preview

British Colonialism

Decent Essays

The English colonists were under British rule while in North America before the mid to late 18th century. They were under such rule considered salutary neglect. This meaning British rule was not very strict when it came to enforcing their parliamentary laws, which were supposed to keep American colonies compliant with England. This lead to colonists autonomy developing, what they thought as the same power, their own legislation. They believed they possessed the same rights as any Englishman. In the 18th century colonists challenged the authority of the parliament with an intellectual and a religious movement. The Enlightenment was a time of rejection to “received” knowledge, filled with thinkers and searches for laws of nature. The Great Awakening in the 1730’s was a wave of religious revivals sweeping through the colonies, exploring emotional connections to God and reasoning behind the church’s rule, impacting religious institutions. Americans seemed to enjoy many freedoms unlike the world around them. They had little sense of unity though and depended on the British military for protection. Tensions between the French and British grew with their increasing conflict over Indian alliances. In 1754 the British were threatened by their French and Indian allies, and responded with the Plan of Albany of which no colonial assemblies approved. Subsequently in 1763, according to the Americans, the French and Indian war began, and the British called it the Seven Years War. This war

Get Access