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.

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