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The French and Indian War (1754-1763) served as a catalyst between Britain and its

American colonies, greatly affecting the political, economic, and ideological relations between

the two and cultivating thoughts that launched the Revolutionary War. The French and Indian

War, which branched off into Europe as a conflict known as the Seven Years War, was fought in

the colonies between the forces of the French, who had combined with the Native Americans,

and the British. While abroad, British forces combined with Prussia to fight against France,

Spain, Austria, and Russia. In the end, because so much of the French military was expended in

Europe, the British colonists and the British were able to triumph in America (116-117).

After the war ended, the French were removed from the colonies and the British and the

Spanish divided the spoils as seen in Document A. However, this division, while appearing to be

a great gain for the colonists in North America, was hampered by the protestation of the Native

Americans (Doc B) who wished to keep their land from being settled by the colonists who

spoiled the hunting grounds of the Native Americans. As a result, the British government issued

the Proclamation of 1763 which prohibited the settling of land beyond the Appalachians to help

relations with the Natives. This angered the colonists who did not understand why a monarchy

across the ocean should have the ability to restrict their movements to land that they had spilt

blood to gain (123-124).

In addition to the restriction placed upon the expansion of the colonies, the British

government began placing many more restrictions on the colonists from taxes to help offset costs

of the war to sanctions placed on a people who were beginning to rebel. Starting with the Sugar

Act, the British government began finding ways to balance their own budget. The most hated

measure of all of these new taxes was probably the Stamp Act – created in 1765 – which

required a stamp to be placed upon paper products to guarantee that a product had a tax paid on it.

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The tax angered many Americans as it was another example of a distant monarchy enforcing

laws on its previously unattended offspring nation (129). The Stamp Act created a public uproar

over the injustice of it and many people began voicing their opinions as seen in the Pennsylvania

Journal Header which expresses the trouble created by the Stamp Act and the desire for liberty

from this oppression (Doc H). The colonists eventually sent Benjamin Franklin, a skilled

diplomat to try to repair relations with Britain by convincing Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act.

He kept up correspondence with other colonists throughout the proceeding, and mentioned that

the repealing of the act was not guaranteed (Doc G).

Further Acts were enacted in response to various protestations in America including the

Intolerable Acts which, among many other acts, retracted many rights of the colony of

Massachusetts (136). These acts led to the formation of the First Continental Congress in 1774

which served as the start of republicanism in America and marked a huge step towards

revolution (137). Thus the French and Indian war, in a drawn out process, brought about the

political climate for the American Revolution.

Economically, relations between Britain and the colonies were not healthy. As previously

mentioned, after the war, the British began to tax the colonists more since “[the revenue] is not

yet sufficient to defray a fourth part of the expense necessary for collecting it” (Doc F). However,

the colonies had other economic difficulties that made the taxation that much more crippling.

Since the British authorities embraced mercantilism – measuring a country’s power based upon

its wealth – it made the colonies a valuable tool as a provider of raw goods and consumers. The

colonies, which had no manufacturing capabilities of their own, were subjected to the prices of

the English producers in order to get the goods they required. Since the colonists did not sell as

much as they bought, there was a currency shortage which forced the Americans to print

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worthless money which became inflated and only worsened the problem (127-128). This dire

economic situation was complicated by the increase in taxes caused by the French and Indian

war leading to revolts which encouraged the revolutionary spirit.

Post-French and Indian War, the American spirit was briefly at an all time high since it

was unified and believed it was able to fight its own battles. At the beginning of the war, most

Americans felt less than the great British troops whom they believed they could learn much from.

Washington writes in a letter during the war that he could learn much from the better

experienced British General Braddock (Doc C). Later in the war though, the colonists began to

feel disillusioned about the British who continued to treat the American colonists as subservient.

In a soldier’s diary from 1759, he writes of how the British deny the colonists who are

Englishmen of “Englishmen’s liberty” and “are but little better than slaves to their officers” (Doc

D). Outside of the army, the colonists felt extremely angered by the British attempts at

controlling them. Some citizens felt that they would be best off so long as they had their “patriot-

Sovereigns” (Doc E). This changing attitude of the colonists allowing them to realize their worth

as individuals and as a united colony was a key building block in the republican ideal which

eventually developed, spurring on the Revolutionary War.

Though the French lost their claims in North America after the French and Indian War,

the British lost their colonists to the desire to be their own nation because of the combination of

factors resulting from the repercussions of the war. From the new ideals of individualism and

want of freedom to the economic burden placed on the colonists because of the combination of

mercantilism and new taxes to the political need to be heard, the relations between Britain and its

colonies changed drastically to the ones culminating in the war for an independent republic.

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