War's Aftermath
For American Colonists
Social/Cultural Effects
From 1754 until 1760 the war bloodied the soil of the North American colonies. Colonial militias
fought alongside British troops to secure the victory. When the war ended, the colonists
understood and were justly proud of their role in the victory.
With the treaty, colonists felt betrayed for they thought that without the French to impede them
they could expand westward. In the Proclamation Line of 1763 the British limited colonists to
lands east of the crest of the Appalachian Mountains while west was to be "Indian Country."
Having lost 4000 to Indian enemies during the war, colonists on the frontiers erupted at the
restriction. The Proclamation Line was part of British colonial policy to restrict westward
expansion and thus fulfill wartime promises to Indian allies and also limit conflicts between
Indians and the advancing settlers that would require British military intervention.
Although Massachusetts had the highest participation rate as at least 30 percent of all
Massachusetts men between 16 and 29 served in their provincial army during the war, men
served in the other colonies as well. In previous wars, these soldiers served under provincial
captains, but in the Seven Years' War they often served under British regular army officers and
alongside British regular troops. The British regular army mimicked sharp divisions of British
society between the lower class troops and the upper class officers. Discipline was swift and
severe. A redcoat who insulted his captain received 500 lashes. The colonists were appalled at
the punishment's severity. In turn, the British officers regarded colonial soldiers as undisciplined
and insolent. In colonial militias, soldiers saw themselves as equals of their officers while British
soldiers were slaves. Disturbed by the behavior and especially the harsh punishment they
witnessed in the British army, the colonists, who had always regarded themselves as "English,"
increasingly regarded themselves "Americans."
Besides convincing colonists of their distinctive identity, serving in military units had another
consequence important to colonial unity: colonists got out of their communities and met men
from other colonies. More social ties between colonists combined with greater commerce
between the colonies, better mail service and roads to link them, and a thriving colonial press
resulted in an emerging sense of a cross-colonial unity and a developing nationalism.
Economic Effects on American Colonists
You read in "The War Expands and the Tide Turns" lecture about Prime Minister Pitt's devotion
of financial resources and British troops to the colonies in order to win the war in North
America. Pitt's monetary subsidies to the colonies at first created a great demand for goods and
services and so an economic boom in the colonies as farmers, artisans, and merchants profited.
With the end of the war, British military spending in the colonies declined and the bubble burst
as the colonies plunged into debt. The war's prosperity whetted colonial appetite for imported
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British goods and quickly the balance of trade that the colonies enjoyed before the war
disappeared as colonial debt reached £2 million in the 1760s and £4 million by 1772.
Political Effects on American Colonists
Along with an emerging sense of American rather than English identity, the war and the
economic recession that followed inspired colonists to think about liberty and threats to it and to
regard their colonial assemblies as the valid governing bodies not the royal governor, Parliament,
or the King.
For the British government
The Seven Years' War increased British national debt from £75 million to £133 million and
when the war ended the British left 10,000 regular troops stationed in North American to protect
the colonists. How will Britain reduce its debt and who will pay for the troops in the American
colonies? Britain will impose a series of measures beginning with the Sugar Act of 1764 to make
the colonists pay their fair share.
For the Canadians
The war ended the official French claim in North America. If you live in Canada, though, the
French presence remains. Did you visit the "1759: From the Warpath to the Plains of
Abraham" virtual exhibit referred to under the "Canadian Perspective" lecture? Did you notice
the choice between whether to view the exhibit in French or in English? Why were you asked?
Because the French influence remains in Canada to this day, especially in the Province of
Quebec where many continue to advocate the separation of Quebec from the rest of Canada.
Note: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's devastation of southern Louisiana and New
Orleans, you may have read about the Acadians or Cajuns (a corruption of "Acadian"), French
speakers. In the 1714 treaty that ended Queen Anne's War, the British acquired Acadia in New
France and renamed it Nova Scotia. Concerned about the loyalty of its French occupants, the
British demanded the Acadians declare allegiance to Britain. In 1755 during the first years of
their defeats in the war, the British expelled 6000 to 7000 Acadians from Nova Scotia. Many left
for France, others for other parts of Canada or for the American colonies, and some for
Louisiana, which was still under French control.
For the Native peoples
Crucial to the British victory, Indians enjoyed none of the spoils of victory. As we learned
earlier, the fur trade succeeded only with Indian cooperation. During more than a century of
European wars among France, Spain, and England, American Indian peoples skillfully played
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one European power off against another, forcing Europeans to bestow gifts on the Indians in
attempts to woo them as allies. The Iroquois in northeastern North America, for example,
negotiated treaties with both the French and the English to Iroquois advantage but then remained
neutral during Queen Anne's War.
In the Seven Years' War the Iroquois again played the English off against the French, allying at
last with the English. In the Southeast, the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees engaged in the
same diplomatic ploys, which are called the Playoff System (which has nothing to do with
sports).
When you look at the map of North America in 1763, do you see Indian land recognized? Any
land listed as French or "disputed between Britain and France" before the war is British in 1763.
The French lost the war, but their Ohio Indian allies had not; nevertheless those Indians now fell
under British jurisdiction. With France removed from the North American continent and Spain a
feeble presence, Indian people could no longer play one European power off against another to
receive the best gifts and the most favorable arrangement for Indians. Now the Indians had only
the British to bargain with and the British faced considerable war debt that made gift giving to
Indians an unnecessary expense.
Your Digital History textbook discusses how these Ohio Indians, inspired by a prophet Neolin
who warned them against European ways and advocated a return to Indian traditions, attacked
British forts on the western frontier. War with the Indians lasted almost another two years with
the Indians unable to take the forts at Detroit, Niagara, and Pittsburgh (Fort Pitt which formerly
was known as Fort Duquesne where General Braddock fell in 1755) and resigned the British to
the fact that they could not subdue Indians along the entire western frontier. Historians often
refer to this conflict as Pontiac's Revolt after the Ottawa Indian who persuaded by Neolin's
message led the assault beginning in 1763.
The Proclamation Line of 1763 was the British attempt to centralize Indian policy under the
Crown instead of each colony and keep peace between western Indians and the colonists and
thus spare Britain the expense of defending the frontier. The line served none of these functions
for colonial governments routinely ignored it and colonists continued to settle on western lands.
©Susan Vetter 2009, rev. 2011
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