1. The French and Indian War

2. Alexander Spotswood, Virginia, 1718
France’s Empire
-French controlled St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Great Lakes and Louisiana
Also settled along the Mississippi River
-France interested in trading not colonizing
Traded beaver furs with Native Americans and made large profits
-French built forts to protect their land and trade from British
-Ohio River Valley was disputed
France and Britain both claimed ownership
- French built more forts to protect economic interests and British colonists tried to expand
“The French have built so many forts that the British settlements almost seem surrounded.”
Alexander Spotswood, Virginia, 1718

4. War Begins
-Disputes over the Ohio River Valley came to a boiling point in 1754
French begin to build forts in land that Virginia claimed as its own
-Virginia government sends a militia led by then Lt. Col. George Washington to attack French in the area
Virginians fired upon the French
-Washington’s militia was quickly defeated at Fort Necessity
-French & Indian War officially began
First war between Britain and France to begin in the colonies
In 1754, twenty-one year old George Washington stepped onto the stage of history. Washington was sent to command 150 Virginians against the French in the Ohio River Valley. When Washington encountered a small group of French troops near the French Fort Duquesne, his men opened fire. The French leader was killed and his men retreated. The French soon returned, however, and surrounded Washington, forcing him to surrender on July 4, The French did allow him to march his men away with the full honors of war.

5. The first three wars between Britain and France began in Europe and spread to the colonies; however, the Seven Years’ War began in the colonies, went on for two years on an undeclared basis, and then widened to become the most far-flung conflict the world had ever seen to that point. It was fought in America, Europe, the West Indies, the Philippines, Africa, and across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

6. Fighting in the Colonies
-Most Native American tribes allied with the French
-One major exception was the Iroquois Confederation
Would be officially neutral and play sides against each other
-The French and Native Americans won many early battles in colonies
-French and Natives used more guerilla warfare
Surprise attacks and ambushes
-British used gentlemen’s warfare
Fought in organized, straight lines
-For the first two years of the war, the French seemed victorious

7. The War Changes
-British government called the Albany Conference to keep the Iroquois tribe loyal to the British
Only agreed to remain neutral
-Conference also developed the Albany Plan of Union
Proposed by Ben Franklin
-Albany Plan would unite colonies under one central colonial government
Colonies rejected because took away too much colonial power
-Britain cuts off France’s supplies and forced Native Americans to surrender
British invade Quebec, Canada
- Treaty of Paris,1763 ends war
Britain gets all land east of the Mississippi River
“The crown disapproved it as having too much weight in the democratic part of the constitution, and every assembly as having allowed too much to prerogative; so it was totally rejected.”
Benjamin Franklin

9. Effects of French & Indian War
Shattered idea of British invincibility
Britain had lost first 2 years of war
2) Colonists experienced discrimination in British military
Colonial soldiers treated as inferiors
Britain angered by lack of colonial support for war
Many colonists would not support war
Colonists see a shared identity
Colonists from throughout America realize their common traits

10. Effects of French & Indian War
Less colonial reliance on Britain
No longer a French threat nearby
Increased colonial desire to expand
Free to expand West, led to problems with Natives
7) Increased British debt leads to taxation
Britain’s debt rises with cost of war and protecting colonies; felt colonies should pay the debt

11. Britain Limits Expansion
-More colonists began to move west in violation of British treaties with the Native Americans
-Led to Pontiac’s Rebellion
- Native American Chief Pontiac united several tribes to push the British out of the Ohio Country
British will put down the uprising, but costs thousands of lives
In the spring of 1763, Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawa people, went to war with the British and colonists. He united several tribes, including the Ottawa, Delaware, Shawnee, and Seneca. He attacked forts along the frontier and burned down towns, killing over 2,000 people. In an effort to retaliate, one British commander ordered blankets infected with smallpox to be distributed to the Natives.

12. Britain Limits Expansion
-To keep peace with Natives, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763
Stated that colonists could not move west of the Appalachian Mountains
-The act angered colonists who felt they had fought for the land in the French and Indian War
Violated the law and moved West anyway
Despite the Proclamation of 1763, forbidding colonists from moving West of the Appalachian Mts., colonists continued to clog the westward trails. In 1765, an estimated 1,000 wagons rolled through the town of Salisbury, NC on their way “up west.” This became one of the first signs that the British were losing their authority.