"Many in Britain thought the colonies were "of little importance and certainly not worth the waste of young men's lives or large amounts of money," and the British army fought a devastating enemy that could wage "a continual guerilla war of attrition." He examines various important battles, as well as blunders and unconscionable acts on both sides. Ultimately, Harvey proposes that the Americans were more concerned about the British blocking their westward expansion than about taxation without representation."
[From Fox's link].

This interesting- were the Brits worried that colony was going to be a constant source of war for the French and Brits?
As it turned out Jefferson solved that problem very easily- but it's doubtful that England could have bought that terrority to expand their colony. The French were simply getting rid of a potential long term problem by getting a short gain [money].
Of course the whole idea of colonies anywhere was doomed from the beginning. Though like the occupation of Iraq, it works in the short term- America greatly benefited from the Brit having it as a colony- and of course the Brits benefited from this. Now with Iraq there was a greater need end the occupation and transfer Sovereignty as soon as possible, but with the British colonies in America there was the same neccessity, but decades instead of years. With space colonies it will probably be a decade or two.