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The US would not have developed as fast if it had continued to be a British colony. A major cause of the War of Independence was that when Britain took control
by Merrill 7y ago
The US would not have developed as fast if it had continued to be a British colony. A major cause of the War of Independence was that when Britain took control of the Ohio after the French and Indian War, the crown claimed the right to all negotiations with the Indian tribes and prevented the colonists from buying and/or seizing Indian land in the Ohio River Valley. Recall that Washington had been to the headwaters of the Ohio. He and others were well aware of the rich lands west of the Appalachian chain. Also, many of the financiers of the war were also land speculators before and after the war. The officers of the war formed the Society of the Cincinnati, and many of them were granted land west of the Appalachians.
The net result was the rapid expansion westward from 1790 through the 1800s. This expansion and development of the lands, forests and mines was aided by rapid immigration from many countries in Europe, not just the British Isles. As a British Colony, the US would not have been as available to other Europeans, and development would have been slower.
Possibly slavery would have ended more quickly, but Britain also supported the South, rather than the North. The South's cotton fed the British textile factories. After the Civil War, Britain went on to develop cotton plantations in Egypt as a replacement source.
- carty76ers 7y ago> As a British Colony, the US would not have been as available to other Europeans, and development would have been slower. Do you have a source for this? My understanding is that in 1775, the British colonies of America were the fastest growing and most populous of the British empire. So if the war happened, why would this not continue to be the case?
- simonh 7y agoThey would have continued to grow rapidly, but almost certainly not as rapidly as they actually did. Also it's unlikely they would have expanded their territory as quickly for the reasons already given. The desire for territorial expansion was a major driver for independence. It's also hard to imagine the Louisiana Purchase occurring under the British crown.
- ClumsyPilot 7y agoSeems to indicate the native Indians would have had suffered much less? Maybe it would be less developed, but I am getting the impression the US history would have less suffering?
- philwelch 7y agoThey just would have been colonized by the French or Spanish instead. Smallpox and other infectious diseases would have still been as vicious and deadly. At best some of the more warlike tribes such as the Comanche would have been able to hold effective control of the Great Plains.