French And Indian War Effects

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The French and Indian War Effects The French and Indian War (1754-63) was America’s first real step towards revolution. The French and Indian War would alter the relations between Mother England and her American colonies ideologically, economically, and politically. Ideologically, even though the American colonists were English born, they were not treated or looked upon as such. Economically, because Britain has defeated France in the French and Indian War, they would then turn their attention to the colonies and begin to enforce all the existing Acts because Britain was in so much debt. Politically, American colonists only wanted England to deal with the French and leave, but England decided to enforce the old Acts after the war was…show more content…
In the southern colonies they would send their children to England to go to school. Colonists lived their lives independent of England and its government, so they created their assemblies for government and were happy. They began to see that they should all have equal rights. Everything was great, until the French and Indian War. Americans enlisted themselves to fight in the war, but found themselves less privileged and looked upon as grunts. In the diary of a Massachusetts soldier (1759) he states, “… and thought we be Englishmen born, we are debarred [denied] Englishmen’s liberty.” He even goes on to say, “Therefore we see now what it is [like] to be under martial law and to be with the [British] regulars.” This soldier now knows what it would be like if the British were to take control, and how Americans are looked upon as garbage. King George III may have been very dull-witted, but he understood that America was growing at an astronomical rate and would, in a few decades, eclipse England. So, King George III thought it a good idea to leave a standing army in America because he saw them as a threat, not as loyal English subjects. Even George Washington was loyal to the British. He served in the French and Indian War as a volunteer soldier. He saw the British as an unstoppable force and was impressed to join their ranks. He held on to this idea until the battle of Fort Duquesne, where he saw firsthand…show more content…
Now America wasn’t totally independent from Britain, they still saw Britain as their mother country, and wanted to keep a good relationship with them. When Britain started really enforcing the Stamp Act, the colonists were outright enraged. They didn’t want England’s government ruling America from six weeks away. They wanted their own representatives in their own country, state, and city. Now the colonists viewed Parliament as corrupt and evil, but their view of Americans who collected the tax wasn’t too different. August 9, 1765, Franklin writes to John Hughes, the future tax collector, telling him, “[In relevance to the repealing of the Stamp Act] if it continues, your undertaking to execute it [the Stamp Act] may make you unpopular for a Time…” Also within this letter it shows how delicate the situation is through the perspective of Benjamin Franklin when he states, “…a firm Loyalty to the Crown and faithful Adherence to the Government of this Nation, which it is the Safety [avoid war and death] as well as Honour of the Colonies to be connected with, will always be the wisest Course for you and I to take.” Essentially, he is saying that to deal with this upheaval we need to act calmly and collectively if we are to avoid further
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