The French and Indian War

Previous to the French and Indian War, there was very limited tension between the British and the colonists. Indeed, there was no real difference between the two terms yet; the colonists were British! However, the fact that some level of tension had begun cannot be denied. The British, looking for total profit from the colonies, put a ban on trade with other countries in 1651, called the Naviagation Acts. When in 1684 King Charles realized that as things were the colonies were not going to obey him, he revoked their corporate charter, putting Massachusetts back under the strict control of England. These were the beginnings of the hostilities between the colonies and Britain.

With the war came many new problems for the colonies and England. The most prominant of these newfound issues was the realization on the parts of the colonies that independence from England was not impossible to maintain. As England left them with fewer boundries in order to deal with the War, the colonies were not left desolute. On the contrary, they found themselves joined into something closer to resembling one colony than thirteen. Furthermore, financial disagreements were surfacing. With the war, Britain was in an incredible amount of debt, and wanted the colonies to pay off alot of it as the war had been to protect the colonies. However, the colonies felt that Britain was cheating them, as they had little or no say in any political decisions. This would be a major cause for the upcoming revolution.

If the colonies had not united, it is highly unlikely that they would have won the war against the French. It is immensly difficult to imagine what would have occured had the outcome been different, as I am not certain of France's intentions for the New World. It is highly probable, however, that there would have been much more peace with the Native Americans, and much less forest destroyed. However, eventually the fur trade would not have sufficed and, more likely than not, the eventual outcome would have become the same that it is now, but with some alterations (language etc.). It is honestly impossible for me to judge whether the political position of what is currently known as America would have been the same, or different. It is my guess that not too much would have been changed, as no one not looking for opportunity would have bothered to come to the New World in the first place, and most of this opportunity was in freedom. In short, I can not offer a valid explaination for where America would (in my estimation) be if the outcome of the war had been different.