How Did the Consolidation of the British Empire and Its Consequences Up to 1774 Affect the American Colonist’s Way of Life and Colonial Politics?
1. Introduction
I assume that the time period to focus predominantly on in answering this question is the circa fifteen years from when Britain in 1760 emerged victorious from the French and Indian War, and up to the events of the early 1770s that in the end led to the decisions at the Continental Congress in 1774; skirmishes between colonial minutemen and British troops in early 1775; and the declaration of independence in 1776.
However, I would contend that throughout the gradual colonial expansion of the English and later (from 1707) British Empire – at least up until the era discussed here – there was a fluctuation between more or less centralized control, and more or less efforts to centralize control, on behalf of either Crown or Parliament.
Therefore, I will start with a brief sketch of how power relations between England and the colonies evolved from the first landings in North America of settlers and puritans in the early seventeenth century; then I will outline what measures Britain took to consolidate the Empire after the treaty of Paris in 1763; and finally, I will discuss how these efforts affected colonial life, and colonial politics.
2. Beginnings
The first English settlements in North America were either commercial endeavors, or else religiously motivated. The Virginian proto-planters were financed and thus controlled by English joint-stock companies; the religiously motivated were initially largely autonomous; and later, the groups of colonists that came to bear the brunt of gradual expansion westward, the pioneers and frontiersmen, were largely independent of anyone, and were often left to fend for themselves. Thus, throughout the first decades of English colonization of North America, central control was overall weak.
After the restoration of the Stuarts in the latter part of the seventeenth century, the Crown wanted to exert more control over their overseas possessions. This was a time when states competed against each other economically
I assume that the time period to focus predominantly on in answering this question is the circa fifteen years from when Britain in 1760 emerged victorious from the French and Indian War, and up to the events of the early 1770s that in the end led to the decisions at the Continental Congress in 1774; skirmishes between colonial minutemen and British troops in early 1775; and the declaration of independence in 1776.
However, I would contend that throughout the gradual colonial expansion of the English and later (from 1707) British Empire – at least up until the era discussed here – there was a fluctuation between more or less centralized control, and more or less efforts to centralize control, on behalf of either Crown or Parliament.
Therefore, I will start with a brief sketch of how power relations between England and the colonies evolved from the first landings in North America of settlers and puritans in the early seventeenth century; then I will outline what measures Britain took to consolidate the Empire after the treaty of Paris in 1763; and finally, I will discuss how these efforts affected colonial life, and colonial politics.
2. Beginnings
The first English settlements in North America were either commercial endeavors, or else religiously motivated. The Virginian proto-planters were financed and thus controlled by English joint-stock companies; the religiously motivated were initially largely autonomous; and later, the groups of colonists that came to bear the brunt of gradual expansion westward, the pioneers and frontiersmen, were largely independent of anyone, and were often left to fend for themselves. Thus, throughout the first decades of English colonization of North America, central control was overall weak.
After the restoration of the Stuarts in the latter part of the seventeenth century, the Crown wanted to exert more control over their overseas possessions. This was a time when states competed against each other economically