What was a crucial advantage that the english colonies had over other european colonists?

The correct answer is self-governance. Other countries had colonies that were directly responsible to the king while the local colonies had a degree of self governance and could sometimes choose not to do things that were asked for by the king. They could also protest and ask the parliament to change things.

They were constantly being overlooked as a people and were being controlled by people who weren't really native to their homeland.