the north american colonies broke away from great britain in 1783.
the north american colonies broke away from great britain in 1783.
when did the north american colonies break away from great britain?
1783
beginning in the early 17th century, the city of london shipped their unwanted excess population, including vagrant children, to the american colonies – especially the colony of virginia, the province of maryland, and the province of pennsylvania – where they became not apprentices, as the children had been told, but indentured servants, especially working in the fields. even before the beginning of the atlantic slave trade brought africans to the british colonies in 1619, this influx of "transported" britons, scots, and irish was a crucial part of the american workforce. the virginia company also imported boatloads of poor women to be sold as brides. the numbers of these all-but-slaves was significant: by the middle of the 17th century, at a time when the population of virginia was 11,000, only 300 were africans, who were outnumbered by british, irish and scots indentured servants. in new england, one-fifth of the puritans were indentured servants. more indentured servants were sent to the colonies as a result of insurrections in ireland. oliver cromwell sent hundreds of irish catholics to british north america during the irish confederate wars (1641-1653). in 1717, the parliament of great britain passed the transportation act 1717, which allowed for the penal transportation of tens of thousands of convicts to north america, in order to alleviate overcrowding in british prisons. by the time penal transportation ceased during the american revolutionary war (1775-1783), some 50,000 people had been transported to the new world under the law. when the american market closed to them, the convicts were then sent to australia. in total, 300,000 to 400,000 people were shipped to the north american colonies as unfree laborers, between 1/2 and 2/3 of all white immigrants.
white trash
the conquest of 1760 represents the final episode of a long series of conflicts between britain and france over their north american colonies. in the decades preceding the seven years' war and the conquest of new france, both britain and france's interest toward their north american colonies rapidly grew and the region became an important source of tensions between the two powers. british north america became a very lucrative export market during the first half of the 18th century and gained in importance in the eyes of british policymakers. the growing economic value of the north american colonies convinced many influential members of the british public that those colonies should be expanded and that france's territorial claims on the continent should not be allowed to stand in the way. furthermore, the nature of the british empire fundamentally changed in the years following the war of the austrian succession; moving from a maritime and commercial empire to a more centralized and controlled empire. this change encouraged the british government to increase its commitments toward its north american colonies and their backcountry (ex: the ohio valley).
conquest of 1760