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Originally Posted by maximusslade
I honestly think that the colonies would still have eventually severed ties with the old country. My reasoning for this is that is that colonists were almost greedily expansive. If I understand my history correctly, the crown forbade westward expansion over the Appalachian Mountains due to the fact that the crown had ceded that land to the natives. I can see it now. Colonists would have wanted to expand over the mountains to feel the hunger of new land as our population grew, the Crown would say, "no," and colonists would have said,"F*** you!" and expanded anyway, perhpaps cutting ties then. The Brittish outlawing slavery wouldnt have helped the situation either.
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You are probably right that the colonies would have eventually separated from England. But English restraint on westward expansion was not a factor in the move for independence. In fact, England encourged westward expansion without much regard for the fate of the natives, unlike the French who understood the natives better and used them effectively in fighting the English. The reason there was no significant westward expansion was in part because the French claimed the region but mostly because the lifeblood of the colonies depended on close proximity to the coastal area. Interestingly, the colony of Vermont or New Hampshire, I don't recall which, claimed all territory extending in a corridor from its eastern border to the Pacific Ocean.