• The American colonists became more "English" as the seventeenth century moved into the eighteenth, but regional distinctions and sectional differences remained.
• The seeds of the American Republic were planted early—the settlers brought some sense of independence with them.
• Colonists got used to doing things their own way through their own assemblies; local control over taxes was always important.
• Americans were probably the healthiest people in the world once acclimatized. Clean water, plentiful food, and healthier conditions generally prevailed, though not equally everywhere.
• By around 1750 Americans were probably the most literate people in the world, at least in New England.
• Americans tended to be tough, self-reliant people, individualists. England's new attitude toward the colonies did not yet produce a sense of nationalism for the colonies; the colonists were rebellious by nature, but not yet ready to challenge British authority in the main—the American Revolution was still more than a decade off, and Americans saw themselves as loyal subjects of the Crown.
• Settlers from non-English backgrounds generally did not object to English governance; at worst, it was no more oppressive than what they were used to, and frequently much better.
By 1750 Great Britain had thirty-one colonies from North America to Asia governed by
Various sets of rules. Even the various North American colonies had different charters.
Where does America stand in 1763?
• The American colonies have become a prosperous and important component of the British Empire—they can no longer be ignored.
• American colonists are unquestioningly loyal to the Crown, but that loyalty only extends as far as the Crown's willingness to let the colonists live their lives without interference.
• Many colonists have lived on the edge of civilization and are accustomed to conflict. They realize that from time to time it may be necessary that one fight to protect what one values.
• British officers and soldiers who served in North America during the late colonial wars carried reports back to England of American prosperity, which turns the eyes of Parliament toward America as a source of revenue.
• A significant number of colonists were born in America, and thus England, the seat of the British Empire, seems remote.
• Few British officials—members of Parliament in particular—have been to America nor have they any concept of what life in the colonies is really like.
• If the British had managed to see the colonies as worthy partners in the imperial enterprise and treated them as equals, things could have been very different.
World History
