What Problems Did Great Britain Face After The Seven Years War

Stephan contemplated before he sat down, pulling the chair out slowly, dreading the family's nightly dinner conversation, what Great Britain was doing wrong. First they moved away to the new land, then Britain gave them grief. The proclamation of 1763, when King George told the colonists not to move westward, and the Indians not to move east, there was almost a hand drawn line. The colonists were not very happy, next year, came the sugar act in 1764. The taxes were high on cloth, sugar, coffee, and wine for the colonists, and the naval officers searched ships carefully to stop smuggling. The colonists were, again, not happy. Now, a year later, was another act, the stamp act, and I bet you can guess, the colonists were not very happy.

The Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian war, was a conflict fought between 1765 and 1763. It was between Great Britain and France. “ In the early 1750’s, French expansion into the Ohio River Valley brought France into armed conflict with the British colonies.” The signing of the Treaty of Paris and Hubertusburg ensured that the “colonial and maritime supremacy of Britain strengthened the 13 colonies.” This war, to a great extent, marked a turning point in the relationship between the colonies and Britain due to taxes, and land.

“The spread of Enlightenment ideals was the primary cause of the first Great Awakening and it further intensified conflicts between eighteenth-century colonial citizens” (Davidson, J., 2006). The conflict between superpowers for control of the continent began the Seven Years’ War. Some put the beginning of the Seven Years’ War in 1754, but it actually occurred from 1756 to 1763. “In the Seven Years’ War, France and Great Britain struggled to control eastern North America” (Davidson, J., 2006) The area between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian mountain range was contested as both nations claimed it. When the British won the Seven Years’ War, their colonial holdings doubled in size and they gained control of North America. “Conflicts over trading rights and the control of the Ohio country was the primary cause of the French and Indian War” (Davidson, J., 2006). British control of North American and the Seven Years’ War led to many problems as the British struggled to maintain their supremacy. The French came out behind in each of these struggles. They lost their position as highest colonial power for the next generation – their position would not be restored until the French Revolution of the 1790’s.

The British had sent more than 10,000 troops to North America by the end of the French and Indian War. The British felt like they had spent a great deal of money in protecting the American colonists. They were in debt around 140 million pounds. To pay off all of their debt the British decided to increase the enforcement of existing taxes on the Colonists and impose additional taxes. The British issued The Proclamation of 1763 which meant the colonists couldn’t cheat the Indians out of land. They also establish a border in where they could not buy land. This made the colonist mad because it made them feel like the British were interfering and trying to limit their economic growth.

     The Seven Years War proved to be a crossroads in the history of British colonial rule in America. Britain was victorious, but after defeating her French foes (along with their Indian allies), Britain was left to contemplate the ramifications of a war that would leave her relationship with her American colonies altered forever. This change would eventually lead to conflict between the colonies and Britain, and ultimately the Declaration of American Independence.

There were many events that led up to the American Revolution. After the British defeated France and the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763, Parliament began enforcing colonists to help pay for debts that were accrued during the war. George Grenville, Britain’s chief minister, constructed laws such as the Stamp Act, Sugar Act and Quartering Act. These new policies that set in place tariffs on imports, exports, and regulations on trade, infuriated colonists (Tindall & Shi, pg. 121). Colonist did not want to allow such imposed taxes because the people themselves were not represented as equal British subjects. “The issue of taxation became a question of the colonist’ place in the imperial system” (Calloway, pg. 14). Also, after the British victory in the Seven Year war settlers were eager to expand west. British government wanted the colonist to stay east where trade was a major profit, and to navigate to the north or south. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 establishes the Appalachian Mountains as the boundary line between British and Indian lands. This was in part to keep Indian alliances and to keep control on the settler’s expansion. Henry Ellis, Governor of Georgia, spoke of

After the war finished in 1763, the british government tightened its reins on the colonies politically. One political way they changed the relationship between colonies and the british government, was by enforcing the Proclamation of 1763 in order to prevent any further conflict between the Native Americans and the colonists. In Document B, the purpose of this document is meant to be viewed by the british government in order to see the chief of the Onondaga Nation expresses his frustration towards the settlers taking over their land and being able to know his point of view on the topic. Even though the king was probably only trying to settle this feud, the colonists didn’t see it this way. They believed that the government was trying to restrict their use on the land in order to better control the colonists. For example, in Document A, the purpose of this document is to show us the land owned by Britain, and if Britain owns all this land, it is easy to understand where the colonists are coming from. However, by Britain imposing this constant on the colonies, it began to shift the relationship between the colonists and the british government. It didn’t help that Britain was suddenly enforcing laws such as the navigation law that was created years before it was enforced. The british government didn’t enforce the navigation law in 1763 even though it was created in 1651.

The Proclamation of 1763 was a law that put a boundary between the west and the east side of the appalachian mountains. After the French and Indian war, we were excited to expand westward, but King George had a decided he would create the proclamation instead. England says they did this to keep the Indians calm, but they were

1. Because the fur trade was gone they were economically weak. France was not supplying them with money to keep an army.

The The Treaty of Paris, which marked the end of the French and Indian War, granted Britain a great deal of valuable North American land. The war had dragged on long enough, and the British public was weary of footing the bill.Moreover, the Native Americans, who had allied themselves with the French during the Seven Years' War, continued to fight after the peace had been reached.Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–66), a war launched by a group of natives around the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, was an unsuccessful effort by the western tribes to push the British back. However tribes were able to take over a large number of the forts which commanded the waterways involved in trade within the region and export to Great Britain. The Proclamation of 1763 had been in the works before Pontiac's Rebellion, but the outbreak of the conflict hastened the process. British officials hoped the proclamation would reconcile American Indians to British rule and help to prevent future hostilities. New borders drawn by the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

In 1763, a peace treaty had just been signed. This was called the Peace of Paris which ended a long series of costly conflicts between Britain and France during the French and Indian wars. Because France had lost, they were forced to give all the American territory to Great Britain. After Great Britain took control of the region, King George III did not want to fight another war in America so he forbid colonial settlement on the western lands. This was called the Proclamation line of 1763. This proclamation angered many colonies since they believed that a king who ruled across the ocean could not determine the colonist needs and had no right to limit where they could settle. This was the beginning of many troubles in the colonies.

To show the Indians their gratitude the British decided to show them their gratitude in the form of a royal proclamation. By making the Appalachians off limits too white settlers the natives received hunting ground. For the Indians this deal was great, after years of being persecuted and subjugated they finally get something in return. Now for the land hungry settlers this was devastating, they saw it as a travesty seeing as how this was passed right after the French war. This is because once the French were gone lands to the south west of the colonies were open for business, but then parliament stepped in.

The war had a profound result with the British having rule of North America. The Seven Years War ended with the French signed the Treaty of Paris in 1763. French territory, New France had ceased to exist, the British gained control of the lands that extended from Canada to Florida with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

One of the first policies that the British government set into place in the American colonies was the Proclamation of 1763. The proclamation ordered that “no settlers were to cross the Appalachian divide” (100). One of the major issues that the colonists faced were conflicts with the local

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.