This question came to mind as I am a massive fan of the Assasisns Creed franchise and have recently been replaying "Rogue" which is set in the Seven Years War, with this game acting as a prequel to ACIII which is set in the American Revolution.
So I've become curious.
With the historical Seven Years War what was their impact on the American colonies and how much did this impact tie in, or not tie in, to the events which would later occur during the Revolution?
Were there any particular sentiments that arose in the Seven Years War which helped contribute to the Revolution?
Did the alliances with Native Americans built in the Wars affect the Revolution?
We're there any significant progresses made for the rights of colonists and Natives during the Wars?
Were key battles in the Wars necessary to the eventual Revolution?
Or did the Seven Years War ultimately have little affect on the American War of Independence?
Hope this question isn't to broad or to specific and I look forwards to your replies.
The Seven Years' War had a tremendous impact on souring the relations between Britain and the American colonies, becoming one of the root causes of the American Revolution.
The British government had to finance this huge war somehow, and it did so through borrowing large amounts of money (doubling its debt to around 130 million pounds, which was the most any country has ever been in debt for up to that time in history) from Dutch bankers despite emposing wartime taxes on its citizens. Once the war was over, the Parliament had to figure out a way to pay down the debt without further increasing taxes, since keeping wartime taxes during peacetime leads to disgruntled citizens. So the Parliament decided to turn to excise and import taxes for more revenue because trade was an area the British did well in during this time period.
Now, many of these taxes that the Parliament decided to implement have been widely accepted in Britain already. Stamp duties for example existed since the Stamps Act of 1694, taxing the purchase of legal documents and, later on, newspapers and other pamphlets. So there was a precedent on which the Parliament figured that it could tax commerce and raise revenue.
However, the newly established taxes raised a whole lot of discontent in the American colonies. In order to allow the colonies to flourish, the Parliament had avoided enforcing many of the laws, especially regarding taxation, leaving the colonies in salutary negelect. Up until the Seven Years' War, this policy worked out fine, as the colonies were left alone while still driving commerce towards Britain. After the Seven Years' War however, the Parliament decided to become more strict in its law enforcement in order to raise revenue to pay down the debt. It cracked down on those who broke the Navigation Acts and the Molasses Act and others like it. It also decided to further tax the colonies through legislation like the Stamp Act. These crackdowns on the commerce of the colonies and the increase in taxes angered many colonists who relied on trade to profit, as their incomes would be hurt. And because quite a lot of people relied on income that some way or another tied to commerce, this led to many angry colonists who did not want to pay new taxes.
What's interesting about the British getting Canada, is that previously France forced the American colonists to stay within their boundaries of the 13 colonies because France owned the land in Canada and around the Mississippi. Without that pressure, the colonists figured they would be able to expand their settlements into the newly acquired lands; however, King George III issued a royal proclamation in 1763 in order to force the colonists to not expand beyond the Appalacians. This became a huge point of disagreement for a few years between the colonists and the British, further leading to discontent between the two sides.
As far as the natives of the area, many had enjoyed an amicable relationship with the French before the war (Algonquian tribes and parts of the Iroquois closer to Canada sided with the French during the war, while the Iroquois in New York sided with the British during the Seven Years' War). Most importantly, with the French gone the native tribes could no longer play the two sides off each other in war, thus becoming very limited in their power as an ally. Eventually, they would be displaced and overpowered by the colonists (and Americans). By the time of the Revolution, the majority of natives ended up supporting the British side, since the colonists were the ones encroaching upon the territories of the natives.
The post I've written feels like a TLDR on the topic, so I'm going to include links that go into much more detail about the subject below. Let me know if you have any more specific questions
Taxes post Seven Years' War:
http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/Web/THM1756?OpenDocument#1756
Proclamation of 1763:
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1750-1775/proclamation-line-1763
Effects on native tribes and the revolution:
http://classroom.synonym.com/did-seven-years-war-affect-native-americans-17698.html
To add a little to I_Provide_Feedback's very good answer as to the larger effects, there was a smaller but significant one. In the early stages of the Seven Years' War, when it was only the various governors trying ( or not trying) to mount a military response, George Washington learned how to keep an army in the field with very little in the way of supplies and money. This was to become to a great extent much of his challenge in the Revolutionary War: keep an army together and in the field , with meager supplies, to keep a constant threat to the British. The Seven Years War also created a substantial number of men in the Colonies who had some military experience. These would also be crucial to Washington's success in the Revolutionary War.
Fred Anderson : Crucible of War