Editing Thirteen Colonies (section)

===French and Indian War===
{{Further|French and Indian War}}
[[File:NorthAmerica1762-83.png|thumb|Territorial changes following the [[French and Indian War]]; land held by the British before 1763 is shown in red and land gained by Britain in 1763 is shown in pink]]
In 1738, an incident involving a Welsh mariner named [[Robert Jenkins (master mariner)|Robert Jenkins]] sparked the [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] between Britain and Spain. Hundreds of North Americans volunteered for Admiral [[Edward Vernon]]'s [[Battle of Cartagena de Indias|assault]] on [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena de Indias]], a Spanish city in South America.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=345}} The war against Spain merged into a broader conflict known as the [[War of the Austrian Succession]], but most colonists called it [[King George's War]].{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|pages=379–380}} In 1745, British and colonial forces [[Siege of Louisbourg (1745)|captured]] the town of [[Louisbourg]], and the war came to an end with the 1748 [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]]. However, many colonists were angered when Britain returned Louisbourg to France in return for [[Chennai|Madras]] and other territories.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|pages=380–381}} In the aftermath of the war, both the British and French sought to expand into the Ohio River valley.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|pages=383–385}}

The [[French and Indian War]] (1754–1763) was the American extension of the general European conflict known as the [[Seven Years' War]]. Previous colonial wars in North America had started in Europe and then spread to the colonies, but the French and Indian War is notable for having started in North America and spread to Europe. One of the primary causes of the war was increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in the Great Lakes and Ohio valley.<ref name="Anderson">{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Fred |title=The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War |date=2006}}</ref>

The French and Indian War took on a new significance for the British North American colonists when [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the Elder]] decided that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America in order to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a [[world war]]. During the war, it became increasingly apparent to American colonists that they were under the authority of the [[British Empire]], as British military and civilian officials took on an increased presence in their lives.

The war also increased a sense of American unity in other ways. It caused men to travel across the continent who might otherwise have never left their own colony, fighting alongside men from decidedly different backgrounds who were nonetheless still American. Throughout the course of the war, British officers trained Americans for battle, most notably [[George Washington]], which benefited the American cause during the Revolution. Also, colonial legislatures and officials had to cooperate intensively in pursuit of the continent-wide military effort.<ref name="Anderson" /> The relations were not always positive between the British military establishment and the colonists, setting the stage for later distrust and dislike of British troops.

At the 1754 [[Albany Congress]], Pennsylvania colonist [[Benjamin Franklin]] proposed the [[Albany Plan]] which would have created a unified government of the Thirteen Colonies for coordination of defense and other matters, but the plan was rejected by the leaders of most colonies.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|pages=390–391}}

In the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]], France formally ceded to Britain the eastern part of its vast North American empire, having secretly given to Spain the territory of [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] west of the Mississippi River the previous year. Before the war, Britain held the thirteen American colonies, most of present-day [[Nova Scotia]], and most of the [[Hudson Bay]] watershed. Following the war, Britain gained all French territory east of the Mississippi River, including Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio River valley. Britain also gained [[Spanish Florida]], from which it formed the colonies of [[East Florida|East]] and [[West Florida]]. In removing a major foreign threat to the thirteen colonies, the war also largely removed the colonists' need for colonial protection.

The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe. The colonists' loyalty to the mother country was stronger than ever before. However, disunity was beginning to form. [[British Prime Minister]] William Pitt the Elder had decided to wage the war in the colonies with the use of troops from the colonies and tax funds from Britain itself. This was a successful wartime strategy but, after the war was over, each side believed that it had borne a greater burden than the other. The British elite, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers. The colonists replied that their sons had fought and died in a war that served European interests more than their own. This dispute was a link in the chain of events that soon brought about the American Revolution.<ref name="Anderson" />