The Ramifications Of The 'Seven Years' War

Rachna Shah
APUSH; CH. 4

Two of the most powerful nations at the time, Britain and France, had been involved in smaller wars and skirmishes across the European landscape for centuries on end. While it ended the contention between which country, Britain or France, was superior, only prolonged the enmity between the nations. Finally, the Seven Years’ War served as a global conflict that reshaped the relationship between England and its colonies; for one to understand the ramifications of the war on the American colonies, one must understand that the relationship between the colonists and England was already very much strained at the time. The Sevens’ Year War originated mainly from growing tensions between Britain and France, and the conflict
had an effect on the American colonies such that it united them together and gave them the thought that if unified, they could defeat a powerful nation.

The Seven Years’ War was not a sudden conflict; in the 1750’s, French colonists had been expanding into the Ohio River valley with the goal of setting up a trade network with the Native Americans in the area, and were coming into contact with British colonies and colonists.
For years before that, France and Britain had been fighting against one another in the European landscape, but this was the first war of theirs in the New World. Another possible reason for the war include Britain’s need for expansion in North America, past their thirteen colonial settlements. The Seven Years’ War also originated from mercantilism, the key British theory, that stated the government should handle the economy of its colonies to create profits—in the colonies. England needed more land to have more area to grow raw materials in order to make their economy even more prosperous. By 1750, France was forming alliances with Native Americans to dominate the fur trade which proved problematic for England. The Ohio Company was granted a land charter in the early 1750’s; however, the Native Americans and French allies believed that the Ohio Valley was theirs, which exploded into a full-blown war. By 1759, however, the British had captured Fort Duquesne, Fort Ticonderoga, and Fort Louisbourg; it is important to remember that all of this could not have been accomplished without the assistance and supplies of the adjacent British
colonists.

In 1763, a treaty was devised and finalized to end the Seven Years’ War.
The Treaty of Paris, which declared British triumph, ended the war; France lost their claim to Canada and Florida. Therefore, the enemies of the colonists were eliminated to the north and to the south, which allowed for the colonists to take more time to invigorate their economies and political systems, rather than having to spend time defending their territory. However, while the colonists bonded together under the reason of fighting a common enemy, their relationship with Britain grew even more strained. Before the Seven Years’ War, England had imposed Navigation Acts; colonists had openly disregarded these acts because they had become self-reliant and economically flourishing. With the end of the Seven Years’ War, Britain found themselves in tremendous debt; they believed that the colonists were the ones who should pay for the debts, as they were the ones who benefitted the most from the new land perks from the treaty. The most obvious result was a territorial one—Britain got Canada and Florida, which were not very monetarily valuable. However, Native Americans were still angry and launched several rebellions; therefore, the British believed that they should slow down their colonists’ expansion into the new territory. Later that year, the Proclamation Line of 1763 was declared, stating that the colonists could not settle west of the Mississippi River. However, the colonists had been fighting the war
for that reason, to be able to settle in that land, and now that they were not allowed to do so, they were reasonably enraged. This rage and restlessness grew over the years, and eventually led to the American Revolution.

As a result of the Seven Years’ War, the relationship between England, France, and the American colonies, was forever transformed. In a way, the American colonies were closer to one another more than ever, after having fought together in the war, and they shared the ecstasy of victory as one. They had proved that if they worked together, they could defeat a common enemy—and would do so again in the near future. However, the British and the Americans were not brought closer together: instead, their views towards one another stayed the same. The British looked down at the “impure” colonists, and the colonists despised the imposing Redcoats. Though the Treaty of Paris did not take more than a year to be finalized, bitterness remained in French citizens for decades after, eventually a major reason why they supported the colonists in the American Revolution.