Influence of Britain

Britain’s Influence on the Development of the United States
Britain’s role in the development of the United States was more than that of any other country. At first, Britain did not want any other religion in Britain and strictly forced this rule and made people pay taxes and to be catholic or what is known as indulgences. This started an outbreak of protests and a cry for freedom. When explorers founded present day America people in Britain saw this as an opportunity to have above all else religious freedom from the monarchy of Britain. Britain did not care much to regulate the first colonies it controlled in the new territory. This changed when other countries such as France and Spain started making a vast amount of income from the new colonies. At the time Britain’s only other source of income was from the taxes and trading from West Indies. The people from the West Indies, however, were trading a lot more with the Netherlands than with the motherland. Britain saw this as a threat and made a series of regulations known as the Navigation Act. This act was designed to keep the Dutch from trading with people in the new American colonies and the West Indie tobacco and sugar farms. Since Britain at the time had only seven of the twenty English colonies under direct control from the king. The other thirteen colonies that weren’t regulated by the crown ignored the Navigation Act and even through rebellions in the colony of Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon. In New England the puritans fought alongside the Dutch against the Indians and didn’t bother to consult the motherland before doing so. Britain feared that its colonies were falling into chaos and disobedience, so from this point forward Britain tried to maintain an imperial presence in the new colonies. King James II tried to unify seven of the colonies into one by creating the Dominion of New England. This was soon overthrown when a civil war broke out in Britain and the American colonies followed the rebels and...