Many things happened between the colonists and Great Britain that made the colonists want to declare independence from them, one of the main occurrences being, "taxation without representation."
At first, the colonists most definitely were proud British subjects, but overtime Great Britain started to treat them unfairly. Great Britain started passing tax laws onto the colonists, which meant items had a tax on them. Items like tea, paper, coffee, and a ton of other things now had a tax. Different tax laws were being put on the colonists and they felt like it was unfair, as they had nobody in the British Parliament to vouch for them. This is known as "taxation without representation." Great Britain tried to defend themselves and say that they were using the tax money to pay for the French and Indian War, and they had British soldiers protecting the colonists, so they should stop complaining about being taxed.
Eventually, the colonists ended up boycotting many of the products Great Britain had put a tax on. Products were being burned in the streets and often times the British merchants that were selling the products were getting harmed. All of this caused Great Britain to call back the taxes, as they were losing money and people were getting hurt.
This is known to be the biggest reason that the colonists wanted independence from Great Britain. Other things too, like the colonists being forced to board British soldiers, caused them to want to break away as well.
