Why did British policies after the French and Indian War lead to increased tensions with colonists?

Answer 1

The British passed a lot of laws during the French and Indian War but colonists generally ignored them because the soldiers were to busy with war to enforce them. When the war ended there were a ton of soldiers with nothing better to do than enforce the law. Britain passes a ton of new to pay for the war.

Answer 2

While Great Britain emerged relatively victorious in North America after the Seven Years' War (popularly known as the French and Indian War in the United States), it was also saddled with burdensome financial debt and reparations as a result.

The British public were already paying heavy taxes at this time, and Parliament was thus hesitant to impose any new taxes in London.

Meanwhile, the colonies weren't paying any taxes towards the national debt—this was in accordance to the British constitution which expressly forbade taxation without consent. Since the colonists did not have any representation in Parliament, they had so far been exempt from the tax laws passed in Great Britain (instead, any taxes levied on the colonies were paid to the local colonial governments).

Naturally, public opinion in the mother country grew increasingly restless at the fact that they had to essentially pick up the bill for the defense of the North American colonies. Tensions rose as Londoners demanded the colonists help pay for the war that was fought partly to protect the colonies from foreign invasion.

Parliament eventually caved to domestic pressure by introducing the Stamp Act of 1765, the first tax in the colonies where the revenue would go directly towards the national government (unlike the previous Sugar Act in 1764).

The Stamp Act was deeply unpopular as the colonists believed their rights as British subjects under the constitution were being violated. They felt it was unfair for the national government to collect taxes while they continued to be without representation in Parliament.

Londoners countered by saying that, even though they were without representation, the colonists were still paying far less taxes than their European counterparts. They also pointed out that most of the revenue was going towards maintaining a standing army in North America, one which the colonists did not want.