I’m aware one of the main points of contention that caused the American revolution was the idea that taxation without representation was unjust, but why did the British prefer to fight wars than have its colonies represented in parliament?
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Your question is essentially about how the American Revolution started, and the most accurate answer is that there were multiple reasons – sometimes even contradictory ones. Some supporters thought it would lead to a more rapid end to slavery, while some slave holding plantation owners thought they might escape debts owed to British financiers. Some people believed that the colonies were ‘ripe fruit of the glorious British empire ‘ ready to become full fledged nations of their own. Some people wanted to press west into territory owned by native tribes but were held back by the British after the French and Indian War. And yeah, taxes were a reason too.
The whole thing got built up without anyone really planning on it. The founding fathers were mostly young hot heads who advocated autonomy within the Empire. They had their little tea party, and Benjamin Franklin went to London to try and settle things down; something he had done previously. He was an older Gentleman by then who was respected on both sides of the Atlantic. Parliament made him stand at attention for hours while they hurled abuse at him. They refused to allow him to speak before dismissing him. It’s claimed that as he left Westminster that day with his mind made up.
Once old Ben got back to the Colonies he informed the young hot heads (who he had previously told to settle down) that they had the wrong idea. The only thing that would do was full Independence. Given his status as the closest thing the Colonies had to an Elder Statesman, when he switched from advocating peace and accommodation to open revolt it caused lot of the moderate groups within the Colonies to go along with what now became a revolution.
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