Transcript

History is filled with irony. One of the most ironic developments of American history involved the incredible victory that the British Americans experienced in 1763 in their war against France. That victory transferred a massive amount of territory in North America from France to England. Great Britain was on top of the world, literally. And the American colonists shared in that excitement because they had also shared in the combat. Americans had volunteered to fight alongside British soldiers against the French in the American wilderness, the American frontier. And yet, only twenty years later, the United States would be formed as a result of the American Revolution.

Ironically, one reason for the American Revolution was the frustration of the American colonists with the British victory in 1763. Great Britain emerged from that prolonged war with the French with massive debts and the English government decided that the American colonies should pay a percentage of those debts, that the English people should not have to bear the burden of paying off a way that was, in part, intended to defend the American colonies from the French.

Beginning in the 1760’s, the English government began a series of actions that required Americans, both directly and indirectly, to pay for the expenses of that war. Those efforts led to resentment, resistance, rebellion, and ultimately led to revolution by the Americans against the British. In just twenty years, from 1763 to 1783, the British went from celebrating the greatest victory in their history to lamenting the loss of their most important colonies: the Americans.

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