French and Indian War

 The French and Indian War also known as the Seven Years’ War, lasted from 1756-1763. It was another conflict between the ages-old rivals of Britain and France and mostly took place in the New World. At the end of the War, Britain received Canada and all the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River from France, and the Florida territory from Spain, greatly expanding its hold of the North American continent. When England forbade settlement west of the Appalachians, it tried to tax Americans to pay for the England army sent to “protect” the settlers from Native Americans. This angered the colonists who wanted to move west of the Appalachians or who wanted to make money from selling land they claimed there.

The peace agreement let the French in possession of their Caribbean islands, however, which also led to trouble. The British islands in the Caribbean did not need to buy as much of the lumber, etc. which the colonists had to sell, nor did the people there have enough molasses to meet the needs of the rum industry in New England.

England started passing laws to "control" this trade between the American colonies and the French (and Dutch) islands, which resulted in wholesale smuggling in defiance of the laws.

These two provisions of the treaty that ended the French and Indian War helped start the ball rolling towards Revolution!