The war itself did not particularly alter relations between England and the North American colonies, but there were pronounced differences in the aftermath of the French and Indian War.
The peace treaty granted Britain land in North America which previously had been claimed by France -- basically all of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains and east of the Mississippi River. American colonial settlers believed that they deserved the opportunity to settle in that land, but England disagreed (mostly due to the extravagant problems of 1) organizing the land politically and 2) defending new settlers from the Indians.
Additionally, England was beset with a large debt at the conclusion of the French and Indian War, because they had fought France around the globe during this war (in Europe, the French and Indian War is included in the Seven Years War). They needed to raise taxes, and so they raised taxes on the North American colonies -- much to the chagrin of the colonists, who argued that they did not have adequate political representation in Parliament (they couldn't elect members of Parliament), and as such were being treated as second-class British subjects instead of British citizens.
The North American colonies organized a general meeting of influential citizens to draft a response to the first major tax imposed on the colonies, the Stamp Tax, in 1765. After meeting for several weeks, they drafted and sent a strongly worded document to the king, complaining about their treatment. This gathering (now known as the Stamp Act Congress) fostered increasing communication between the colonies and eventually made the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence possible.
These are the main shifts in a nutshell, but this is an extremely complex question. These relations were always a little strained (from even 100 years before the French and Indian War). On the other hand, even at the time of the Declaration of Independence, roughly 1/3 of American... [continues]
The peace treaty granted Britain land in North America which previously had been claimed by France -- basically all of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains and east of the Mississippi River. American colonial settlers believed that they deserved the opportunity to settle in that land, but England disagreed (mostly due to the extravagant problems of 1) organizing the land politically and 2) defending new settlers from the Indians.
Additionally, England was beset with a large debt at the conclusion of the French and Indian War, because they had fought France around the globe during this war (in Europe, the French and Indian War is included in the Seven Years War). They needed to raise taxes, and so they raised taxes on the North American colonies -- much to the chagrin of the colonists, who argued that they did not have adequate political representation in Parliament (they couldn't elect members of Parliament), and as such were being treated as second-class British subjects instead of British citizens.
The North American colonies organized a general meeting of influential citizens to draft a response to the first major tax imposed on the colonies, the Stamp Tax, in 1765. After meeting for several weeks, they drafted and sent a strongly worded document to the king, complaining about their treatment. This gathering (now known as the Stamp Act Congress) fostered increasing communication between the colonies and eventually made the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence possible.
These are the main shifts in a nutshell, but this is an extremely complex question. These relations were always a little strained (from even 100 years before the French and Indian War). On the other hand, even at the time of the Declaration of Independence, roughly 1/3 of American... [continues]
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