The growth of the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries didn't happen in a vacuum; though separated by a vast ocean, what happened in England had great affect on the evolution of life and thought in America. This essay focuses primarily on developments in England proper, with special emphasis on how these events helped shape life in the colonies. The English Civil War, the Commonwealth of England, the Restoration of 1660, and the Glorious Revolution: all of these epic shifts in England, overshadowed by the rise of the Dutch and numerous wars with that growing global power, take center-stage. The series of European wars (with their consequent North American theaters) take up the second half of this essay: the Nine Years War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of Jenkins' Ear, and the War of the Austrian Succession. The ousting of the French from the North American continent at the culmination of the French and Indian War sets the stage for twelve years of growing colonial dissent blossoming into bloodshed at the Battle of Lexington & Concord.
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