Effects of the French and Indian War
Debt, Perceptions of Colonials, and Empire Helped Lead to Revolution
When the French and Indian War (or Seven Years’ War in Europe) ended in 1763, British Prime Minister William Pitt’s goal of ending French influence in North America was complete. Excepting a few Caribbean islands, France was expelled from all of North America as well as losing India to the British. The effects of the war on the English colonies, however, were to serve as a detriment to imperial goals. Twenty years after the end of the French and Indian War, another war was concluded, resulting in an independent United States. How did this happen?
The Cost of War and Empire
In 1763 the new British Prime Minister, George, Lord Grenville, faced significant obstacles related to the recent war. The American colonists were beginning to assert themselves while the new king, George III, attempted to bring back royal authority and control in the style of James I and Charles I. The national debt stood at 123 million pounds (equivalent to fifty billion pounds in contemporary values).
An expanded empire also meant vastly increased future costs. Englishmen living in England were already overtaxed and recent riots throughout the land precluded any further home taxation. The American colonies, however, were prosperous. According to historian Oliver Dickerson, the thirteen colonies enjoyed the highest standard of living compared to any other society.
Colonies that had incurred debt to help fund efforts during the French and Indian War managed to retire those debts at a rate of 20% per year. At the same time, the various Navigation Acts, begun under King Charles II, as well as the system of “enumeration,” provided great wealth to the colonies, helping to rapidly grow a gentry class that rivaled the landed lesser nobility in England.
Perceptions of Colonials as Provincials
The interaction of British officers and soldiers with colonial militia during the French and Indian War clearly set the stage for long-term perceptions. General James Wolfe, whose aggressive strategies helped to defeat the French, commented that, “The Americans are in general the dirtiest most contemptible cowardly dogs that you can conceive.”
Equally as noxious were colonial views of the British. As early as 1755, general officers like Edward Braddock were perceived as pompous and arrogant. But the rag-tag militias were trained by such men during the war, despite heavy desertion rates. As Robert Harvey states in his book on the British perspective of the Revolution, such training helped to “militarize” the colonies, an action beneficial when war finally broke out.
Pontiac’s Rebellion and the 1763 Proclamation Line
Out of a total population of 2.5 million at the end of the French and Indian War, 50,000 lived beyond the Appalachians. Once the war ended, colonists by the thousands looked westward, now that the French threat was over. Massive migrations led to Indian reprisals, the greatest occurring in 1763 under Chief Pontiac. Pontiac managed to do what no other Native American had been able to: unifying disparate tribes under one goal.
The uprising was bloody, forcing Grenville to dispatch troops to protect the colonists. The defeat of Pontiac led to the Proclamation Line, designed to keep white settlers and Indians apart. Colonists were outraged at being denied access to rich and fertile lands beyond the Appalachians.
The cost of maintaining a military force in the colonies to protect the settlers – something the colonists were unwilling to do but fully expected from Britain, was 200,000 pounds, of which the government agreed to pay 100,000. Yet the colonists refused to pay even this amount, leading to a series of Parliamentary taxes on the colonies.
Seven Years War and Revolution
The coming of the American War for Independence owes much to the events during and immediately after the French and Indian War. In many cases, both perceptions tended to be overstated and exaggerated.
Sources:
- Ian R. Christie and Benjamin W. Labaree, Empire of Independence 1760-1776 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1976)
- Oliver M. Dickerson, The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1951)
- Robert Harvey, A Few Bloody Noses: The Realities and Mythologies of the American Revolution (The Overlook Press, 2002)
- Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992)
Death of General Wolfe at Quebec
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