Niagara at most should be my furthest Post in that quarter . . . By this Means we may keep up a Trade with the most distant Nations, retain their good Opinion, and totally prevent any Jealousy of our intending them any ill. . . . As we increase in Numbers on this Continent, it’s easy and Safe to advance our settlements in Townships, though this I would do only by Cession or by Purchase of the Lands to prevent the Shadow of an Excuse for the Indians to quarrel with us.”
-Source: Colonel William Eyre, as printed in The First Global War: Britain, France, and the Fate of North America, 1756-1775,1764
Explain in at least eight sentences how this quote relates to the Seven Years War and its impact on the American Revolution.
Answer:
William Eyre was part of the British Army throughout the French and Indian Wars, also known as the Seven Years War (1754-1763).
This was a conflict between Great Britain and France due to their desire to expand into frontier regions in North America.
Eyre´s quote is a warning on how to prevent that conflict from becoming damaging to the British dominion.
Explanation:
By the end of the War, by the Treaty of Paris (1763) the French ceded most of its North American lands to the British.
However, this victory caused problems in Great Britain’s American colonies.
The territorial expansion led to conflicts over frontier policies and the imposition of taxes to pay the war’s costs.
Furthermore, the British limitations to the colonist´s western expansion and the inducement of an Indian war provoked anger in the British who lived in the American colonies.
Eventually, that colonial anger led to rebellion and the American Revolution.
