"Confronting the National Debt: The Aftermath of the ..." Topic

…French and Indian War

"Great Britain had much to celebrate in 1763. The long and costly war with France had finally ended, and Great Britain had emerged victorious. British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic celebrated the strength of the British Empire. Colonial pride ran high; to live under the British Constitution and to have defeated the hated French Catholic menace brought great joy to British Protestants everywhere in the Empire. From Maine to Georgia, British colonists joyously celebrated the victory and sang the refrain of "Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never shall be slaves!"

Despite the celebratory mood, the victory over France also produced major problems within the British Empire, problems that would have serious consequences for British colonists in the Americas. During the war, many Indian tribes had sided with the French, who supplied them with guns. After the 1763 Treaty of Paris that ended the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years' War), British colonists had to defend the frontier, where French colonists and their tribal allies remained a powerful force. The most organized resistance, Pontiac's Rebellion, highlighted tensions the settlers increasingly interpreted in racial terms…"

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Armand

This is the most un-American thing you'll hear me say and I apologize in advance, but the AWI was caused by extraordinarily clumsy attempts to pay off that debt. That war was fought in large part for the benefit of the colonists, and Britain expected them to pay for it. They then devised the clumsiest, most unworkable, most hateful schemes to tax the colonists, resulting in the revolution. If they had put it in the hands of the local government, if they had taxed shrewdly, the United States would not have split off. It's almost as if they *wanted* the taxation to fail. Certainly it didn't collect 10% of what they wanted, maybe less than 5%.

National debt is not a joke.

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Armand

Ironically, it was the money that England spent in what was then called the French War, that economically saved the colonies from spiralling inflation.

The colonies here were completely cash poor and largely running on a barter economy as what little currency did come in mostly went back to England to purchase goods. The value of debts was reckoned in pounds and shillings, but often paid in labour.

Men who volunteered for a year's duty got paid in coin. Many supplies were purchased locally — food, boats, sails, wagons — bringing in even more currency.

Taxing it all back would have been devastating.

Also, the men who served in the Provincial regiments were treated horribly by the regulars who used them overwhelmingly for grunt construction labour and generally treated as inferiors. This created a lasting bitterness towards the regulars that carried through as the young veterans grew up to be the leading citizens by the time of the revolution.

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Armand