french-indian war Essay

Submitted By taymarleo
Words: 726
Pages: 3

French-Indian War DBQ

The French and Indian War of 1754-1763 drastically influenced the political, economic, idealogical bond between Britain and its American colonies by shifting Britain to the most dominant power in the North America’s and setting an astounding war debt on the colonists shoulders, ultimately leading to a unmendable tear in the British-Colonial relations. The Mother Country’s practice of salutary neglect was completely altered due to the aftermath of the French and Indian War. The course of the war allowed for an imposition of restrictions on the colonists, leaving them bereft of liberty and primed for an eventual uprising.
The Seven Year War sparked in 1754 when the French and the British began disputing over the alluring agricultural and trading attractions found between the Ohio River Valley and the Appalachians, which at the time belonged to the Native Americans. This dispute led to an armed conflict, then eventually to an all-out war over dominance of the New World. By the time the 7-year war span had come to an end, the English colonies had seized the French land, dominating North America. The Native Americans felt the growing population of colonists interfered with their hunting grounds pleading, “they had no right to settle”. (Doc B) Britain intervened by establishing the Proclamation of 1963, stating that the colonists were restricted from expanding past the Appellations, as a way of preventing further conflict. Unfortunately, the Proclamation had the opposite effect. The American colonists were looking for freedom, not more rules and regulations. Even more petulance arose within the colonists as they became increasingly suffocated by Britain’s rule.
As a result of the French and Indian War, Britain was left in a great debt and a lack of resources, leaving the colonists as their only scapegoat. Britain began to strictly regulate the trade between them and the colonies stating, “their vast increase in territory and population makes the proper regulation of their trade of immediate necessity”. (Doc F) Britain began placing outrageously high taxes on the commonly used items, such as the Sugar Act, as they desperately struggled to pay off their debt. Naturally, the colonists were enraged as they felt they were not only unfairly taxed but also deprived of their right to be free. The taxations and regulations further added to the resentment the colonists already felt towards England. Before the French and Indian War, the Iron, Wool, and Hat Acts forbid the colonists from exporting those materials and forced them to instead ship their raw materials to Britain and buy the finished products from them later. When the Navigation Acts were also enforced, the colonists were pushed over the edge. With all the new British taxation’s, the colonists began smuggling and boycotting. The colonists became increasingly infuriated after the Stamp Act of 1765 was imposed so as a way to get