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The revolt of the British colonies in America was a culmination of numerous factors. The factors in aggregate caused the colonialists to outgrow their dependence on the mother country and chafe at the restrictions, taxes, and military repression. Great Britain was unable to cope with the expenses of its new-found preeminent role in North America without seeking a means to make the colonies pay their way and behave like loyal British subjects.

British leaders like King George III and Lord North succeeded in hardening British attitudes towards the upstart colonists. Ministers like Grenville and Townshend were charged with making the colonies pay their way and consequently were instrumental in imposing laws and taxes that inflamed colonial resentments and united them in their resentment of British.
Factors, leading to Independence were:

(1) Mercantilism The belief that the colonies existed solely for the benefit of the mother country and the resultant policies of trade and economic restrictions on the colonialists were a major cause of revolt.

(2) Salutary Neglect Before the French and Indian War, the mother country basically allowed the colonies to function on their own. When the colonies became more expensive to administer and protect, Britain had to enforce the rules and tighten the reins.

(3) The French and Indian Wars The vanquishing of the French suddenly expanded the area where the British had to protect and control. This increased costs. Also, colonists fought in the war, won territory for Britain, only to see hard won territory dealt away in treaties negotiated far away.
(4) The Proclamation Line of 1763 To keep the peace with Native Americans, Britain closed the West to the colonials.

(5) Restrictive and repressive "Acts," A series of controlling, and sometimes punitive, laws passed by Parliament.

(6) British military crackdown on local revolts galvanized colonials across colony lines.

(7) Lack of understanding on each side. Colonists had grown apart from the mother country both socially and politically.

(8) The Declaration of Independence successfully articulated the colonies' grievances.

(9) The "Ideas of Enlightenment" from such radical thinkers as John Locke and Jean Rousseau whose writings found fertile ground among the colonists, who questioned the divine right of kings and believed in the natural rights of man.

In summary, a group of Americans ranging from the radical and populist Sam Adams to the patrician and diffident Thomas Jefferson were able to unite under a common cause. Their grievances against a repressive system that they felt they had outgrown and was no longer pertinent to the way they wanted their country to develop were to manifest themselves into a six-year struggle that resulted in the end of British hegemony on the American mainland south of Canada.

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