When we look at Britain's North American colonies, throughout much of the 18th century, it is
important to keep in mind that they were NOT united.
In many cases, they were far apart and had little to do with each other.
Virginia, for example, had more interaction with merchants and government officials back
in London than it did with people from Massachusetts.
Still, the American colonies were all part of a much larger entity.
The British Empire – In 1750 the British Empire consisted of the 13 North American
colonies; less populated territory to the north, such as Newfoundland and Nova Scotia;
and a number of islands in the Caribbean, such as Jamaica; Barbados; Bermuda; and the
Bahamas.
Because sugar plantations in the Caribbean were so profitable, Britain's Caribbean colonies
were by far their most important ones.
In 1773 the value of British imports from Jamaica alone was worth 5 times more than
those from the 13 colonies.
In the 18th century, more people from Britain actually emigrated to the Caribbean than to
the 13 colonies simply because there was so much more money to be made there.
From the perspective of the British Empire, the main role of 13 North American colonies
was to supply foodstuffs to its more profitable Caribbean colonies.
A British company, the British East Indies Company, had taken control of important port
cities in India –such as Calcutta; Madras; and Bombay.
The British East Indies Company made money by importing lucrative products from India
to Europe – such as textiles; spices; and tea.
However, to maintain its foothold in India, the company had its own private army and conducted
its own diplomatic relations with political powers in India.
While Britain was in the process of building an empire from the end of the Glorious Revolution
in 1688 until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Britain's major rival was France.
France had the largest population in Europe; an economy and military; and its own colonial
empire, with territories bordering British territory in North America; the Caribbean;
and India.
Britain and France fought a number of wars between 1688 and 1815.
One of the largest of these Wars – and a War that had a profound impact on the
13 colonies – was the Seven Years’ War, which was fought between 1756 and 1763.
In North America, the part of this War that of all the 13 colonies is often called the
French and Indian War.
By the 1750s the population in the American colonies far outnumbered that of nearby New
France.
A growing population also caused land-hungry American colonists to make plans to move west
to the frontier, while the French began to build forts in this area in an effort to block
American expansion.
In 1754 this led to a border dispute between the French and their Native-American allies
and American settlers, in which a small force from colonial Virginia – led by George Washington
– fought the French.
After two brief battles, Washington was forced to surrender and withdraw his force.
The following year a much larger British force of 1,500 soldiers, under General Edward Braddock,
was sent to the same frontier area only to be utterly crushed by the French and Native-American
forces at Fort Duquesne, near present-day Pittsburg in July of 1755, with General Braddock
among the casualties.
Also, in 1755 British and New England forces captured French Acadia, which is present-day
Nova Scotia, and exiled the 10,000 French Acadian settlers living there to Louisiana,
where they became the ancestors of the Cajun.
All this fighting in North America was prior to the formal outbreak of the Seven Years’
War.
Back in Europe in the early 1750s, Europe’s major powers were experiencing what historians
have called the Diplomatic Revolution, in which alliances between the nations shifted
dramatically.
In 1756 Britain was allied with Prussia, while France had allied with Austria.
Austria and Prussia were major rivals for German territories within the Holy Roman Empire
and when Frederick II of Prussia preemptively invaded Austria's ally, Saxony, war broke
out with a number of countries coming to join the war.
Britain and its’ allies Prussia; Portugal; and Hanover – on one side, France; Austria;
Russia; and Spain in turn, were on the other side.
While the main focus of the fighting was in Europe, it also took place between the forces
of British and French empires and the respective allies in India; North America; and the Caribbean,
along with West Africa and the seas.
The early years of the War went badly for Britain and its’ allies.
In Europe, Prussia and smaller German states allied to Prussia were hard pressed under
combined attacks from France; Austria; and Russia.
Meanwhile in North America, Native Americans allied to the French raided the American colonies
in 1756 and 1757 – getting within 30 miles of Philadelphia.
However, in the British Parliament, the war effort came to be led by William Pitt.
William Pitt’s strategy to win the War was to use two of Britain's major advantages against
the French – namely its’ financial power in the Bank
of England to raise great sums of money through low-interest bonds AND its’ superior Navy.
British finances and supplies help keep Prussia in the War, which bogged down France on the
European continent.
The British Navy began to strangle French shipping and then destroyed 2/3 of the French
fleet in fighting off the coast of northern France in November 1759.
Pitts’ strategy of focusing on keeping Prussia in the War and crushing France on the seas
began to pay off on land in 1759, when British General James Wolfe sailed down the St. Lawrence
River and captured the French city of Quebec after a dramatic battle on the plains of Abraham.
The next year British forces captured the city of Montreal, completing the conquest
of New France – or French Canada.
The British also won a string of victories in India between 1757 and 1761, culminating
when they captured the French city of Pondicherry – its’ capital in India.
While the War was effectively over in the colonies, and in a point of stalemate in Europe,
and both sides were financially worn down – Britain and France began to seek peace
with each other in 1762.
The Seven Years’ War formally came to an end in February 1763, with the signing of
the Treaty of Paris.
Britain largely pushed France out of India and in North America gained New France, later
known as Canada, from France as well as Florida from Spain.
Although France lost the War, it did keep control its’ sugar-producing colonies in
the Caribbean, such as Guadeloupe and Martinique, colonies that from a financial point of view
were more lucrative than New France.
As loyal British citizens, the American colonists were thrilled by the War’s victorious end.
But the War left a number of unresolved problems.
First, what would the British government do with all of its’ newly acquired Western
land in North America and how would it deal with the Native Americans who lived there?
A large Native American rebellion at the end of the War in present-day Michigan, called
Pontiac’s Rebellion, led to the massacre of many British soldiers and American settlers
there – indicating that the Western frontier was fraught for potential conflicts with natives
in the future.
Second, the War was very expensive for the British.
The British government was left deeply in debt.
In fact, by 1763, at a time in which one could comfortably support a family on an income
of 50 pounds a year, the British government owed a 133 million pounds.
The interest alone on this debt cost 60 percent of the government's budget.
Third, how would the British deal with American colonists, who paid 1 shilling in taxes for
every 26 shillings paid back in Great Britain, yet who greatly desired Western land?
In conclusion, British victory in the Seven Years’ War created difficulties with how
to manage the growing British Empire.
The approach the British government would take – towards Western land in North America
and especially towards the issue of taxation to deal with their debt – would in turn
set the stage for the American Revolution.
I'll end this video with that observation.
Thanks for watching.