Another British imposition on the colonies was the maintenance of British armed
forces in North America after the close of the war. These troops appeared to
many colonists as evidence of a British desire to install a standing army in the
American colonies for the purpose of controlling the traditionally somewhat
independent Americans. The troops seemed the manifestation of a British desire
to have a stronger hand in the affairs of the colonies, especially in their role
as enforcers of the Proclamation of 1763, which they undertook with vigor.
