The question of independence from Britain did not arise as long as the colonies needed British military support against the French and Spanish powers. Those threats were gone by 1765. London, however, continued to regard the American colonies as existing for the benefit of the mother country in a policy known as mercantilism.[24]

Colonial America was defined by a severe labor shortage that utilized forms of unfree labor, such as slavery and indentured servitude. The British colonies were also marked by a policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws, known as salutary neglect. This permitted the development of an American spirit distinct from that of its European founders.[26