American history between 1607 and 1800 - Essay Example

n, this brief analysis will consider the effect that the Seven Years War and the subsequent revenue acts of the mid to late 1760s had on congealing an anti-Imperial tone within the American populace; a tone that necessarily and ultimately gave way to feelings of outright rage and hatred for the ruling British and the extent to which the American colonies saw themselves as extensions of this power. By way of such an analysis, it is the hope of this author that the reader/researcher can come to a more clear and definitive understanding of why the colonial forces believed they could challenge the British and what preliminary aspects of interaction helped to bolster this type of courage.

The Seven Years War, or alternatively the French – Indian War as it was referred to in the colonies, was a period of conflict that actually spanned 8 years and affected almost all of the European powers, the North American colonies, as well as the Caribbean, India, the Philippines, and parts of Africa. As such, it paved the way for the introduction of a very high level of debt within the European system as a function of the fact that the war was so extraordinarily expensive and at that time budgets had to be balanced prior to moving on.

As such, it necessitated the institution of an array of taxation on the colonies as well as the home nations involved. Although it may be seen as convenient by many American historians to view the colonies as shouldering an unreasonable percentage of the debt from the Seven Years War, this is entirely not the case.1 Rather, all of Britain’s possessions had taxes levied against them as it was the crown’s understanding that all component parts of the Empire must share in the debt that the Empire had accrued by means of ensuring its continued existence.

As a function of this, all of the British territories, holdings, and Imperial possessions had taxes, duties, and other revenue mechanisms affixed to rapidly seek to pay down the debt through