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Peter Choi Drake AP US History Period 4 October 8, 2012 2004 DBQ Essay The scramble for land in North America by European countries led to a major, large scale war, mainly between France, England, Indian tribes and Spain, known as the French and Indian War. This war brought about major political change of the shifting trend of Spanish and French supremacy to English supremacy, which affected the political relationship between the colonies and Britain. War also negatively impacted the economic relations between two lands, widening gaps between the two groups. The war brought great ideological change as well. These changes in the relations between the American colonies and Britain caused by the French and Indian War turned out to be momentous in setting the stage for the American Revolution. The French and Indian War greatly strained political relationship between the colonists and the British. The result of the war ended with British victory, ousting French control of mainland North America. Many land-hungry l and-hungry colonists were ready to move out and settle in the west; thus, they were shocked and infuriated when Britain took a more conservative stance in westward expansion and tried to restrict the colonists f rom moving out to the West. Indians have displayed their frustration regarding the issue of colonist expansion; the chief of Onondaga Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, Canassatego, said in his speech how valuable many Indians regard lands and its resources as. He also mentioned that the white people "have no right to settle" (Document B). Therefore, not willing to risk money to fight with Indians, the British imposed the Proclamation of 1763, which forced the colonists
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not to expand past the Appalachian Mountain Ranges. Angered colonists, therefore, greatly protested the British actions and began questioning the authority that Britain really had over them. This fact is substantiated by the map of North America after 1763 (Document A), where it can clearly be seen that the English settled past the Appalachians onto the borders of the Spanish settlements. As shown directly and indirectly by the two documents, the political relationship between Britain and the colonies increasingly worsened directly due to the French And Indian War. The French and Indian War also impacted the economic relationship between British and colonists. After the French and Indian War, heavy taxation was imposed on the colonies in order to recompense for the debt created during the war. This fueled the discontent of the colonists towards the British. The British Order in Council in 1763 depicts the economic disadvantage of the American colonies due to heavy taxation, saying that "the revenue arising [from colonies] is very small and inconsiderable," and that the collected revenue is not sufficient to maintain the large population and territory of the colonies (Document F). This economic disadvantage of the colonies would easily have provoked colonists' anger and worsened economic relationship between Britain and American colonies. The colonial frustration is more explicitly expressed in Benjamin Franklin's letter to John Hughs and in a colonial newspaper printed in October 1765: in the letter, Franklin denounces the Stamp Act and shows his desire to try to repeal it (Document G), and in the newspaper it reads that "the times are dreadful, doleful, and
dollar-less "
(Docuemnt H). These evidences reflect the
amount of irritation that these colonists must have felt regarding taxation. The heavy taxation imposed by Britain onto the colonists, which directly resulted from the French and Indian War, therefore engendered the hatred and negatively influenced economic relations. The French and Indian War served to alter the ideologies of many colonist
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individuals, forming a foundation for a large-scale revolution. Initially, the British army was perceived as very powerful and invincible to many American colonists, thwarting them from even daring to challenge the military's supremacy. George Washington's letter about British General Edward Braddock, sent before Braddock's devastating defeat against the French and the Indians in 1755, substantiates this claim, as it praises Braddock's "abilities and experience" (Document C). However, the idea of British invincibility was destroyed when many British generals such as Braddock could not enforce effective leadership in the French and Indian War. The idea of British loyalty has also clearly been changed; the diary of a Massachusetts soldier fighting in the French and Indian war expresses his desire to finally break free from the unfair British control after the war (Document D), and the sermon of Reverend Thomas Barnard, given after the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, rejoices an
American
victory rather than a British victory (Document E). There has
been a clear ideological shift from pre-war era to post-war era, and this change was absolutely crucial in evoking the revolutionary mindset among the colonists. The French and Indian War played an important role in setting a "revolutionary mood" in the colonies. Unhappy with the British, as shown by the strained political and economic relations, and with newly adopted ideologies, Americans had become more ready than ever before to rebel against the once mighty Great Britain.
