Question

Was there a particular moment between 1763 and 1783 when colonists became “americans” instead of “Englishmen” or was it a process?

Answer 1

Between the years of 1763 and 1783 the people living in the American colonies started to became ''Americans'' instead of ''Englishman''. The reason for that were the economic actions taken by the British Parliament. The British were financially exhausted and in lot of debt because of the wars with France and Spain. In order to cover their debts, they implemented the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, which were basically meaning that the colonies needed to pay higher taxes for exports and imports, and they were also limited from where they can import things because of the taxes. That started to create a lot of tensions because the people were losing lot of profit. Little by little the tensions started to turn into revolts, and eventually into a revolution, and a war for independence, as the colonists no more wanted to be part of the English Crown but instead started to declare themselves as separate entities, as Americans.