The French and Indian War

Competing European Claims In the middle of the 18th century, France and England had competing claims for land in North America. The French held trapping and trade routes in the Ohio River Valley. Both French & British had claims to the Ohio River Valley. English settlers were getting closer to French territory as the population grew. Both the British and the French would have the help of various Native American tribes to fight.

Competing European Claims

The Battle of Fort Necessity The French set up forts along to protect their fur trading interests. Some of these forts conflicted with English claims. Virginia Governor Dinwiddie dispatched a young George Washington in 1753 to deliver a protest to the French. This protest was ignored. The British sent a party to construct a fort on the site of modern Pittsburg. Young George Washington

The Albany Plan The colonies sent delegates to Albany to discuss strategy for common defense. Albany Plan created by Benjamin Franklin which promoted a substructure of government below British authority to govern the colonies. The council would be comprised of elected representatives from each colony and headed by a President-General appointed by the crown. "Join or Die" (1754) published by Franklin is considered the first political cartoon of the colonies.

The Treaty of Paris The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War. The French transferred its claims west of the Mississippi to Spain and ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to the British. The Treaties of Easton and Paris limited colonization to the Eastern seaboard.

1763  Treaty of Paris France --> lost her Canadian possessions, most of her empire in India, and claims to lands east of the Mississippi River. Spain --> got all French lands west of the Mississippi River, New Orleans, but lost Florida to England. England --> got all French lands in Canada, exclusive rights to Caribbean slave trade, and commercial dominance in India.

Pontiac's Rebellion Native Americans quickly grew angrier with the British. The British exhibited little cultural sensitivity, traded unfairly, and failed to stop encroachments on Indian land. This unrest culminated in a rebellion by Pontiac, a Native American leader who united various tribes with the goal of expelling the British. The uprising lasted from 1763 to 1766. Massacres and atrocities occurred on both sides— most notably, British General Jeffrey Amherst gave the Native Americans blankets infested with smallpox.

The Proclamation of 1763 Violent incidents such as Pontiac's Rebellion prompted the English crown to attempt to mandate an end to tragedies on territory promised to the Indians. Proclamation line banned all settlement west of the Appalachians. The effort was unsuccessful and is viewed by many to be a leading cause of the Revolutionary War.

British  Proclamation Line of 1763.

Effects of the War on Britain? 1. It increased her colonial empire in the Americas. 2. It greatly enlarged England’s debt. 3. Britain’s contempt for the colonials created bitter feelings. Therefore, England felt that a major reorganization of her American Empire was necessary!

Effects of the War on the American Colonials 1. It united them against a common enemy for the first time. 2. It created a socializing experience for all the colonials who participated. 3. It created bitter feelings towards the British that would only intensify.

North America in 1763