Regarding the American revolution changing the way Britain dealt with the rest of her colonies, it does seem to have had an effect. Charles Cornwallis, the general who surrendered to US and French forces at Yorktown in 1781, ending the war, was appointed as governor general of India in 1786. One of his significant reforms in India was the implementation of the Cornwallis code, which among other things, banned anyone of Indian descent, as well as British people born in India, from top administrative posts in the East India company. The lumping of both these groups together shows that it was not just racial considerations behind this, but the fear of letting the 'country born' (ie those born in the colony) have too much power. Cornwallis thought that this was the cause of the American revolution.