The American War of Independence is so different when you learn it as a kid. I don't know if it is taught the same way (or at all) for a bunch of reasons:

1) War of Independence versus Revolution. Now I think there were two separate occasions. Fighting the British was to achieve independence. The people who were branded 'Tories' would've branded themselves 'Loyalists'. I understand the population broke down into rough thirds: A third for independence, a third for loyalists, and a third that didn't really care. Some of the fighting was harsh.

2) Impact on young British Canada: Many of the American Loyalists lost their land and removed themselves to Canada, where they created their own mini-revolution in that at the time Canada was mainly French citizens administered by an English governing / military force. A significant new population of English speaking new citizens wanted their rights recognized.

3) Impact on France. The French government spent a lot of money on support for the American cause. It was their fleet that bottled up the English in Yorktown to seal the colonial victory. And it lead to the French Revolution when the French Royalists were out of dough to support their economically challenged population.

4) The issue of slavery has been soft pedalled for generations. As part of the Yorktown surrender the Americans required the British to return their property, being slaves to whom the English had promised their freedom.

5) Even after Yorktown there was no guarantee of American success. One of the main secrets to the success of the new nation was the protracted negotiations that spelled out just what that colonial victory meant. Read a great book called "The Perils of Peace" which spelled it out.

6) The actual Revolution: Came with the Constitutional Convention and its draft product which we still argue about to this day. The notion of a governmental structure based literally on the interpretation of a piece of paper. As mentioned by Franklin: "A Republic, if you can keep it."