Were the American colonies ripe for revolution prior to 1776?

The colonies were ripe for revolution prior to 1776 for several reasons. During the French and Indian (or Seven Years' War), which ended in 1763, the British crown had spent a great deal of money. To recoup this money, the crown began to enforce the Navigation Laws, which stipulated that the colonies could only buy finished goods from Great Britain and that the colonies could only produce raw materials for Britain. This new enforcement of the Navigation Laws came after a long period of time of so-called "salutary neglect," during which the crown had not enforced these laws and colonial trade and manufacturing had grown. Therefore, laws such as the Stamp Act of 1765 came as a shock to the colonies, as did later laws that regulated colonial trade. Colonial merchants regarded these laws as cutting into their profits. These laws became even more restrictive after the Boston Tea Party of 1773 when the British closed the port of Boston after colonists dumped English tea into the harbor.
In addition, following the French and Indian War, the British crown regulated colonial movement westward by imposing the Proclamation Line of 1763. This proclamation restricted settlers from moving westward beyond the Appalachians into the land acquired from the French after the war. The colonists regarded this act as constraining their ability to move westward in search of new opportunities.
During the period before the French and Indian War, American colonial legislatures had grown in power, and colonists had experienced a great deal of political freedom. Many colonists developed, following the Enlightenment philosophy of the social contract (a contract by which the governed allow rulers to rule in return for respecting their rights), the belief that they should not be taxed without representation. While the British crown stated that the colonists were represented in Parliament, many colonists felt that there should be a more direct form of representation. All of these factors made the colonies ripe for revolution even before 1776.