French And Indian War

The French and Indian War set the stage for future events that no one could ever have imagined. The economic practice of mercantilism, which insured profit only to the mother country was the accepted practice between England and her colonies. As long as these economic policies were met, England left much of the day to day governing of the colonies up to the colonies. It was this "salutory neglect" that ultimately led to the ideological differences between England and the colonies. England won the war, but it paid a great price for that victory. England was bankrupted, and as a result had no choice but to look to her colonies to regain financial stability. The pressures of taxation and naval restrictions imposed by the crown and Parliament, were viewed by the colonists as tyrannical acts. Although the colonies were on a path to becoming "Americanized" they held the lessons of Magna Carta, the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 close to their heart. In their eyes, "Englishmen had rights" under the laws of the mother country. It was only when these laws were usurpted by the crown that the colonies had no choice but to protest their discontent. The political authority that England executed over the colonies after so many years of neglect led to the ideological differences that would ultimately result in the American Revolution.

The British citizens were being heavily taxed and the French and Indian War had taxed the British heavily. They thought that it was only right that the colonists whom they had spent so much money protecting, and who were taxed lightly in comparison with the other British citizens, to help pay. Note please that prior to this the British had allowed the colonists to tax themselves and did not impose revenue raising...

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...ent was a fight between three nations, and until the late 18th century it was not at all certain which one would win. The Indians, especially the Five nations of the Iroquois, were exceptionally good at playing the French and the English against each other in order to maximize their own benefits. The French and Indian War was a guerrilla war of small skirmishes and surprise attacks. The terrain was unfamiliar to both the French and the English; the involvement of the Indian nations as allies in battle made an enormous difference. In fact, some historians have hypothesized that the turning point in the war came when many of the Indian nations changed their war policies and turned their backs on the French. Faced with the greater resources of the British and lacking the advantage of their Indian allies, the French were left with little hope, and soon lost the continent.