<P> The war also increased a sense of American unity in other ways . It caused men to travel across the continent who might otherwise have never left their own colony, fighting alongside men from decidedly different backgrounds who were nonetheless still "American". Throughout the course of the war, British officers trained American ones for battle, most notably George Washington, which benefitted the American cause during the Revolution . Also, colonial legislatures and officials had to cooperate intensively, for the first time, in pursuit of the continent - wide military effort . The relations between the British military establishment and the colonists were not always positive, setting the stage for later distrust and dislike of British troops . </P> <P> In the Treaty of Paris (1763), France formally ceded to Britain the eastern part of its vast North American empire, having secretly given to Spain the territory of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River the previous year . Before the war, Britain held the thirteen American colonies, most of present - day Nova Scotia, and most of the Hudson Bay watershed . Following the war, Britain gained all French territory east of the Mississippi River, including Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio River valley . Britain also gained Spanish Florida, from which it formed the colonies of East and West Florida . In removing a major foreign threat to the thirteen colonies, the war also largely removed the colonists' need of colonial protection . </P> <P> The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe . The colonists' loyalty to the mother country was stronger than ever before . However, disunity was beginning to form . British Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder had decided to wage the war in the colonies with the use of troops from the colonies and tax funds from Britain itself . This was a successful wartime strategy but, after the war was over, each side believed that it had borne a greater burden than the other . The British elite, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers . The colonists replied that their sons had fought and died in a war that served European interests more than their own . This dispute was a link in the chain of events that soon brought about the American Revolution . </P> <P> The colonies were very different from one another but they were still a part of the British Empire in more than just name . Socially, the colonial elite of Boston, New York, Charleston, and Philadelphia saw their identity as British . Many had never been to Britain, yet they imitated British styles of dress, dance, and etiquette . This social upper echelon built its mansions in the Georgian style, copied the furniture designs of Thomas Chippendale, and participated in the intellectual currents of Europe, such as the Enlightenment . The seaport cities of colonial America were truly British cities in the eyes of many inhabitants . </P>

Where did most of the colonists come from