Because the northwest passage represents centuries of effort to find a route westward from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to the Arctic Archipelago of what is now Canada. Europeans searched for 300 years to find a viable SEA TRADE-ROUTE to Asia. If they were to find it, it would have been easier to travel through seas, and land in the past.
They were constantly having troubles with the natives that had inhabited the area beforehand (wars). This prevented them from permanently settling somewhere.
The patriots advantages included fighting on their home ground; fighting for the freedom of their own land, which gave them an advantage over the hired Hessians of the British army; and their brilliant leader George Washington.
