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i think compared to the Monarchy that they were opposed to tho they had populist tendencies. Perhaps the better word would have been Grassroots.



Again, not so much. By and large, the Patriot leadership were the wealthier classes: Landowners, merchants, lawyers, members of the Colonial legislatures (and those enfranchised to vote for said legislatures -- a decided minority in those days.) They were highly aggrieved at numerous actions taken by the British Parliament and successive ministries that hit them squarely in the pocket (the famous "No Taxation without Representation;" the Proclamation of 1763, which hit Washington especially hard, forbidding settlement past the Appalachians, etc.)

It wasn't the King they were rebelling against but the Parliament and Lord North's ministry. Many in the first year of the war hoped that George III would intervene on their behalf. It was only after the King refused to received the so-called "Olive Branch Petition" and issued the Proclamation of Rebellion that talk of Independence began in earnest.