1. The French & Indian War

2. 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 Valley.
The English colonies were encroaching on French territory are the population grew.
They also competed over trade issues with the Native Americans in the disputed region.

3. Competing European Claims

4. 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

5. The Battle of Fort Necessity
A recreation of Ft. Necessity.
The force was driven off by the French who, in turn, constructed Fort Duquesne on the site.
The next year, Dinwiddie turned to Washington to expel the French from the site. Washington was quickly overwhelmed by superior French and Native American numbers.
Washington had to retreat to the hastily constructed Fort Necessity, which he had to surrender shortly there after. This incident was a prelude to the French and Indian War.

6. The Albany Congress In 1754, war was inevitable.
Led by Benjamin Franklin, the colonies sent delegates to Albany to discuss strategy to protect themselves against the French.
They approved a document written by Benjamin Franklin promoting 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.
The colonies were not ready for political union the British government would NOT have supported the plan.
"Join or Die" (1754) published by Franklin is considered the first political cartoon of the colonies.

7. The French and Indian War
In July 1755, the British sent a force from Virginia to attack Fort Duquesne.
The heavy force was defeated by the smaller French force and their Native American allies.
Both the British commander, Braddock, and the French commander Beaujeu, were killed.
23 year old George Washington won praise for rallying the defeated British and preventing the battle from turning into a failure.
The first two years of fighting were humiliating defeats for the British.

8. William Pitt Elected Prime Minister of England in 1757.
Changed the direction of the war by appointing new officers and deciding to try and win the war in North America.
Pitt concentrated on:
expelling the French from North America
buying the cooperation by the colonists by stimulating the North American economy with a massive infusion of British currency
buying the support of the Native Americans with promises of fixed territorial boundaries.

9. Fortunes Reverse
The greatly fortified force devastated the Cherokee to the South and began capturing strategic French forts and cutting off their supply lines.
The British conquered Quebec in 1759.
In 1760, they captured Montreal.
In the final years of the war, the British defeated the French Navy and took French colonies in the Caribbean.
The French Empire in North America came to an end.

10. French Defeat: Treaty of Easton
The Treaty of Easton- signed in 1758, essentially sealed France’s fate.
In the treaty, the British promised the Six Iroquois Nations to stop settlements west of the Alleghenies in exchange for their neutrality in the war.
The British conquered Quebec in 1759.
In 1760, they captured Montreal.
The French Empire in North America came to an end. By 1760, Detroit and Montreal, the last two French strongholds in North America, had fallen.

11. The Treaty of Paris
The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War.
France lost all her land in North America except Haiti and some fishing islands
England got all French land east of the Mississippi River
Spain got all French land west of the Mississippi River
England got Florida from Spain

12. VI. British Mercantilism v. American Capitalism
By the end of the war, American Colonies had grown to be a strong and thriving part of the British Empire for two reasons:
a. Salutary Neglect –
b. Triangular Trade – Africa, West Indies
and the Colonies

13. After the French and Indian War, England wanted to tighten control over political and economic affairs in the colonies.
Ended Salutary Neglect & began to enforce the mercantilist system—Strong colonial opposition
Provide raw materials for the mother country
Import manufactured products at higher prices from England
Not compete in economic activities against the mother country

14. Because of the debt incurred from fighting the war and the need to protect new territories the British acquired, they needed to create a new source of revenue.
British felt colonists should contribute money towards their defense so they decided to raise money by taxing the colonists.
The British attempted to regulate westward expansion and Indian Affairs
Native Americans quickly grew disenchanted with the British.
The British exhibited little cultural sensitivity, traded unfairly, and failed to stop encroachments on Indian land.

15. Chief Pontiac (Chief of the Ottawa)
“These lakes these woods and mountains were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance and we will part with them to no one … You ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided food for us in these spacious lakes and on the woody mountains”

16. Chief Pontiac: Address to Ottawa, Huron, and Pottawatomie Indians (May 5, 1763)
“It is important … that we exterminate from our lands this nation which seeks only to destroy us. You see as well as I do that we can no longer supply our needs, as we have done from our brothers, the French. The English sells us goods twice as dear as the French do, and their goods do not last. …
When I go to see the English commander and say to him that some of our comrades are dead, instead of bewailing their death, as our French brothers do, he laughs at me and at you. If I ask for anything for our sick, he refuses with the reply that he has no use for us. …
Are we not men like them? … What do we fear? It is time.”

17. Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac’s Rebellion —This unrest climaxed with 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.

18. The Royal Proclamation of 1763
Forbade settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, aka the “Proclamation Line.”

19. Photo and Text Citations
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20. From the Albany Plan of Union (1754) From the Constitution (1787)
“[the President]…he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed…”
“[the President]…shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur…”
“[Congress will] regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes…”
“[Congress will] raise and support Armies…To provide and maintain a Navy…”
“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises…”
9. That the assent of the President-General be requisite to all acts of the Grand Council, and that it be his office and duty to cause them to be carried into execution.
10. That the President-General, with the advice of the Grand Council, hold or direct all Indian treaties… and make peace or declare war with Indian nations.
11. That they make such laws as they judge necessary for regulating all Indian trade. …
15. That they raise and pay soldiers and build forts for the defence of any of the Colonies…
16. That for these purposes they have power to make laws, and lay and levy such general duties, imposts, or taxes…