French And Indian War: Finance And Control For Britain

242 Words1 Pages
Donnell Campbell
Reading exercise 5
The French and Indian War, which became the Seven Years' War in Europe it created so many problems of finance and control for Britain. In the war's early years, before 1758, the colonists traded with the enemy and refused to pay for British military operations. The ministry of William Pitt 1757–61 solved the first problem by offering to reimburse the colonies for part of their war expenses. The second solved itself as Britain conquered French colonies in Canada and the Caribbean. Pitt's victories and policies, however, doubled the national debt and made his successor determined to contain costs and reform the empire. The British Government had borrowed heavily from British and Dutch bankers to finance the