The Road to Independence

In May of 1754 the French and Indian War broke out in the Colonies due to dispute over land in the Ohio Valley1.   The Colonists fought with the British against the French to protect their home and families.   After six years of war in the colonies the French were defeated with the capture of Montreal in 1760.   Colonists were able to go back to the life they were used to living, but the British were heavily in dept with the cost of the war in America and in Europe.   To reduce this dept the British ministry imposed many new taxes on the Colonists.   Due to taxation, unfair representation in British Government and military tyranny the American Colonists eventually sought their independence from the British Empire.
In 1763 when the Treaty of Paris was signed officially ending the French and Indian War, the British government enacted the Royal Proclamation of 1763.   This proclamation organized the land acquired from the treaty.   A boundary line was established between colonists and American Indian lands, this was not a permanent line but one that could be moved westward in an orderly manner.   It also stated that no land was to be privately purchased from Indians; all land was to be purchased through the crown officials and settled with Indian leaders.   This immediately upset British Colonists and land agents because it officially gave the Crown a monopoly on all land purchases.   In addition it required all settlers that were settled west of the Appalachian Mountains to return east2.   This caused contention because there were already many settlers and land claims that had yet to be settled.   The Royal Proclamation was one of the first acts that began to separate Colonists from England.   In 1764 some of the first taxes were enacted to help offset the cost of the war.   The Sugar Act increased duties on imported sugar, textiles, coffee, wines, and indigo.   It also doubled the duties on foreign goods reshipped from England to the colonies and forbade the import of French...