Wars of Empire Goal: To understand how Great Britain’s wars with France affected the American colonies

American Indians affect the balance of power Britain wanted to kick France out of N. America for good The French had the support of most of the American Indians The British and French gave generous gifts to the Native American nations Native Americans benefitted from preventing one empire from dominating the other

The Balance Shifts In 1754, the British had 1.5 million colonists compared to 70,000 French The outnumbered French worked with Native Americans to resists British expansion “We can drive away the French when we please…not true with the British”

The French and Indian War A young Virginian by the name of George Washington led British troops in the defeat of Ft. Duquesne Washington and his men, however, had to surrender during the French counterattack This sparked the French and Indian War

Early Battles The British suffered disastrous defeats at first The British managed to cut off French shipping to the Americas Many Native Americans deserted the French for the better-supplied British The British also managed to gain control of the St. Lawrence River, which led to the conquer of Quebec In 1760, the British captured Montreal and forced the French governor to surrender the Great Lakes

Treaty of Paris 1763 The British also won victories in India, the Philippines, West Africa, and the West Indies In the treaty, the British kept Canada, the Great Lakes region, the Ohio River valley, and Florida The Mississippi River became the boundary between the British and the Spanish claims in North America

Questions Why did the French and British fight frequently during the 1600s and 1700s? What was the outcome of the French and Indian War? How did the French and British differ in their efforts to gain control in North America?

Pontiac’s Rebellion American Indians of the interior N. America were devastated by the British victory The British stopped most trade with Native Americans and flooded settlers into the western portions of the colonies Indian groups attacked and captured British forts along the Ohio River Valley and settlements in the Middle Colonies This was known as Pontiac’s Rebellion (Pontiac was an Ottawa chief who led an attack on Detroit)

The Rebellion is Vanquished The Indians wanted to weaken the British to lure the French back, but failed to capture key British forts Indian attackers ran low on supplies and their uprising soon fizzled The British felt that respect for the Indians would cost less than fighting a war with them The British made peace with most Indian tribes and promised to keep settlers out of Indian territories west of the Appalachians in the Proclamation of 1763 There were too few soldiers, however, to restrain the west-bound colonists

Aftermath of the War Revealed tensions between the British and their colonists British desired more control over the colonies, accrued a large war debt, and now had to secure the large area taken from the French Bickering among the 13 colonies during the war annoyed the British The British attempted to make the colonists pay for their protection through new taxes and new trade regulations

Questions What did the Indians involved with Pontiac’s Rebellion hope to accomplish? What was the effect of the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s Rebellion on the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain?