Trace the Development of the Anglo-American Conflict. Could the Relationship Have Been Saved?

Conflict arose between Great Britain and her colonies, and it put America on the path to independence. The turning point for their relationship was the French and Indian War because it allowed for both sides to see the flaws in one another. The colonists did not like Great Britain’s controlling nature while the British felt like they needed more control. Differences of ideas and unforeseen circumstances helped shape the American Revolution where the colonies separated from the British empire, and they do this for many reasons. Although the colonists had valid means to revolt against Great Britain, the actions taken were not justifiable.

“Despite the view of some historians that the conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen North American colonies was economic in origin, in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American life.” Great Britain and the American colonies had a relationship impacted with many hardships. I believe that there was a political struggle between the two groups, but that Great Britain and the American colonies used economics as a chance to show how much control they had. Multiple Acts written by Parliament, the colonies' Committees of Correspondence and Continental Congress created political friction between Great Britain and the American colonies.

     In order to understand how the relationship between Britain and the American Colonies became so strained, we must first examine the nature of Britain’s imperial authority. Economic relations between the two entities were

In contrast to Britain, the colonists believed in direct representation which is representation in government by having someone from a certain region represent that area. British government or Parliament believed in virtual representation

Virtual Representation has been a topic of the colonial era for a great time. During this time the British gave the colonists’ no actual representation in parliament but claimed that they were “virtually

Britain’s tactics to control the Americas had been causing various troubles and irritations to the colonists. The colonists had to deal with taxation without representation, also known as virtual representation such as the Stamp Act or Tea Act and also other unpleasant laws passed by the British such as the Quartering Acts. A significant event that is notable for altering the political, economic and ideological relations between the colonies and Britain is the French and Indian War. This was fundamentally the cause of the American Revolution. The relationship between the colonists and the British was already weak but after this war the ties became even weaker than imaginable.

The American colonist and the British started out having a very civil relationship. They provided each other with resources. During the French and Indian war the colonists were on the British side and helped them fight. Unfortunately, after the war the British started to change their ways and started to come up with new stricter rules. The British started to tax the colonist on different kinds of items, which was not fair to the colonists. They were controlling the colonist with everything they did. The colonists wanted them to back off a little but the British weren't budging. They thought they could tell the colonists what to do but the colonists were not going to be treated that way, so they took matters in their own hands. The colonists

War between britain and the american colonies couldn't have been avoided if the colonists had representation in parliament. We start with the French and Indian war, an inevitable war between French and British colonists. The war was inevitable because when a country colonizes a free open world ( except for the Native Americans ) there will be nations ready to colonize as well, this leads to land grabs and fighting. Ending in 1763 after a seven year contention, the British colonists end up losing the land they fought for, the appalachian mountains due to the "Treaty of Paris" which gave the natives their land back. The colonists were furious, what made things worse is when Great Britain raised taxes on the colonizes because the French and Indian

The period between 1763 and 1776 was a time where many areas of disagreement developed between the colonists and the British policy makers. The major areas of disagreement were caused by the British rules imposed on the colonies that prevented expansion, imposed taxation and limited colonial liberty. The first dispute was right after the Seven Years War (1756-1763) with the Proclamation of 1763. According to ushistory.org, the colonists, after the war, felt entitled and excited to begin settling westward, but the Proclamation prohibited such expansion. The war also put a large debt burden on Britain and in attempts to alleviate the debt they imposed many different taxes upon the colonists. The colonists did not believe they should be required

Comment Powered by Hannah Johns The Stamp Act required that British Colonists pay a tax in the form of a stamp on all printed materials such as; land titles, licenses, playing cards, court documents, newspapers and more. It was the idea of George Grenville in an attempt to raise a revenue from the colonies and it became an incredibly hated tax by the colonists; one in which they would protest in extreme measures such as, tarring and feathering tax collectors, forming mobs and rioting in the streets. Acts such as the Currency Act and Sugar Act were passed by parliament at the request of Grenville and were met with some resistance but not measured by the same degree as the Stamp Act. (power point 4) (pg. 207) In

As represented in John Jay’s instructions to the US minister to Great Britain, the nation struggled to expel British forces from various forts across American territory (doc D). This was due to the fact that the US could not meet the British demands of recompensing the Loyalists for their losses during the war. Also, the Spanish posed two obstacles that divided the nation: “the navigation of the Mississippi and the territorial limits between them and us” (doc F). The Spanish not only tried to prevent Americans from expanding past the Mississippi River, but also refused them access to the river for trade. Thus, border disputes broke out, and the United States was essentially helpless because of its complications with its own military (doc

Economically, politically and ideologically, the French and Indian War caused tension between the American colonies due to Britain placing laws and taxes into effect that the colonists did not prefer. Because of this, the colonists began to resent Britain, rather than cooperating with them.

England wanted to control its Colonies the way they should have originally, but due to their early Salutary Neglect the Colonists became accustomed to certain freedoms and rights that they weren’t suppose to have and the colonists believed in them strongly. The British’s debt turned political decisions into economical decisions, such as after the war when the colonists wanted to move westward to the land that they fought for and felt were entitled to, but were denied passage (Document A). This was not to limit the colonies, but to maintain peace between the colonies and the Indians, which was the cheapest

The relations between England and the British North American colonies could always be considered precarious. Prior to 1750 British essentially followed a policy of benign neglect and political autonomy in the American colonies. (Davidson p.97) The colonies were for the most part content with benign neglect policy, relishing in a “greater equality and representative government”(Davidson p.95) within the colonies. Competition among European Imperial nations began to effect British policy toward North America colonies causing rapid shifts from 1750 to 1776. During this period, the British Empire made a series of policy decision that sealed the fate of the British North American

Changes in British policies toward the colonies between 1750 and 1776 played paramount in the evolution of relations between British North America and Mother England. Tension between England and the colonies mounted from the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War to the signing of the Declaration of Independence as a result of the several implemented changes imposed by Parliament for the purpose of increasing income and tightening the grip on America.