Adam Taylor

                                                                                                            Per. 2 AP US History

                                                                                                            10-2-04

                                                                                                            Essay

Aftermath of the French and Indian War

            The aftermath of the French and Indian war affected many sides, but none as much as the colonist. Sure there was the French, Native Americans, Spainish, British, but the most affected, and changed side  due to the war was what would become America, the British colonies. Without this war I do not think that we would have became the country we are today, or even a country even. Who knows we could have ended up a part of England to this day.

            With the end of the need of British protection in the colonies, the colonies became a much safer place as soon as the hands holding the quills had signed the Peace Treaty of Paris. First off the French threat was gone, so the colonists could breath much easier now.  Due to the French losing to the British three prong attack, by Niagara Falls, St. Lawrence Rivers, and by Lake Champlain, they lost all their territories in North America. Also, the colonist could expand into new lands, but these lands belonged to the Native Americans. That was not as much as a problem as it was during, and before the war, because the Native Americans had been able to play the European nations off on each other, and thus save themselves from destruction. Even the Spainish were not a threat any more because Florida was now controlled by the British, but to be nice and please the Spainish the British gave them the territory of Louisiana, named after King Louis XIV.  So with no more need for large military activities, the colonists did not want the British troops around after the war. That did not matter though because the king of England had other plans with these troops.

            The end to the colonists growing economy. Once the war was over the British had a lot of troops remaining in the colonies, and they used them. For building new forts in the expanded territories claimed due to the war. Also for completing and utterly ending the period of Salutary Neglect. With the crackdown on the colonies, their trade went back to being forced to follow, the Navigation Acts, and trade with England only. They still had smugglers, but to combat that the British had the writs of assistance. The writs of assistance is where everyday general search warrants allowed officers to enter any place during daylight hours to seek evidence of illegal trade.  In response a couple Boston merchants hired attorney James Otis, to fight the writs in the courts. They lost, but in the process to show that the actions the Parliament was taking were making them “instruments of slavery” (George Brown, Tindall and David E. Shil, pg. 184), and thus were acting unconstutional. So already the colonist were starting to get fed up with the British, and for just cause the British were screwing with their economy.

            Next the British started demanding larger contribution for the defense of the new lands, that were gained in the war. Which was not a good thing to be doing when the colonist felt that the British soldiers were not needed anymore for the protection of the colonies. The colonist thought that they could protect themselves from the only threat left the Native Americans. So this angered a lot of colonist, and started to sprout the seed of revolution, which was just around the corner.

            So with their economy being forcefully changed to make money for England, with  the writs of assistance, and the forcefully contribution to the British military the colonist were getting a little sick and tried of England. So things would start to heat up, as this countined on into actions like the Stamp Act, and Taxation without Representation. All in all, this was a turning point that set the colonist down the road to collide in an all out brawl for their independence in the coming years with.