Before the French and Indian war, the political ideology and practice included benign neglect in which the Parliament of England did not interfere with the actions and government of the colonies. With the beginning of the French and Indian war, began an economic change for the colonies. Their lands would become more vast and Britain would start to tax the colonies to pay for the cost of the war. The colonists, before the French and Indian War, were more willing and proud to call Britain the mother country and their home. This is shown in a letter written by George Washington to Robert Orme when he states, “…the laudable desire I may have to serve( with my best abilities) my King and country,” When the French and Indian war started, the colonists realized how much power Britain had over them. Britain had dragged them into a war in which the colonies did not have much of a motive in. As the years of the war wore on, colonists began to resent the British Parliament. They no longer volunteered to fight in the war and thus began the downfall of the British nationalism they once had. A soldier’s pain during the war is expressed when he states, “…and though we be Englishmen born, we are debarred [denied] Englishmen’s liberty.” This shows how the colonists are starting to recognize the political injustice done to them by being forced into a war. In 1763, Parliament issued the Proclamation of 1763 which denied the colonies access to the lands they had newly acquired. It stated that the colonies must not surpass the natural border known as the Appalachian Mountains. They later allowed Roman Catholics to occupy the area west of the Appalachians which angered the colonists even more. Parliament soon started to tax the colonies starting with the Stamp Act. This immediately began an uprise of propaganda and controversy. “No taxation without representation” became one of the main ideologies of the time period. The colonies were not represented in Parliament yet Britain began to tax them to gain money for the cost of the war. As Britain began to add on more taxes and grievances to the colonies, the political, economic, and ideologies of the colonies began to clash and become more diverse from those of Britain. Benign neglect was no longer practiced as it was before the French and Indian war. The British Parliament began answering to the cry of “No taxation without representation”with the idea of virtual representation in government which was the belief that the colonists, who did not have actual representation, were represented by men in Parliament who were elected by “similar” conditions and were in “similar” positions. The colonists however, wanted Britain to allow them to have actual representation in the government. The colonists boycotted the taxes and used propaganda to get the rights they had lost after the French and Indian War. The French and Indian War caused great grievances in the colonies and in Britain. The freedom the colonists had before the French and Indian had vanished by about 1755 when the colonies no longer wanted to participate in the war and began to resent the British power held over them without any real inclusion in the decision making in government. Economically the colonies suffered from the resulting taxes of the French and Indian war. The colonies began to unite in their suffering against parliament and began to develop their own political ideas. The French and Indian war changed the Political, economic and ideologies on the colonies and the United States forever and changed the course of American history.
Comments(3)
