nor Independence (save for the radicals, of course). They were still loyal to the King, if not Parliament.

What then, triggered these same men, only months later, to pick up a standard, rally others behind it and declare their loyalty not to a King, but to an idea? This was a treasonous act, that by the thinnest of miracles, did not result in tragic consequences for these men. Were these men right? Was their cause righteous? More importantly, were their loyalties to themselves, their wealth, their status, or was it truly loyalty to principle, an ideal they held in higher esteem than even loyalty to the crown? And how many Americans will be thinking of this when stuffing down hotdogs and watching Fireworks?