What is the Continental Congress?
When the French and Indian War ended in 1763, Britain and America were seemingly on a collision course. With the French Empire now eliminated from North America, Britain saw no further threat to its ability to control its American colonies. From the British viewpoint, the mother country had protected its colonies, had a right to govern them, and wanted only for them to contribute their fair share toward paying for the war's expense and maintaining the empire. Many Americans, however, drew the opposite conclusion. Without the French presence in the West, they felt little need for further protection from Britain. From their perspective, the colonies had grown up, and were nearly ready to stand on their own. Britain seemed determined to extract more taxation from the colonists without allowing them any votes in Parliament. So, the results of the French and Indian War, coupled with specific British policies in the 1760s and 1770s led many Americans to believe that England had become an unfit mother and King George III a cruel father. The colonies, they believed, had now matured enough to stand on their own.