In one of the most famous quotes ever written about the american revolution, John Adams wrote, "Thirteen clocks were made to strike together - a perfection of mechanism, which no artist had ever before effected." His metaphor reflects the technological reality that in his time, when clocks were made largely by hand, they never struck at exactly the same time. So how did 13 disparate colonies that failed all attempts at collective action before 1763 manage to unite and declare their independence by 1776?