British Victory

Question

How did the British victory in the French and Indian War lead to hostilities in America that eventually caused the American Revolution?

Answer 1

The British victory in the French and Indian War is one of the direct causes of the American Revolution. The outcomes and after effects of the French and Indian War will begin to create a true and unique American identity that will lead to revolution.

The French and Indian War was expensive. Great Britain sunk a lot of money into the American colonies in order to protect their investment of the Ohio River Valley. American colonial troops were the bulk of the fighting force (including George Washington) led by British military officers. Fighting was located mostly on the frontier, far away from the major colonial cities of New York, Boston, or Philadelphia.

Once the war was over, American colonists believed that they would have the frontier (west of the Appalachian Mountains) open to them for settlement. However, the Proclamation of 1763 prevented permanent settlement there. There was also the issue of paying for the war. As mentioned above, this war was very expensive for the British government. Those in Parliament believed that since the war was fought to protect British colonists in America, those colonists needed to be responsible for paying the taxes needed to replenish the war debt.

A combination of "unjust" taxes, not being represented in Parliament to refute those taxes, and being prevented from settling westward, many colonists believed that their rights as Englishmen were being infringed upon. In actuality, even though hostilities between Great Britain and the American colonists began in April of 1775, it wasn't until the delegates of the Second Continental Congress voted on July 2, 1776 (yes, that's right, July 2) to declare independence did many American colonists believe in a true American Revolution.