Why can't Britain stop American independence?

Since Columbus discovered America, Spanish, French and Dutch in Europe have sent armed expeditions to explore and plunder America. But what people didn't expect was that Britain was the last country to colonize the United States, but it became the country with the greatest interests in the United States.

First, the British Empire's colonial achievements in North America

1607, three ocean-going merchant ships arrived in Jamestown with 120 Englishmen. From then on, Britain officially began to import colonists to the American continent. Since then, the number of immigrants from England to North America has been increasing because Britain has opened up a large number of cash crop plantations in North America. By 1700, about 100 after the initial colonial time, the number of British immigrants in American colonies had reached a huge scale of 275,000.

A large number of immigrants came to America.

What is the concept of this number? At that time, Europe was stimulated by the development of colonial economy and its population grew rapidly. However, the growth rate of British immigrants in North America is twice that of European population. The abundant labor force, in turn, greatly promoted the economic development of North America. According to the data, when the American War of Independence broke out, the per capita income of Britain in North America 13 colonies was equal to that of Britain.

Second, the contradiction between the British Empire and the North American colonies.

The purpose of the British government's colonization of America was to plunder economic interests, so even if the immigrants from the North American continent were of British descent, the British government would not alleviate their exploitation and oppression at all. The excessive exploitation by the British government has long caused dissatisfaction among colonial British immigrants.

The luxury life of British aristocrats

In order to promote the development of domestic industry and commerce, the British government fixed the economic development model of North America in the form of law, which is similar to putting a spell on the economic development of North America.

First of all, from 1650 to 1660, the British government successively issued decrees stipulating that goods imported and exported from North America must be carried by British merchant ships. This law has greatly undermined the freedom of trade of British immigrants in North America. Moreover, because North America is a plantation economy, it needs to import industrial and commercial products from outside and export cash crops at the same time. Once the shipping rights of maritime merchant ships are monopolized by the British, it means that North America can only grow cash crops that Britain needs. Otherwise, British merchant ships will not be shipped, and cash crops in North America will only rot in the ground.

Tobacco produced in North American colonies

Secondly, the British government promulgated a series of policies to restrict the independent development of North American industry and commerce. For example, in 1732, the British government arrogantly ordered the North American colonies to ban the production of fur hats. 1750, the British government even ordered the colonies to ban all kinds of ironware.

The significance of these two laws is very obvious. The colonies banned the production of fur hats, so the animal fur obtained by the colonies could only be exported to Britain. Although the colony was forbidden to produce all kinds of ironware, all kinds of ironware needed by the colony could only be imported from Britain. Look how carefully the British abacus is calculated. On the one hand, they monopolized the raw materials of the North American colonies, on the other hand, they imported their domestic industrial products into the North American colonies. This is really a shameless profit-making behavior that both ends have to go.

North American immigrants were persecuted.

Third, the resistance of North American colonies to Britain.

As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance. Even though the British government restricted the economic development of the North American colonies in various ways, with the efforts of the colonial people, the economies of the thirteen British colonies in North America still flourished.

After the seven-year war between Britain and France, the population of North America 13 colonies has reached 2.5 million, and the per capita economic level is almost the same as that of Britain. Moreover, these thirteen colonies have become Britain's largest trade partner except Europe.

Britain defeated France in the seven-year war with France, and Britain's thirteen colonies in North America no longer worried about the invasion from the French. But North America is a place where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and it is impossible for the British government to completely control these thirteen colonies. In this way, the administration and military management of the thirteen colonies depended on autonomy to a great extent.

By the middle and late18th century, the integration of various ethnic groups from Europe in Britain's 13 colonies in North America was deepening, and the concept of American nation was initially formed in people's minds. With the formation of American national concept, the identity of people living in colonies to the British suzerain began to fade.

By this time, the people of these thirteen colonies not only began to have the idea of resisting Britain, but also had the power to resist Britain. The rest is waiting for the conflict with the British government to break out.

Fourth, the American War of Independence.

At this time, although the British government won the seven-year war with France, the long seven-year war made the British government heavily in debt, so it was necessary to step up the development of thirteen colonies in North America to ease the financial pressure.

Under the excessive exploitation of the British government,1in April 775, the British army clashed with the North American colonial army in Lexington, and the American War of Independence broke out.

British regular army

The British army was well-equipped and well-trained, while the colonial army in North America was limited in equipment and lacked training, so the colonial army was defeated repeatedly in the early days of the war. But in the middle of the war, France, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries that had long been dissatisfied with Britain's hegemony in America joined the war in North America. At the same time, the colonial forces in North America began to use the advantage of being familiar with the terrain to wage guerrilla warfare against the British, so the balance of war gradually tilted towards the colonial forces in North America 13.

Guerrillas in North America

In the late period of the War of Independence, the French fleet defeated the British fleet at sea, and together with the 1.7 million allied forces of the United States and European countries, it completed the strategic encirclement of the British army. In 65,438+0,786,5438+0, British commander Kangwa Lees declared his surrender to the colonial army led by Washington. At this point, the American War of Independence was won.

1782, Britain and the United States formally signed the Paris Peace Treaty, in which Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States.

Washington accepted Kangwa Reese's surrender in York City.