The American Revolutionary War as inspiration for Science Fiction
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A recurring theme in science fiction (especially in the writings of American writers) is a rebellion of colonists against tyranny in various science fiction environments (mainly in space, but also on the sea bottom) and their eventual achievement of independence, similar to the American Revolutionary War.
Robert A. Heinlein, a writer deeply influenced by American history and American patriotism, produced no less than than three books describing such independence struggles, all with implicit or explicit parallels to the American War of Independence. In Red Planet the protagonists are human colonists on Mars who oppose Earth-bound tyranny, and in Between Planets—colonists on Venus. In both books, non-human natives of the two planets actively support the independence struggle, and there seems no opposition or conflict of interest between them and the human colonists, such as was a very conspicuous feature of relations between the British colonists in North America and the Native Americans. Heinlein's most ambitious and well-known effort in this direction was The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, describing—as the name suggests—the successful rebellion of colonists on The Moon. In this book, the colonists are mostly convicts transported to the Moon against their will—an obvious reference to Australian history as well as American.
Poul Anderson followed suit with Tales of the Flying Mountains, a series of stories recounting various stages in the independence struggle of Asteroid colonists. A special poignancy is added by the fact that in this story it is the United States government which refuses to let go of its rebellious colonies and resorts to all-out war, while a British character is sympathetic to to colonists' struggle. See [1]
The same theme in a different environment was taken up by Dean McLaughlin in Dome World, where dome cities on the ocean bottom fight for independence against land-based powers and gain it. However, the land powers then establish new dome cities and keep them under a much tighter leash—and in the next generation they, too, seek independence under much more harsh conditions. (Underwater dome cities are obviously very sensitive to depth bombs.) See [2]
For his part, Jerry Pournelle turned the theme upside down. In his story "Tinker", published in High Justice, a consortium of multinational companies crushes the independence struggle of colonists on the asteroid Jefferson (a name with obvious historical connotations) and their struggle is presented as "outdated, hopeless nationalism". And in Falkenberg's Legions, extra-terrestrial independence struggle end with civil war, bloodshed and the establishment of strongman rule.
