Question

Explain: Griffith, William R. “The French and Indian War (1754-1763): Its Consequences.”

Answer 1

Montreal's surrender on September 8, 1760 signaled the end of all major military operations during the French and Indian Wars between Britain in France in North America. Although the guns in Canada and the British colonies had fallen silent, it still had to be determined how or when the Seven Years War would end, still raging all over the world. What resulted from this global conflict and the French and Indian War shaped the future of North America.

The British Parliament's imperialist members did not want to yield the territories gained during the war, but the other faction believed it was necessary to return a number of the antebellum holdings of France in order to maintain a balance of power within Europe. However, this latter measure would not include the North American territories of France, as well as Spanish Florida.

On 10 February 1763, two years after the fighting in North America had ended, hostilities officially ceased with the signing of the Paris Treaty between Britain, France and Spain.British colonial inhabitants in North America were jubilant when they heard the results of the Paris Treaty. They had lived to the north and west for nearly a century in fear of the French colonists and their Native American allies. Now the influence of France on the continent was expelled and they could hope to live their lives in peace and autonomy, without relying on the protection of Britain

The consequences of the French and Indian War would do more than any other event up to that point in history to drive a wedge in between Britain and her colonists. Britain's national debt nearly doubled during the Seven Years War, and the colonies would shoulder a good portion of the burden of paying it off. Taxes were imposed in the years that followed on necessities that the colonists considered part of everyday life — tea, molasses, paper products, etc.

That tinder which would eventually be lit the next decade also came in the form of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, which had been heavily fought over during the war. As British traders moved west over the mountains, disputes broke out between them and the Native Americans who inhabited the region (previously allied with French). Overpriced goods did not appeal to the Native Americans and tensions arose almost immediately. For many in the British Army and the colonies, this land had been conquered and rested under the dominion of His Majesty