French and Indian War Impact

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The French and Indian War, or the Seven Years’ war in Europe, had a negative impact on relations between the American colonies and Great Britain. The British forgot about the colonists’ role during the war. British troops in the colonies treated the colonists with cruelty, convincing the colonists that they would possibly be enslaved in the future by Britain. Although the colonists were original from Britain, they had different ideals and philosophies. After the war, Great Britain was in a large enough debt that it was able to destroy the English government. This affected political and economic relations between the colonies and Great Britain. The British had ideals that set them apart from the English colonies. Despite the two of them working together against the French opposition, the ways the British treated and behaved around the colonists in British North America convinced them that they would be put entirely under the rule of the English crown and one day become enslaved. The British forgot about the role that the American troops had in the war. The colonists began to develop nationalist perspectives. Unlike the way the British drafted their soldiers and utilized savage methods to keep them in line, the colonial forces were made of volunteer soldiers. Their officers tempered their forms of punishment, but at the same time worked to keep the soldiers motivated. There was some friction in the economic relationship between Britain and its American colonies. After the war, the British were left in a large debt. This caused them to strictly regulate trade and put taxes on commonly used goods, like playing cards and paper for the Stamp Act, as well as sugar importations for the Sugar Act. The colonists protested against these acts, leading them to begin a non-importation movement in which they would stop buying goods from Britain. The British were pressured into
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