Any other Americans think that there would have been benefits to NOT becoming independent in 1776?

13 American colonies defeated the Brits. America developed into the most powerful/influential country in the world. These are facts ... your opinion means nothing to me.

Yes

but

one wonders if the benefits of such a situation

would outweigh the benefits of a very successful democracy.

Would the British Empire still exist?

Would the British monarchs continued to have made strong military effort to prevent secession from the Empire?

Would there have been any successful democratic revolution in European nations? Or would Britain have allied with any threatened monarchy and helped to quash such revolutions, as it did against Napolean (one of whose well-publicized goals was to oust the existing royal families from power and replace them with more capable rulers).

I imagine

- no U.S.A.

- no independent, democratic Canada

- France continuing as it did throughout most of the 1800s, very unstable politically, with long periods of monarchy (mostly very short-lived monarchs) interspersed with brief periods of unsuccessful democracy

- the UK continuing to expand it's influence both in and out of Europe through wars, marriages and colonization

- Hitler probably never gaining power, since the result of WWI would have been to replace Kaiser Wilhelm with a different monarch, and establishing a Victorian-like constitutional monarchy in Germany / Prussia

- Communist Russia therefore never having the opportunity to expand its influence into the Eastern Bloc, and wouldn't dare attempt such a move against British-allied nations such as China

etc.

The UK worked things out with Canada due to the American Revolution. The UK didn't want Canada to revolt too. If the UK gave the American colonies the same deal they gave Canada there wouldn't have been an American Revolution. And I don't believe history would have played out like you imagine if the colonies didn't become independent.

I disagree that slavery would have ended earlier. Suppose Britain had given the American colonies representation in Parliament. That means Parliament would have been packed with redneck Southern slaveowners demanding that slavery be extended forever.

About 25% of Americans then were "Loyalists," many of whom ended up moving to Canada.  As you have noted, things worked out well with Canada, and the UK.

The United States is the wealthiest, most powerful, most influential country that has ever existed. Canada and Australia and New Zealand never had the massive potential the USA did. The United States occupies the choicest piece of territory on the surface of this planet. The United States was destined for greatness. Americans would not have been content to play second fiddle to Britain. If London had been making the decisions for everyone, it's unlikely that the United States would have managed to become so incredibly innovative, which would have been bad for humanity. Look at Britain today - Britons produce practically nothing. The world needs America. The country has such an impact on the world that Americans have appropriated the term for a geographical area as short form for their nation and everyone uses it. That's power. Nobody wants to live in a world where the dominant cultural force is Soviet or Chinese communism or fanatical Islam. Americans preserve the white, Judeo-Christian, democratic values we cherish. The British are weak - far, far too weak to be entrusted with standing at the forefront of humanity. It's 2021, not 1821. The British don't have what it takes to be a superpower in the modern era. Canadians don't have a destiny. They're content to be a third tier nation that doesn't factor into geopolitics at all. Canada didn't even become a real sovereign nation until about 40 years ago. The population is incredibly small, the population density is tiny, and the workforce and military are completely insignificant by world standards. Australia is an Asian country populated by people who can't wrap their heads around the idea that they are not some Britain of the Southern Hemisphere, and New Zealand is a place where 20% of the population has left, leaving approximately half the population of London spread out over an area larger than the UK where sheep outnumber humans about 3 to 1. We're talking about inconsequential people living in inconsequential countries. If anything, the United States should have toppled Britain and absorbed the empire itself. Washington, D.C. would do a far better job of overseeing the Anglosphere than London has done. The Americans won their war, and bloodied Britain's nose in 1812 to remain independent, paving the way for them to surpass Britain. There was nothing to "work out." Every day the people of Britain and the Commonwealth become more and more American. It's not easy being top dog because you've got to contend with the spite and envy of the rest, but America manages to do a fine job. It'll be many, many years before somebody comes along who's a serious contender to try and take America's place at the top. And the citizens of Britain and the Commonwealth will undoubtedly rally to the Americans' aid to defend America's place and to keep white, Christian, English speaking culture where it belongs - at the very head of the table. For all her faults, we need America and everyone knows it. 🇺🇸