There was definitely attempts by the colonies to resolve the issues they had with the British Empire. Essentially each time they requested a change in legislation they would be told they have no place in Parliament and they had no way to get the representation they needed to address their concerns. When more drastic actions were taken they were met with steadfast responses that only enticed the political tension between the Empire and its colonies.

This is a pretty large topic that involves many things to take into consideration but I'll try to give a quick run down as there is no comment yet.

The Townshend Acts were enacted as a system in which Britain would gain revenue for soldiers and officials in the colonies to help establish more concise and immediate rule. It was put into place after the repeal of the Stamp Act of 1765 which alongside other taxes of the time brought the idea of no taxation without representation in Declaration of Rights and Grievances by moderates led by John Dickinson. To which Parliament responded that the colonies had virtual representation. The Townshend acts lead to the writing of ‘Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania’ also by John Dickinson which addressed these acts. He sent his essays to James Otis and the Massachusetts House of representatives who then sent a petition to the king for repeal. During this time Mass. also sent a letter to the other colonies rousing support from them to support their grievances against the crown. This in turn lead to Britain placing soldiers in Boston to quell any unrest, which of course escalated to what is know as the Boston Massacre.

By 1772 the colonies set up a ‘Committee of Correspondence’ which was the precursor to the rebel government. This allowed all 13 colonies to unite in their grievances against the crown. In 1773 the Tea act was passed and the taxes from selling it to colonists would have essentially agreed to Parliament’s right of taxation. This of course upset many Bostonians and they dumped the tea, the event known as Boston Tea Party. This then lead to the Intolerable Acts of 1774 that was enacted to punish Massachusetts. These acts took away Mass’ right to self-government and triggered harsh outrage among the colonies as they saw it was a violation of their rights both constitutional and natural.

Thomas Jefferson wrote ‘A Summary view of the rights of British America’ and in it called for “redress of their injured rights, to none of which was ever even an answer condescended”. Jefferson “reminds” the king of their ancestors and how they came to be Britain by their Saxon ancestors and that the colonization of America is equally the same. The colonials put their own blood and money into their settlements and not at the expense of the British public. By doing so the colonies belonged to the pilgrims, and that though they called on the Empire for help during this time, they too called on other nations who do not impose such rule over them. That not only have these “acts of tyranny” been committed but they have been committed in response to the pleas of the colonies, which is an insult to injury. Designed to usurp the power of the colonies and inter-meddle with their self-regulation.

Some more deep reading if you are interested. Each of these documents give an idea of how the colonies tried to resolve their issues with Britain. Of course it is from their perspective so could be drastically different from how Britain saw the colonies at the time.

http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/sumview.cfm

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Causes_and_Necessity_of_Taking_Up_Arms