But it was the British who had won the war, not the Americans, and it was the British who had to pay for it – a mammoth expense, which included putting the nation under the burden of some £58 million of additional debt. As a result, it seemed inevitable that there would have to be a tightening of imperial control over the colonies. As Adam Smith observed, it was no longer possible for the colonies to be considered “provinces of the British empire” which “contribute neither revenue nor military force toward the support of the empire.” In other words, the days of the colonies enjoying a free
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