French And Indian War Dbq Analysis

Joshua Tucker
AP US History
10/4/10
DBQ: French and Indian War
The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended in 1763. The name “French and Indian War,” was one later adopted by the Americans and the British. Relations between the American and British were substantially altered politically, economically, and ideologically. The aftermath of this war was the tipping point that catapulted the Americans to revolution.
From a political standpoint, the Americans and the British did not see eye-to-eye. In 1763, King George of Britain issued the Proclamation Line. The Proclamation Line was an imaginary line that separated the colonists from the Indians. The initial purpose of the Proclamation Line was to ensure that there was no conflict between
He also states how they had never given up their land or sold it to anybody. (Document B.) The fact of the matter is that the Proclamation Line was something that needed to happen in order to avoid conflict with the Indians. One of the most famous protests was the Boston Tea Party in which some of the members of the Sons of Liberty went to the Boston Harbor and dumped all of the excess tea on the boats into the harbor. After the Boston Tea Party, the Parliament passed the Coercive Acts or the Intolerable Acts in the colonies. These acts were the Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston from all trade in and out of the colony, the Massachusetts Government Act, which completely closed the Massachusetts governments, the Administration of Justice Act, which caused all convicts to be tried in England instead of their own colony, the Quartering Act, in which more soldiers were sent to Massachusetts and had to live in the colonists homes, and the Quebec Act, in which colonists of Canada had the right to move into the Ohio River Valley area. These acts enraged the colonists because, according to the Massachusetts Government Act, they could not rule their own colony and were under British rule, which was what they were trying to get out of. Their political differences were so strong that it was only a matter of time before the colonists snapped and revolted against the
The colonists were firm believers in “no taxation without representation.” The colonists were still considered English citizens, but failed to receive the same treatment as English citizens overseas. This unfair treatment would only give the colonists another reason to rebel against the English. The change of ideology in the colonies led to people such as Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine’s book, Common Sense, was the most bought and circulated book in American History. This book was one of the major causes of the American Revolution. In Common Sense, Thomas Paine talks about how America was treated unfairly by England. He also talks about how their voices would not be heard until it was too late. Thomas Paine’s book greatly promoted the ideas of independence and the colonists acted upon them. In October 1765, a newspaper called The Pennsylvania Journal was published that called the time “dreadful, doleful, dismal, dolorous, and dollar-less.” The same edition of the newspaper also had a note at the bottom saying, “In Hopes of a Resurrection to Life again.” (Document H.) This showed that things in the colonies were getting so completely out of control and sick of taxes that some people had lost all hope of liberty and freedom. In Document C, George Washington is shows that he was very interested in joining General Edward Braddock and he praises the