Colonies and Empire.

Before the Revolution, Americans benefited from being part of the British Empire. England's command of the seas gave American merchants access to markets in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean. Chief American exports—salted fish, rice, wheat and grain, and tobacco—were carried throughout the world by American ships. England's growing industries made manufactured goods available to American consumers. The Seven Years' War (1756—1763) gave Britain complete control of the North American continent at a tremendous cost. The British government needed to raise taxes at home to pay for this expensive war and also decided to pay closer attention to the colonies, which were sources of wealth. Most British colonial policy had focused on the sugar-producing colonies of the West Indies, which generated more wealth than the North American colonies, and on India, which the British East India Company had recently conquered. In the 1760s England...