[revwardoc]

Since English colonists first came to North America, the colonies had been self-governing and self-supporting. Colonials fought in wars for the Brits and provided abundant raw materials for the British manufacturing industries. The problem was that the people were treated the same way the Brits treated the native populations of whatever country they controlled, but American colonists weren't "native". The originals were born and raised Englishmen and wanted nothing more than to remain Englishmen. There are hundreds of anecdotes about how "Americans" were regarded and treated by the English gentry; nothing more than mere colonials fit only to serve the Empire. It's no wonder so many of the English lower class sold themselves into indentured servitude just for the opportunity to serve their 7 years then strike out on their own in a land of promise, where there was virtually no class system existed (at least nothing like the European class system). Where a man could improve his lot in life and not be tied to the fact that he was poor born and get some land of his own, not land where he worked his life away and paid rent to some absentee owner. In the latter 17th century and in the early 18th century, there was almost an early rebellion in The Jerseys when the king gave land to some Earl. Unfortunately for the Earl, there were already people on the land who had legal prior ownership and weren't about to give up that right simply because the king "gave" it away. After some long and expensive litigation, it was found that possession is indeed 9/10th's of the law and the people were allowed to keep their property, land that they had cleared with the sweat of their brows. In NH in the 1720's there were skirmishes fought between lumbermen and the king's revenue men over which trees could be taken (trees of a certain girth were the property of the King since they would be used for ships planking and were marked with an "X"). It was a culmination of perceived offenses that drove Americans away from Britain. Oppression begets rebellion.