The book Defying Empire Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York, by Thomas M. Truxes, discusses New York merchants’ continued trade with France throughout the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) despite it being illegal. Truxes maintains that the merchants were imaginative and audacious while remaining loyal to their country. The impacts of the war were globally felt and had legal, maritime, and personal disparities.
According to Truxes the merchants who continued to trade with the French throughout the war were daring and resourceful in continuing trade. Trading with France took place before the war, and “war did not automatically interrupt commercial relations between belligerents” (2). However, “the Flour Act of 1757, a wartime statute that prohibited
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Legal discrepancies started when England declared war on France. They also passed the embargo and Flour Act, but the “British courts continued to uphold French property rights,” and “direct trade continued” (5). An example was “licenses [used] to export tobacco from Britain to France were authorized almost immediately after the declaration of war” (5, 6). Not only did colonial merchants profit, but “British bankers, financiers […and] Irish provisioners” did as well (202). Smuggling led to many of the Royal ships “interdicting and seizing vessels they suspected of doing business with the enemy” rather than fighting (204). Many of the privateers targeted the Dutch, Danish, and Spanish competition by capturing ships and cargo (83-84). The Spanish were allies of the French but were not actively fighting, so even though “it was obvious that Spanish vessels […] were in the service of France,” they were not seized (89). Some of the personal discrepancies included questions of personal rights since the Frenchmen, or “the men in blue,” “made their fortunes capturing North American vessels” (203). The British were also trading with France, but the colonists were the ones prosecuted, making “little equality in ‘the rights of Englishmen’ across the British Empire” (202). They believed “what was legal for one […] must be legal for all”
During the time period of 1450-1750, there were many changes as well as continuities in the economy of the Atlantic world form. One main change during this time was, the involvement of trading European firearms and other foods. This diversified the initial upbringing of the Atlantic world trade, which was different from its original usage of exporting slaves, gold, salt, and other goods. But this was both a positive and negative change for the economical status of the Europeans earnings increased, but negatively as well as there were more weapons used for violence. In relation, a continuity that occurred through this time was the use of the Atlantic world for the trade of African slaves.
In order to get contraband past the Britain the merchants disguised their ships with flags of truce(Truxes 87-104), used legal goods as covers
However, after the French and Indian war ended in 1763, the British government was severely in debt. It started to enforce the Navigation Acts and imposed
The British men gathered full control of the trading center present in the Americas, and created the Navigation Acts to help aid them in their tactics to take control over all trade within the Americas. The Navigation Acts were passed under a mercantilist system, and was used to regulate trade in a way that only benefitted the British economy. These acts restricted trade between England and its colonies to English or colonial ships, required certain colonial goods to pass through England before export, provided subsidies for the production of certain raw goods in the colonies, and banned colonial competition in large-scale manufacturing. This lowered the competition in the trading world for the British and caused the British to have a major surge in power, that greatly attributed to the growth of their rising empire. The British’s ambitious motives in the trading world help portray a way that the British took control of an important piece in the economy of all of the other nations present in the colonies in the time period, and shows another leading factor in the growth of the British empire.
Between 1763 and 1775, there were three ‘Imperial Crises’ which occurred between the British and the American colonists. The conflict that was produced during this period arose through an undefined balance of political and economic power between the two parties. In 1763, Britain had just concluded the French and Indian war and was left with an immense and almost crippling debt of around 140 million pounds sterling (“Turning Point In American History”). In Britain’s eyes, the most effective way to reduce this debt was increased taxes. Unfortunately, the people of England were already massively overtaxed, which meant the last option for the British was to tax the American colonists.
The book The Best War Ever, by Michael C. C. Adams, is about World War II, the events that led up to the war, and the years following the war. Adams starts the book off explaining some myths that people have about the war. The biggest myth associated with the war is that it was the best war ever. Adams then spends the rest of the book talking about why this may or may not be true. In the following chapters, Adams explains the events that led to the war and the events that accorded during World War II.
The Founding Fathers rebelled against the British government for good reasons, which led to the American Revolution in 1783. The Founding Fathers were justified in rebelling against the Britain because the government was not protecting the rights of the citizens, taxing the colonists, and forced them to house British soldiers. In 1756 Britain put the first tax on the colonists. This was the Stamp Act, it required colonists to pay taxes on certain items such as newspapers, legal documents, licenses, and even playing cards.
Great Britain and France had been at war, on and off, since 1793. The United States, which traded with both countries, was caught in the middle. Britain blocked all French seaports and insisted that U.S. ships first stop at a British port and pay a fee before continuing to
The Treaty of Paris was signed after the Seven Years War, this not only granted more land to England and Spain, but It also helped established boundaries. As a result, France gave Canada to the British, Britain received the sugar hill islands and the British received land east of the Mississippi River. In return Spain gave Florida to Britain and they returned the philipinees and Cuba back to Spain. New world possessions play a pivotal role because after The Seven Years War balance was shifted and ties were severed between the British and Native Americans. Tensions were running high and they ultimately resulted in a rebellion.
Through Jay’s Treaty England gave America the “most favored nation” status, which meant that American merchants got a break on taxes on imported goods; “.. they shall pay no other higher duties or charges on the importation or exportation of the cargoes of the said vessels…(Phillips 146)” By having reduced trading costs Americans were able gain benefit because
After the French and Indian War the British were had a gargantuan debt! In order to pay off such a huge debt they imposed new taxes and enforced old ones. Great Britain thought that it was allowed to pass laws like these, because Britain had protected the colonists therefore the colonists have to give obedience. Laws like the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, Tea Act, and along with the British being oblivious to colonists’ pleas to change the harsh laws (Document 2) allowed
The French and Indian War left England with a debt of £130,000,000. To help pay off the debt Britain set up taxes, to collect money, on frequently used products by the colonists. The Molasses Act put a six pence tax on every gallon of molasses. The colonists thought this was a lot of money to pay so they did everything to avoid it. This act was not really enforced and the colonists did not really obey this act.
The Britain felt that it was only natural that the American colony would pay the mother country more for their protection after the Seven Years War with France. England was trying to relieve some tax burdens by increasing the tax on the colonies (xix). “that the main purpose of country’s overseas possessions were to serve the business interest of British merchants and manufacturers and to provide the mother country with raw materials” (xvii). However, such increase in demand, and pressure seemed unfair to the American colony despite the fact that they had been paying less tax compared to an English
Their government, politics, economy and relations between one another all changed. Along with the colonies, colonists and the Native Americans who lived in those areas that were affected by the war. Even though Britain gained so much, both the British and French suffered great financial loss. The war almost doubled Britain’s national debt. The French’s monarchy became very weak after the war because of the military defeat and their great national debt.
Louis XV was born on February 15, 1710 in Versailles, France. He was never expected to become king of France because his grandfather was the next in line and also his father and older brother were in front of him for the throne. Families tragedies such as the death of his grandfather, his parents, and older brother dying of illness. Louis XV became the king of France at the young age of 5. King Louis XV married Marie Leszczynska and had 10 children, but only 7 lived to adulthood.