La Salk'paddledforthousandsofmilesdown the
Mississip p i. Atlasthereach edth eGulfofM exico.
wheretheg n· arnvcr emp tiesintothesca.Some
years latertheFrenchsetupatradin gpo stth ere.In
future yearsthisbecameth ecityo f NewOrleans.
The Frenchclaimth atLouisian abelongedtothem
worr iedboththeBrit ishgovernment an dthe
Ameri can colo nists. Aglance atamapexpla inswhy.
SupposeFrancesentsoldierstooccupythe
Mississip pivalley.Theywouldbeabletokeeplilt'
colo n iststothe castoftheA p palachian Mount ains
andstopth em frommovingwestwards.
Afterseveralwarsearlier in the ei g hteenthcentur y ,
III 175 (,Brita in an dFrance began fightingtheSeven
Yea rsWar .This isknowntoAme ricans:ISthe
f-renchandInd ian War.
Ledbytheir fo rceful P ri m eMinist er .WilliantPittthe
Elder, the British sentmoneyand soldiers toNorth
America. In1758 Hrinshandcolon ialfo rcesca p tu red
theFren chstrongholdsofLo u is bur g0 11th e G u lfof
SLLaw ren ceandFortD u quesne 011 theOhioRiver.
In 1759 th eytookQuebec.In17(,0Montrealfellto
them .TtK'warw asendedb ythePeac eo f liaris,
whichwas sig ne din 1763 .Fra ncega\'t' up its claimto
C anadaandtoallofNorrhA m erica east of the
MississippiR iver.
Britainhadwallan Em pire.Bu titsvictoryled
directl ytoconflictwithitsAmericanco lo n ies.Even
beforerh cfinaldefeato f t h eFrench.colonistsin
searchofbetterlandbegan to m o veoverthe
Appalach ianM o unt ainsinto theOhiovalley.T o
prevcmwar withth e Amerindiantr ibes wholivedIII
thearea.th e English king. G eorg e 111. issueda
proclam ati onin1763.It fo rbadeco lo n iststosettle
westo f'thc Appalach iansunt ilpropl'rtreaties h ad
bee n m ad e with th e A m erindians.
T hek ing's pr ocl am at io n angere dtheco lon i sts.They
becameang rier s tillwhentheBri tishgovernme nt
toldthemthattheymustpaynewtax eson imports
ofsuga r, co ffee.textiles,andothergo od s.The
gove rnmen talsotoldth emrharthey m ustfeedand
find shelt er forBritish soldiersit planned tokeepIII
the colonies.Thes eo rdersseem edperfe ctlyfair to
Brit ishpolitician s.Ithadcost Briti shtaxpayt"rsa lor
ofmoney todefendthecolo niesduring th e French
andInd ian War.Su rely.th ey reasoned.th e colo n ists
couldnor objecrrorepaying:SOl11l'ofthismoney?
(, Till,n o o n 01 REVOL U TIONTradelawsand"sleepingdogs"
Until th e 1760s most A m er ican s seemed q ui te
conte n t to be ruled b y Britai n. An llup0rt ant
reason forth isw asth e p resen ceofrhcFren chin
NorthA m eri ca.So lon gasFran ceheld Canad a
and Loui sian a. rh ecolonistsfelr tha ttheyneed ed
th e Britishna\' y an dsold iersto protec tthe m.
Anotherre as o nth ecolonistsacceptedBritishrule
was th atrhc Britishgovern me nt rar elyinterfered
in colo n ialaffair s.
A cent ur yearliertheB rit ishParliamenthad passed
somelawscalled Navigatio n Acts. Theselisted
certainproductscalled"enu meratedcommodi ties"
th attheco lo n ies werefo rbiddentoe xpo rtto allY
country except England, It w as easy for the
colonists to avo idobeyin gth eselaw s,Thelong
Ameri ca n coa stl inemadesmugglingeasy,
T he colonistsdi d not care m uch eithe r abo ut
importtaxes ,ord uti es .thattheywer esupp osed
to pay 011 goodsfrom abroad, T hed ut ies were
lig ht and carclcsslv collected. Few merchants
bothe red topaythem .An dagain.smuggling was
eJ.s}". Ships cou ld un lo adth eir car g oeso nh un-
dr edsoflo nclvwharveswitho utcustomso ffi ce rs
kno wi n g.
When a Urit ish Prim e Minister named Hobert
Walpo k was as kedwhyhedidnotdomore to
enforcethetr ad elaws.he replied:" Letsleep ing
d o gslie. " Heknewtheindependentspi ri to f the
British colo n ists in America and w an ted no
troublewiththem.Thetroublebeg an w he nlater
Britishpoliticiansforgoth is adviceandaw o kethe
"sleepingdogs."Burthe colonists di d o bject.Merch an ts bel ievedth at
thenew impo rt tax es wouldm ak eitmore difficu lt
fo rthemtotudeat a pr ofit.Other colon istsbelieved
th atthetax eswouldraise their costsofliving .T hey
alsofearedth atifBritishtroopsstayedinAmer ica
th eymigh tbeusedtoforcethemtoobeyrhc Uritish
govern me n t.This last o bjectio nwasall carlv
example o f 3 b eliefth at becameanimport ant
rradirio n in A mericanpoliticallife-thatpeopl e
sho uld!lotallowgovernmen tsto become to o
powerfu l.