IMPERIALISM AND INDEPENDENCE 87America. Yet this too was a strategic decision,
for the British considered the lands of the Five
Nations—which had then expanded to six— to be an
extension of their own. As Evans put it, “whatever is
theirs, is expressly acceded to the English by Treaty
with the French.” To the extent that they could map
these tribes, the British envisioned their own empire
stretching not just along the seaboard but also into
the interior.
The map was used by General Edward Braddock
during the war against the French, and was reprinted
and pirated for decades. Perhaps most intriguing
is Evans’ closing statement in the pamphlet, where
he entertained the possibility that the colonies
themselves might eventually seek independence.
This was two decades before the Revolutionary War,
a response to the incipient voices of independence
voiced in Massachusetts. But Evans dismissed this as
the “Height of Madness,” arguing that the colonies
were far better off with Britain than independently
facing “French power” in the west.
The very fact that Evans’ map was printed in the
colonies is suggestive. Benjamin Franklin’s press
was just one of several in British North America that
produced newspapers and pamphlets; by contrast,
no printing press existed in Spain’s northern colonies
of Florida and New Mexico, nor was there a press
operating in New France. The British colonies also
boasted a number of libraries and bookshops in New
York, Boston, and Philadelphia. These would foster
a high level of literacy and a dynamic print culture,
which proved instrumental in spreading the anti-
British sentiment that led to the Revolution. In other
words, it would not be long before Lewis Evans’
map took on a very different meaning from what
he had intended.