The independence of the American colonies was foreseen by many European statesmen as they watched the growth of their population, wealth, and power; but no one could fix the hour of the great event.  Until 1763 the American colonists lived fairly happily under British dominion.  There were collisions from time to time, of course.  Royal governors clashed with stiff-necked colonial legislatures.  There were protests against the exercise of the king’s veto power in specific cases.  Nevertheless, on the whole, the relations between America and the mother country were more amicable in 1763 than at any period under the Stuart regime which closed in 1688.

The crash, when it came, was not deliberately willed by any one.  It was the product of a number of forces that happened to converge about 1763.  Three years before, there had come to the throne George III, a young, proud, inexperienced, and stubborn king.  For nearly fifty years his predecessors, Germans as they were in language and interest, had allowed things to drift in England and America.  George III decided that he would be king in fact as well as in name.  About the same time England brought to a close the long and costly French and Indian War and was staggering under a heavy burden of debt and taxes.  The war had been fought partly in defense of the American colonies and nothing seemed more reasonable to English statesmen than the idea that the colonies should bear part of the cost of their own defense.  At this juncture there came into prominence, in royal councils, two men bent on taxing America and controlling her trade, Grenville and Townshend.  The king was willing, the English taxpayers were thankful for any promise of relief, and statesmen were found to undertake the experiment.  England therefore set out upon a new course.  She imposed taxes upon the colonists, regulated their trade and set royal officers upon them to enforce the law.  This action evoked protests from the colonists.  They held a Stamp Act Congress to declare their rights and petition for a redress of grievances.  Some of the more restless spirits rioted in the streets, sacked the houses of the king’s officers, and tore up the stamped paper.

Frightened by uprising, the English government drew back and repealed the Stamp Act.  Then it veered again and renewed its policy of interference.  Interference again called forth American protests.  Protests aroused sharper retaliation.  More British regulars were sent over to keep order.  More irritating laws were passed by Parliament.  Rioting again appeared:  tea was dumped in the harbor of Boston and seized in the harbor of Charleston.  The British answer was more force.  The response of the colonists was a Continental Congress for defense.  An unexpected and unintended clash of arms at Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775 brought forth from the king of England a proclamation:  “The Americans are rebels!”