What were the various ways in which the Seven Years' War proved to be disastrous for relations between Great Britain and its colonies? Please analyze.
1 Answer
A lack of respect, A lack of trust, and a sense of betrayal
Explanation:
The British army was not well trained or suited to warfare on the North American frontier. British officers made disastrous mistakes that cause not only British causalities but cost American colonists lives. Braddocks failed campaign to take the three rivers point in what is now Pittsburgh is a prime example. This incompetence cause the American colonists to disrespect the British.
The British treated the colonists with disregard and disrespect. The militia was not allowed to return to their homes that were threatened by Indian attacks but forced to stay trapped in forts only to return home to find their homthaes burned and their families dead. This disregard cause bitterness toward the British.
An example of the disrespect was that even " George Washington the leader of the Virginia militia and proven military leader was deemed unqualified to serve as a officer in the British army. The disrespect created resentment toward the British.
While the actions of the British during the seven years war damaged relations between the colonists and the British the actions asfter the seven years war were even more disastrous.
The British felt that the colonies should pay the entire cost of the fighting during the seven years war. The colonies felt that they had already paid their share with their blood and loses.
The feeling of being disregarded and disrespected during the war were amplified when the British dismissed the colonies elected governors, and parliaments. The taxes levied to pay for the war were raised unilaterally without any involvement or engagement with the colonies. Which gave rise to outcry of no taxation without representation. The rights of Englishmen that had been promised with the colonies charters were arbitrarily removed by King George who now regarded the colonists as tenants on his royal lands.
Worse yet was the feeling of betrayal. The seven years war started in Pittsburgh over the rights of the colonists to settle in the Ohio Rive Valley and the French and Indians opposing the settlement. When the British inherited the lucrative fur trade after the war the British made peace with the same Indian tribes that the colonists had been fighting during the seven years war. Siding with the Indian tribes after Potancs uprising the British outlawed any American settlement west of the Applicancian mountains in 1763.
The lack of respect shown by the British during and after the seven years war made the colonists disrespect the British. The arbitrary actions in dissolving the representative bodies of the colonies and raising taxes made the colonists bitter and angry. The colonists felt betrayed by the mother country that seemed to disregard the interests of the colonies.
