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In the centuries after Christopher Columbus first reached America, European governments competed to build empires around the world.
An empire is a group of countries ruled by a single power. The British controlled slave-trading “castles” (forts where enslaved people were held) and colonies that stretched from Africa to the Caribbean to Canada. They took natural resources from these places to make goods. Then they made money by selling and trading these goods. Britain, Spain, the Netherlands (Holland), Sweden, and France all set up colonies in North America.
▲ Both Britain and France wanted bigger empires. In May 1754, French troops met a group of armed Virginians in the disputed Ohio Valley lands. A young George Washington led the group, which was fighting for the British. The French forced them back from the Ohio River. It was the first battle of a decade of conflict. This included the so-called Seven Years’ War, which actually lasted from 1754 until 1763 in America. It also included Pontiac’s War (1763–1764), which was between the British, the French, and the Ohio Valley Indians. These wars were for control of what’s now the Midwest. Also at stake: the power to shape the future development of the continent. Many Native American groups fought for the French. But the Iroquois League members sided with the British and helped them win.
◀ In 1763, the British won the nine-year North American part of the Seven Years’ War, known as the French and Indian War. The struggle left Britain with huge debts. To help pay for the war and the cost of governing the colonies, King George III and the British Parliament decided to tax the colonies. A tax is money that people must pay to support a government. Although British troops had fought to protect the colonists from the French and Native Americans, the taxes angered many colonists.
▲ In 1765, parliament passed the Stamp Act. This forced colonists to buy special stamps for all kinds of papers. These included wills, diplomas, and newspapers. The colonists protested. Many quit buying goods that needed stamps. Many boycotted goods imported from Britain. They wanted to hurt the British economy and force parliament to change its policy.
◀ Parliament was afraid that Britain was losing control of the colonies. In 1768, it sent 1,000 British soldiers to Boston. This made everything worse. In 1770, a crowd of colonists argued with British soldiers. They also threw ice balls at them. The soldiers got nervous and fired on the crowd. Five people were killed. Rebellious colonists spread the news, saying the event was a massacre. Later, it became known as the Boston Massacre.
Anger over the Stamp Act united many colonists who were against parliament’s attempts to create new taxes. Some joined the Sons of Liberty, whose members took both peaceful and violent action. For example, they rallied mobs to burn down the houses of tax collectors. This British political cartoon shows a tax collector who’s covered in tar and feathers. He’s also being forced to drink tea, a product taxed by the British. One year after passing the Stamp Act, parliament ended it. ▶
▲ Many colonists thought the taxes were unfair. Even though they had to pay taxes, they had no representatives in parliament. So colonists had no way to shape the British laws that affected their lives. They said this was “taxation without representation.” That became a rallying cry. And it’s one of the big reasons that colonists came into conflict with Britain during the 1700s. Above, a mob riots against a governor who was loyal to the British.
