Let me preface this by saying I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST AMERICA NOR THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. It was great. I am grateful. Don't trip on me please.
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The American Revolution was birthed from whiny spoiled children. For years, colonists were basically granted autonomy as the British government was a little preoccupied with more relevant matters--war, internal conflict, and the West Indian colonies. In the 17th and 18th centuries, colonists enjoyed an almost self-governing nation, complete with social classes with fewer differences, "equal" status before the law, less poverty, and economic opportunity, whilst also reaping the benefits of being associated with the mother land: protection, market access, and the identity as "Englishmen." But then, Britain, who managed to clear up their to-do list, finally give their American colonies some attention. They finally realize "Oh, heck, maybe we should actually like rule this area since, ya know, they are still our colonies (as they have been this entire time) and are still taking advantage of the benefits we're giving." But the American colonies had become so accustomed to the taketaketake without any real intervention from their rulers, so, obviously, they're gonna get pissed off when all of a sudden, these guys come in and want to be actual rulers. But it seemed that they forgot that this entire time they were technically under the rule of the British.
The American colonies could be compared to young'uns with overly lenient parents. They are given a nice little toy and a cool little play area and are told, "Ok, have fun," and then neglected and ignored to the point where they manage to forget who their parents are, who the people who gave them the accessibility to become are. And then all of a sudden, momma and poppa waltz in and say, "Baby, you gotta eat your vegetables." Then baby, who was very much enjoying their freedom, whines and cries. The biggest difference between Americans and the baby in this analogy is that the Americans could actually win.
And I totally understand that one of the huge grievances of the colonists was that they had no representation in British Parliament ("NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION") and that is a valid thing to be ticked about. However, WHERE in that era do you see colonies getting representation or any say in what the mother country does to them? Not to mention these taxes were passed because the British got into huge debts to pay off the war that brought gains to the American colonists.
