The American Colonies

Creating the Declaration of Independence | Creating the United States Constitution | Creating the Bill of Rights

Revolution of the Mind | Battle Joined | Founded on a Set of Beliefs | Peace

John Mitchell. Map of British and French Dominions in North America, with Roads, Distances, Limits, and Extent of the Set[tlements] by Jno. Mitchell, d.f. with Improvements. Amsterdam: I. Covens and C. Mortimer, ca. 1755. Hand-colored engraved map. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress (1)
[Digital ID# np000009]

British and French colonies, with their Indian allies, challenged each other for dominance of North America on the eve of the era of republican revolution. Freed from the threat of hostile French neighbors after the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, Britain’s American colonies increasingly demanded rights of political and economic independence.

Another copy of this map by John Mitchell (1711—1768) was used to define the boundaries of the new United States during negotiations for the peace treaty of 1783 that ended the American Revolution.