Post-War Challenges: Problems Faced by British Government - History

This essay examines the problems faced by the British government following the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War), which lasted from 1756 to 1763. The key issues discussed include the acquisition of western lands like the Ohio Valley, the enforcement of trade regulations to combat smuggling, and the immense financial burdens of war debt and maintaining British soldiers in the colonies. The essay analyzes proposed solutions such as stationing troops, stricter law enforcement, and increased taxation, while also considering the feasibility and potential negative impacts of these solutions on the economic welfare and liberty of the American colonists. The essay concludes by referencing relevant academic sources.

Running head: HISTORY ESSAY
History Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HISTORY ESSAY
Introduction
The French and Indian War or the Seven Years’ War, as it is popularly known in history,
started in 1756 and continued until 1763. The main conflicting coalitions were the Kingdom of
Great Britain on one hand and the Kingdom of France on the other hand. The war was mainly
fought over the acquisition of the American territories, which included Canada and major parts
of India. The British coalition won the war and forced France to accept a peace treaty, whereby
the former got the right of the American colonies to the north of Florida and east of Mississippi,
West Indies and India (Marston).
Problems faced by British Government: Solutions and Feasibility
Western Land Acquisition
The primary problem faced by the British government was that of the acquisition of
several lands, including that of the Ohio Valley and several other Western territories, due to the
presence of disputes in their claims. There were conflicts of claims between the colonial
speculators and the British agents of lands. The government also had to make crucial decisions
regarding partitions of the lands for sale, hunting and farming. To solve these issues, the
government proposed to station British troops in those colonies for developing defense against
the French people. They also proposed to allow the settlers to move to west without providing
them defense against the hostile Native Americans (Schumann and Schweizer).
Although these proposed solutions seemed appropriate, however the stationing of British
troops was deemed as a breach of liberty of the colonists, which questioned the validity of such
solutions.

2HISTORY ESSAY
Regulations of Trade
The mercantile laws of British trade were expected to be abided by the colonists,
however, breaching of such laws were frequent among them and they embarked in unfair
practices of smuggling, which hampered the revenue generation of the British government
massively. The possible solutions of the British government were to pass stronger laws, which
implied elimination of jury trial or need for search warrants. Another possible solution was to
repeal the regulations and allow continuation of smuggling.
Both the solutions had their pros and cons. Whereas the withdrawal of regulations had the
chance of decreasing the revenue of British government even more, the stricter enforcement of
the same would have compromised the sense of freedom of the colonists considerably (Corbett).
Financial Problems
Post war one of the massive problems faced by the British government was that of the
huge burden of debt and the immense cost of maintaining British soldiers in the colonies to
combat the American colonists. The colonists had to bear only one twentieth of the total taxes of
the British and when the amount was tried to be increased the cider riots happened. The
government proposed to resolve this by increasing taxes on the residents of England and also by
forcing the colonists to pay equal amount of taxes and by taxing the commodities of daily usage
of the same (Baugh and Baugh).
These solutions, although seemed to be effective in tax collection, however, had the risk
of sacrificing the economic welfare of the colonists extensively, thereby having negative
implications on their welfare and economic liberty.

3HISTORY ESSAY
References
Baugh, Daniel, and Daniel A. Baugh. The global Seven Years War 1754-1763: Britain and
France in a great power contest. Routledge, 2014.
Corbett, Julian Stafford. England in the Seven Years War–: A Study in Combined Strategy. Vol.
1. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2012.
Marston, Daniel. The Seven Years' War. Routledge, 2013.
Schumann, Matt, and Karl W. Schweizer. The Seven Years War: A Transatlantic History.
Routledge, 2012.