Consequences Of The Treaty Of Paris

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years’ War. This war started in 1754 and paired the British against the French in a battle for North American land. Prior to the war, there was much hostility in this area relating to colonial borders and trading capabilities with local Amerindian tribes. The war was primarily fought due to the importance of imperialism during this time. More land equaled more power and that is exactly what both countries wanted. When war broke out, the British allied with the Iroquois tribes and the French with the Hurons and other Ohio River Valley tribes. After years of fighting each other, the war was finally ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. This agreement …show more content…
During those wars, a country or territory were united against a certain threat that did not have the same interests or ideals as them. Although, that was not the case with the French and Indian War. Instead, the colonists decided that they did not support the war and that the British were fighting it for their own reasons. After the war, the British had a huge debt that they had to pay off that had doubled the amount that they already owed, making this very hard for the British to do by themselves. The British realized that they were not able to raise taxes in their own country based what happened during the cider riots of 1763. When the British Parliament tried to pass tax acts in Great Britain, citizens grew hostile and the acts were unsuccessful. Instead, the British turned to the colonies, placing multiple tax acts on them to help pay for the war. At first, these taxes that were implemented were not too serious because items like sugar were not widely used by the colonists. However, they still protested against it and the King repealed it. Then, the Stamp Act was passed in 1765 and this affected nearly all the colonists. The Stamp Act would have probably made a lot of money for the British but too many people disagreed with it and it ended up getting repealed as well. Afterwards, more acts were set and this time, they were not repealed. The British government was fed up …show more content…
Overall, the colonies disagreed with these acts and had developed a common enemy. Unfortunately, not all the colonists had the same mindset towards the issue. During the Stamp Act Congress in 1965, nine of the thirteen colonies met in New York to decide that they would not pay these taxes. However, they decided that they did owe the British something for their continuous protection and colonial aid. They decided this could be done in ways other than high, unaffordable taxes. While they all essentially disagreed with the Stamp Act and all the following acts for the most part, some colonists did not want to go as far as to separate from Great Britain. They believed that because Great Britain had been their parent country for so long, they wouldn’t be able to thrive without them. These colonists also believe that if they were to go to war again, similar to the French and Indian War, they wouldn’t be able to fend for themselves and would be much weaker as a whole. Those who wanted to stay with the British were called Loyalists while those who wanted to separate from them were called Patriots. This caused some controversy and disunity among the colonies. On the other hand, when all the colonies came together to help wipe out the taxes, it became clear that one day, they might be able to become unified as they were