And, which was largely fought (and won) in a way that dramatically benefitted the colonists.

Ever wonder why there are so many places with French names just slightly inland from the original 13 US colonies have French names?

• Bayou La Batre, Decatur, Lapine, Leroi, Mon Louis, Dauphin Island, etc. Alabama
• Louisville, Paris, Versailles, Montpelier, etc. in Kentucky
• Leroy, Napoleon, Montpelier, Saint Croix, etc. in Indiana
• Bellaire, Bellefontaine, Louisville, Marietta, etc. in Ohio
• Dubois, Duquesne, Labelle, Fort le Boeuf, Eau Claire, etc. in Pennsylvania
• The name "Michigan" itself (originally Ojibwe, but interpreted into French), and a whole lot of parts of that state, including Detroit
• Ozark (aux arcs), Benoit, Bellefontaine, D'Iberville etc. in Mississippi

New France went from the Gulf of Mexico north, included all the Great Lakes, and kept going up to Hudson's Bay. American settlers couldn't go west without entering New France, so England fought a war to allow the expansion west. It won that war. The resulting treaty gave the British colonists in the Americas a huge amount of territory they could expand into, leaving only a small amount behind for France and its native allies.

The British colonists in the Americas were asked to help pay for the war that gave them that opportunity to expand west, and they rebelled. And then, after the rebellion, they decided they didn't need to abide by the terms of the British treaty with the French and took over most of the remaining land that France had been left after that war.

Didn't the boston tea party start because they lowered the price of legally imported (and thus taxed) tea, undermining smugglers?

"No taxation without representation". If the colonies got representatives in Parliament, that flag would look mighty different.

It was also 1/10th what the British citizens were paying at the time.

The checks were unfair because they went to the crown rather than back to the American people who are paying them in the first place