CHAPTER   III

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD

1763-1783

THE treaty of 1763 closed one chapter in the development of
the English colonies in America and ushered in a period in
which new conditions and forces co-operated to determine the
destiny of the country. Up to this time the colonies had been threat¬
ened continually with the encroachment of the French and their savage
allies; and, quite naturally, they had looked to the home country for
help and encouragement in the struggle against these relentless enemies.
The treaty of 1763 removed this danger, and from that time forward,
there was apparently to be no barrier to their westward progress. The
removal of their fear of the French made the colonists realise more fully
the opportunities which their position gave them. They were naturally
a hardy, self-reliant people, from whom the hardships and dangers of
frontier life had largely eliminated the timid, the weak, and the unfit.
Their increase in wealth and population had been rapid, and already
some of them were looking forward to the time when their influence, by
reason of both numbers and wealth, should be greater than that of Eng¬
land itself. These changing conditions could not fail to weaken their
feeling of dependence upon the mother country.