Early British American Relationships
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The relationship between the British and the American colonies in the 18th century was a complex and conflicting one. Although in many ways they were both dependent on each other, there was always a sense of tension and dissension between them.
Throughout colonization of the America's in the late 17th and into the 18th century there were many conflicts between French and British settlers due to the influence of there mother countries. Both England and France had plans to turn the America's into extremely profitable investments, and were not about to let the other gain the upper hand. Regardless of the problems between the British settlers and Britain, they both saw the opportunities the America's had to offer, and they also knew that they would need to work together to get rid of France, and thus allocate all the resources the America's had to offer. This working together was most evident in the British defeat of New France. In this conflict both British settler's and soldiers were successful in taking French basis concluding on September 8th, 1760 with the French's surrender in Montreal.
To understand British policies towards their colonies in the 18th century you must know that the British saw the colonies as strictly a vehicle for them to gain fortune, not as an extension of themselves. The colonies main functions were to harvest desirable crops and send them back to Britain for refining. Although this system seemed to be working out well, by the mid to late 18th century it seemed that Britain was becoming a bit to greedy and settlers were independent and frustrated enough to start standing up for themselves...