AP DBQ Essay
The French and Indian War, the North American counterpart to the 7 Years War, was a massive and costly event. The British government sent troops to defend the interests of the colonists. The repercussions of the war were quite significant and long lasting and the escalation that resulted led all the way to the Revolutionary War. The French and Indian War had great effect on the politics, economics, and ideology of the American colonies. The political repercussions of the war were quite varied. The military experience it gave to the soldiers was a huge plus when fighting the British came years later. Had George Washington not transferred into General Edward “Bulldog” Braddock he might not have gotten the field experience at Fort Necessity (C). This experience would be vital when fighting the America revolution later after 1766. Another political result of the war was the Westward expansion of the settlers. With the removal of the French influence of the Ohio River Valley string of forts the settlers were free to expand into Indian Territory (A). This resulted in Pontiac’s Rebellion and the restrains on where to settle and an addition of more troops to the region which angered colonists. This new cost could not be handled by the British Treasury and since the English people were already so heavily taxed and the Americans were the ones reaping the benefits the introduction of a new set of taxes was a must. The English Parliament believed that the war was the colonists fault and as a result they would have to help the British pay off their immense debt which started with a tax on the merchants, but it spread to all colonists. The economic relations with England became noticeably strained after the French and Indian War. Parliament decided the quickest way to regain some of the costs of the war and the quartering of troops would be to tax the most profitable of the colonies, the West Indies. This