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In his post from today, Willie talks about Taylor’s efforts to develop a “general feeling of tension” in order to clarify and justify the eventual revolution. I’d like to continue exploring this theme while focusing specifically on the tensions between colonial powers and the tensions between the colonists and natives.
The first major conflict that Taylor describes is the War of Jenkins’s Ear, which later became the War of the Austrian Succession. This war originated from British efforts to undermine their French rivals by weakening Spain—their ally. Considering the Spanish empire a has-been, the English hoped to grow their colonial power through easy captures of Spanish imperial possessions; however, Spanish resistance thwarted these efforts. Soon, France entered on the side of the Spanish as European issues turned the imperial powers’ focus toward the old continent. A prime example of this is Britain’s decision to return Louisboug to the French during the peace talks to gain possessions elsewhere. Here, Taylor points out that such a “Europe-first” policy reflected the fact that the North American colonies were not yet important enough to either the French or the British to warrant a massive investment of capital and manpower.
Two decades later, in the Seven Years’ War, which is also known as the French-Indian War, imperial actions underline a massive shift in thinking, especially on the part of the British. Whereas, in the War of Austrian Succession, the British abandoned their North American imperial pursuits in favor of European and Indian spoils, in the French-Indian War, the British made North America their top priority. As Taylor points out, the British ended up paying 4 million pounds to conquer Canada, which was “more than 10 times” of what the “French spent to defend it” (432). Naturally, Britain’s large investment in North America meant that they began to pay closer attention to the colonies, especially through taxation and military presence—things that caused tensions to escalate from 1963 onwards.
Meanwhile, as the British colonies became slowly central to world affairs, tensions between Native Americans and colonists continued to escalate. During the Seven Years’ War, Britain pushed France out of colonial America, meaning that the leverage Indians previously enjoyed during negotiations and trade was gone. In essence, natives’ role in determining the balance of power disappeared, leaving them even more vulnerable to exploitation. Through Pontiac’s Rebellion of 1763, Indians tried to reestablish some sort of level ground for negotiation, but succeeded only in enflaming tensions between them and the colonists. These manifested themselves through several bloody clashes, most notably those carried out by the Paxton Boys, who ruthlessly slaughtered and burned a peaceful Indian village.