How Did British Control North America

After seven years of fighting, in 1763, Britain won the war to control North America. However, the price of victory was steep with British war due to the massive debt that resulted from the French and Indian War. The young, inexperienced King George III, along with a new group of British politicians, determined the increasingly independent and rebellious colonists ought to pay their share of the costs of victory accrued during and after the war. Adding to their political and economic responsibilities, Britain also had to protect their territory from many different Indian alliances. In North America, they had cleared land, farmed, built homes, traded and fought off Indian raids. The colonists were used to ruling themselves with smaller parliaments similar to that of the British Parliament. Thus, they had little patience for anyone else telling them how to govern themselves. Britain began exerting more control over the colonies at a time when most colonists thought of themselves as Americans. One such measure imposed on the colonists was the Proclamation Line of 1763. Fearing a full-blown Indian uprising in the chaos that followed the French and Indian War, Britain established the policy prohibiting new settlements and trading outposts beyond a line drawn through the …show more content…
Britain was deep in debt from foreign wars and needed the colonies to start helping with expenses. Another goal of tax increases for the British was to demonstrate to the colonists who was in control. It is possible the American colonists may have agreed to certain tax increases had they been allowed to participate in the decision making. Like their British brethren, the colonists wanted the ability to vote on taxes. However, American colonists were not allowed to participate in the British Parliament. This led to many colonists decrying taxation without