Friday, August 14, 2015

How did the French and Indian War change British relations with the colonists?

The French and Indian War strongly changed the relationship between Parliament and the American colonists. When colonists tried to unite during the war through the Albany Plan in order to better serve the British war effort, Parliament quickly turned them down. This made the colonists aware that Britain would rather have them isolated. British officials got to see how colonists flouted navigation acts and taxation laws, and after the war Parliament moved to end the policies of salutary neglect by making the colonists take on a higher tax burden, in order to pay what was perceived to be Britain's fair share for protecting the Empire.
This relationship was at the heart of the American Revolution; Parliament thought that it was asking for fair taxation while the colonists wanted self-rule and self-representation in financial matters. Finally, after the war, Britain rewarded the Native Americans who fought with the British army by issuing a Proclamation Line, making it illegal for colonists to settle west of the Appalachians. Another reason for this was to keep the colonists from stirring up trouble with the Indians and then drawing Britain into yet another war on the continent. The colonists, some of whom made money in land speculation, thought that Britain was trying to stop colonial growth and keep the colonists next to the coast in order to make them easier to tax. This would be another contentious issue between the colonists and Parliament.

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