Background
- 1706, Benjamin Franklin is born, and America is changing.
- over the next fifty years or so, religious wars calm down, and logic and enlightenment emerge. Ben epitomized the era with his great achievements.
- as for the colonies, they had their differences, as slaves worked plantations in the south, while middle colonies oriented towards trade, business and law.
- 1754, George Washington hits the scene by leading a militia to protect English interests against French competition out west. He attacks French soldiers in the process, which leads to the French & Indian War, where Britain battled against the French and their Indian allies.
- as for France, they had landed in Quebec in 1608, and actively developed and worked the beaver fur trade. They controlled most of the territory north and west of the British colonies, and thus the close proximity and shared interests led the two European powers to friction and war.
- 1763, by the end of the French & Indian War, Britain gained control of most of Canada, as well as lands west to the Mississippi.
- soon, the new king of England, George III, began implementing taxes on the colonies, and revolutionary ideas were set in action.