of Paris. France ceded to England all her North American Provisions of the Peace of possessions east of the Mississippi, except two small islands kept for fishing purposes off the coast of Newfoundland. Spain, which had also been involved in the war, gave up Florida to England, receiving as compensation the French territories west of the Paris, 1763 Mississippi. New France was now only a memory. But modern Canada has two millions of Frenchmen, who still hold aloof from the British in language and religion, while Louisiana, though shrunk to the dimensions of an American state, still retains in its laws and in many customs of its people the French tradition. Colonies The Peace of Paris marked a turning point in the history of the Thirteen Colonies. Relieved of pressure from without and free to expand toward the west and south, England and they now felt less keenly their dependence on the Thirteen England. Close ties, the ties of common interests, common ideals, and a common origin, still attached them to the mother country; but these were soon to be rudely severed during the period of disturbance, disorder, and violence which culminated in the American Revolution. Preparation for inde pendence 165. Revolt of the Thirteen Colonies, 1776-1783 Englishmen in the New World for a long time had been drawing apart from Englishmen in the Old World. The political training received by the colonists in their local meetings and provincial assemblies fitted them for self-government, while the hard conditions of life in America fostered their energy, self-reliance, and impatience of restraint. The important part which they played in the conquest of Canada gave them confidence in their military abilities and showed them the value of coöperation. Renewed interference of Great Britain in what they deemed their private concerns before long called forth their united resistance. Restrictions Some of the grievances of which the colonists complained were the outcome of the British colonial policy. The home government discouraged the manufacture in the colonies of goods that could be made in England. on colonial Parliament, for instance, prohibited the export of woolens, not only to the British Isles and the Continent, but also from one colony to another, and forbade the colonists to set up mills for making wrought iron or its finished products. manufactures Such regulations aimed to give British manufacturers a monopoly of the colonial markets. The home government also interfered with the commerce of the colonies. As early as 1660 Parliament passed a "Navigation Act" providing that sugar, tobacco, cotton, Restrictions on colonial commerce and indigo might not be exported direct from the colonies to foreign countries, but must be first brought to England, where duties were paid on them. A subsequent act required all imports to the colonies from Continental Europe to have been actually shipped from an English port, thus compelling the colonists to go to England for their supplies. These acts, however, were so poorly enforced for many years that smuggling became a lucrative occupation. Alleviations and com All this legislation was not so repressive as one would suppose, partly because it was so constantly evaded and partly because Great Britain formed the natural market for most colonial products. Moreover, the home governpensations ment gave some special favors in the shape of "bounties," or sums of money to encourage the production of food and raw materials needed in Great Britain. Twentyfour colonial industries were subsidized in this manner. Colonial shipping was also fostered, for ships built in the colonies enjoyed the same exclusive privileges in the carrying trade as British-built ships. In fact, the regulations which the American colonists had to endure were light compared with the shackles laid by Spain and France upon their colonial possessions. It must always be remembered, finally, that Great Britain defended the colonists in return for trade privileges. As long as her help was needed against the French, they did not protest seriously against the legislation of Parliament. After the close of the Seven Years' War George III and his ministers determined to keep British troops in America as a protection against outbreaks by the French or Indians. The colonists, to whose safety an army would add, were expected to pay for its partial support. Parliament, accordingly, took steps to enforce the laws regulating colonial commerce and also passed The Stamp shend Acts |