Although the colonists sided with Great Britain during the Seven Years War, the colonists began to consider themselves independent from the crown. At first, colonists originated from England and were considered English subjects; however, British government increased their taxation policies after the French and Indian War and the Continental Congress began to question British authority. Therefore, the colonist began to develop a unique American identity between the years 1750 and 1776. .
Colonial unity was seen as early as 1754 through many different people and colonies. The drawn depiction of the colonies by a snake that is divided in eight pieces, which was printed by the Pennsylvania Gazette, along with a short phrase of "Join, or Die" basically stressed the significance of colonial unity and insisted the colonies to unite (A). One of the first steps toward colonial unity and hints of the establishment of ideas concerning unity was shown through the Albany Congress. Although the Albany Plan of Union, proposed by Benjamin Franklin in the Albany Congress, failed severely to unite all the colonies due to the fact that it was not promoted by many colonists and Parliament refused to agree with it, it did however prove that there was a minor hint at colonial unity. Due to the French and Indian War, which was also known as the Seven Years' War and began in 1756, England suffered a massive debt. Enable to pay off their debt, the crown began to tax colonies and so Parliament passed numerous acts starting with the Sugar Act in 1764, the Stamp Act in 1765, the Townshend Acts in 1767, the Tea Act in 1773, and finally the Intolerable Acts in 1774. This ultimately resulted in the establishment of the idea "no taxation without representation" and angered the colonists. The colonists were beginning to develop some ideas in response to these taxes. The colonists created the Stamp Act Congress in response to the Stamp Act, which is where they drafted the "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" and sent it to King George III.