Relation between colonists and Great Britain

In the middle of the 18^th century British settlers occupied 13 colonies along the Atlantic Coast. The French controlled Canada, Louisiana and the entire watershed of Mississippi. The conflicts between the British and the French culminated in the French and Indian War (1754-1763) in which Britain with its American colonies allies emerged victors. In the following years the British started imposing taxes on sugar, coffee, textiles and other imported goods. The British required the colonists to house and feed British soldiers. Special tax stamps were issued to be attached to all newspapers, legal documents and licenses. These measures seemed quite fair to British politicians who had spent large sums of money to defend the colonies during the war.

The Americans feared that the new taxes would make trading difficult and the British troops stationed in the colonies might be used to crush civil liberties, which the colonists had enjoyed. Soon all British taxes were removed except the tax on tea. The British thought they had to be a tax on something to prove that the British had the right to tax.

Om December the 16th 1773 a group of Americans disguised as Indians boarded British merchant ships and tossed 342 crates of tea into Boston Harbor. Parliament responded to this action called as “Boston Tea Party” with “Intolerable Acts”. The port of Boston was closed. Other colonies sent help and supplies. In 1774 colonial leaders held the first continental Congress in Philadelphia. They urged Americans to disobey the “Intolerable Acts” and to boycott British trade. Colonists began to organize militia and to collect and store weapons and ammunitions. The American war for Independence began in 1775.