The Seven Years' War began as the French and Indian War, a
struggle between France and England for
dominance over the North American continent. It soon bled into what could be
argued was the first real world war, dragging numerous nations across the globe
into the conflict. In the American colonies, it set the framework for the
inevitable revolt against the English Crown. However, this begs the question:
how exactly did this war change the socioeconomic and political atmospheres?
And did the body known as the Continental Congress act as a catalyst to the
movement, or was it merely a figurehead?
The French and Indian War, named so by the English and
colonists due to the – at the time – unorthodox and ungentlemanly alliance
between the two namesakes, was a war testing the dominance of each parent
nation in the New World. It would eventually
spread to western Europe, but the end result was the same: a bitter, bloody
English victory that vastly expanded their holdings in North
America. Yet this triumph was a double-edged sword, in regards to
the ends of what it accomplished; on one hand, it belayed colonial unrest and
resentment towards the Crown by providing a common enemy, but on the other
hand, it laid the groundwork for the coming Revolution. First and foremost, the
victory against the French and indigenous American Indians proved that triumph
heals all wounds even more than time does. With the British successfully
defending her colonies against a common enemy, the pre-war hostility between
the Anglo-Americans and the redcoats were all but forgotten. (USHistory.org, 2008)
In fact, it sent the British politicians and warriors skyrocketing to a near
deified state: William Pitt, the Prime Minister who almost single-handedly
turned the outcome of the war around, was honored with hundreds of communities
and towns being named after him – the most famous being Pittsburgh, PA. Even
future Revolutionary War general Israel
Putnam renamed his tavern in Connecticut
the "Genl. Wolfe", in honor of James Wolfe, the audacious and bold
hero who gave his life at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec. (Purvis,
2006) The war rekindled the colonists' sense of pride at being Englishmen, and
made them proud to fly the Union Jack.
The same could not be said, however, for the class of
elites back on the mother island. Englishmen that comprised the upper class claimed
that the colonies had not contributed enough to the war effort, or at the very
least, had not contributed equal to their abilities. This was due in part to a
lack of information about the manpower the colonial governments volunteered to
supplement the British regulars, as noted by Benjamin Franklin: "They say
that last Year, at Nova Scotia, 2000 New England Men, and not more than 200
Regulars, were join’d in the Taking [of Fort] Beau Sejour; yet it could not be
discover’d by the Account sent by Govr. Lawrence,
and publish’d in the London Gazette, that there was a single New England-Man
concern’d in the Affair." (1756) The upper crust of London also held the
belief that the principal gauge of support was not manpower at all, but rather
the tax revenue and incurred debt. England's
debt doubled in nine years due to the war, and approximately 40% of that was
spent on the colonies, and the taxpayers of Britain felt the colonists should
pay more taxes to help with the military expenditures. (Purvis, 2006) News of
the cost of maintaining their newly-conquered territories turned English public
opinion downright hostile, and instead of reveling in their shared victory, they
allowed the cost of the war to make themselves resentful of the
Anglo-Americans, driving them further apart.
As the British populace continued to resent their cousins
across the pond, Anglo-American discontent grew as well. Parliament passed new
laws and taxes intended to increase revenue for the island kingdom, driving
costs in the colonies to rise. Taxation without representation and other issues
causing discontent led those people now identifying as "Americans",
not Englishmen, to form a representative body, known as the "Continental
Congress". Officially established in 1774, the Continental Congress was
the governing arm of the American Revolution, attempting to balance the needs
and interests of the unified colonies, while being the liaison representing the
colonies to Parliament and the Crown. In 1774, after the passage of the
Intolerable Acts, the legislatures from each colony were pressured by groups –
such as the famous Sons of Liberty – to send delegates a congress. The original
intent of this congress was to set terms of a boycott of British goods,
sponsored by the aforementioned Sons of Liberty. (Office of the Historian,
2010) What they accomplished was the passage of Articles of Association, which
was not only a statement of boycott to the English government, but showed the
British that the colonies had banded together against the perceived injustices
of the Crown. (History.com, 1996) The Continental Congress would eventually go
on to take control of the united colonial government, after the start of the
Revolutionary War started, and then took the historic step of issuing a
proclamation declaring independence from their mother country.
The Seven Years' War and the corresponding effects it had
on the colonies were indeed bittersweet. It allowed Britain
to prove her dominance in the New World and
across the globe, and gave the Anglo-Americans a chance to take pride in their
heritage as Englishmen. However, it also forced those self-same Englishmen in America to
think as Americans for the first time, since the Crown wouldn't treat them like
true Englishmen. It was this thinking that led to the formation of the
Continental Congress, the unification of the colonies, and eventually, American
independence.
References
The
Continental Congress — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts. (1996). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/the-continental-congress
Franklin, B. (1756). The Papers of Benjamin
Franklin; Personal correspondence to Sir Everard Fawkener (VI, 473). New Haven: Yale University
Press.
Office of the Historian (2010). Continental
Congress, 1774–1781 - 1776–1783 - Milestones.
Retrieved from Department of State website: http://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/continental-congress
Purvis, T. L. (2006, March 20). HIS 571W:
Colonial and Revolutionary America
- Sam Houston State
University. Retrieved from http://www.littlejohnexplorers.com/onlinegraduatecolonialcourse/sevenyearswarandpoliticallegacy.pdf
USHistory.org (2008). The Treaty of Paris (1763) and Its
Impact. Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/us/8d.asp
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