Transcript Chapter 12

Chapter 6
The Duel for North America:
1608 - 1763
France Finds a Foothold in Canada
France was a latecomer in the colony race
was convulsed in the 1500s by foreign wars and domestic
strife
1598 - the Edict of Nantes was issued, allowing limited
toleration to the French Huguenots
1608 - France established Quebec, overlooking the St.
Lawrence River
– Samuel de Champlain--known as the “Father of New France.”
– entered into friendly relations with the neighboring Huron Indians and
helped them defeated the Iroquois (cause Iroquois to work w/ British)
– Also hampered French movement into Ohio River valley
Unlike English colonists, French colonists didn’t immigrate
to North America by hordes
– peasants were too poor, and the Huguenots weren’t allowed to leave
– Only 60,000 inhabitants by 1750
New France Fans Out
New France’s (Canada) one valuable resource was the
beaver
Beaver hunters were known as the coureurs de bois and
littered the land with place names, including Baton Rouge
(red stick), Terre Haute (high land), Des Moines (some
monks)
The French voyageurs also recruited Indians to hunt for
beaver as well
– Indians were decimated by White Man’s diseases
– the beaver population was heavily extinguished
Jesuit missionaries worked as explorers & geographers
– Many missionaries were unsuccessful & were tortured by Indians
1682 - Louisiana was founded by Robert de La Salle, to
thwart Spanish expansion into the Gulf of Mexico
1701 - to thwart English settlers from pushing into the Ohio
Valley, Antoine Cadillac founded Detroit (“city of straits”)
The Clash of Empires
Earliest conflicts among European powers in North America were
King William’s War (1689-97) & Queen Anne’s War (1702-13)
– Mostly fought by French trappers & British colonists w/ whatever
Indian allies they could find
– Neither nation was willing to commit actual troops
– Indians ravaged British colonial settlements
Britain only won one battle but it was enough to get the better end
of Treaty of Utrecht (1713)
– Gained Nova Scotia & the Hudson Bay
1739-48 – The War of Jenkin’s Ear/War of Austrian Succession
(King George’s War)
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Between Britain & Spain, France would ally w/ Spain again
James Oglethorpe battled the Spanish to a stand-still in Georgia
New Englanders invaded New France again
When the treaty was signed, France still held its vast holdings in
America
George Washington Inaugurates War with
France
Ohio Valley became a battleground among the Spanish,
British, and French
1754 - the governor of Virginia sent 21 year-old George
Washington to the Ohio country as a lieutenant colonel
in command of about 150 Virginia minutemen
– Encountering some Frenchmen in the forest about 40 miles
from Fort Duquesne, the troops opened fire, killing the French
leader
– Later, the French returned and surrounded Washington’s
hastily constructed Fort Necessity, and after a 10-hour siege,
made him surrender (oddly, on July 4th)
– permitted to march his men away with the full honors of war
1755 – British Nova Scotia deported 4,000 French
Acadians
– Scattered as far south as Louisiana (those French become
known as “Cajuns”)
Global War and Colonial Disunity
fourth of these wars between empires started in America,
unlike the first three
The French and Indian War (aka Seven Years’ War) began
with Washington’s battle with the French
– England and Prussia vs. France, Spain, Austria, and Russia.
– Bulk of the fighting in Europe in German States
In previous wars, the Americans were not unified, but now
they were
1754 - intercolonial congress was held in Albany, New York
– Primary order of business was to keep the Iroquois loyal to Britain
– Ben Franklin had published his famous “Join or Die” cartoon featuring
a snake in pieces, symbolizing the colonies
– Franklin’s Albany Plan provided for colonial home-rule
the Albany plan failed because it compromised too much
– Didn’t provide enough freedom for colonies; too much freedom in the
minds of British officials
Braddock’s Blundering and Its
Aftermath
60 year-old general Braddock to lead 2000 inexperienced
soldiers with slow, heavy artillery
– Braddock adept at European warfare, but unaccustomed to Indian
guerilla tactics
Washington reportedly had two horses shot from under him
and four bullets go through his coat, but never him
– Braddock mortally wounded; Washington assumes command
– British forces forced to retreat
– Indians widened their warpath, attacking settlements 80 miles from
Philadelphia
1756 – British full-scale invasion of Canada
British forces tried to attack numerous French wilderness
forts, instead of concentrated attacks on Montreal & Quebec
– If these sites fell, forts to the west would have fallen due to lack of
supplies
– Britain faced defeat after defeat in America & in Europe
Pitt’s Palms of Victory
William Pitt, the “Great Commoner,” took the lead in British
government
– Later earning the title of “Organizer of Victory,” reversed
strategy, fixing errors of the previous years
1758 - Louisbourg fell after a British siege
1759 - Battle of Quebec
– one of the most significant battles in British and American history
– James Wolfe commanded an army that boldly scaled the cliff walls of
a part protecting Quebec
– Wolfe and French commander, Marquis de Montacalm
Montreal fell in 1760 (last time French flags would fly on American
soil)
Treaty at Paris in 1763
Britain got all of Canada; now greatest naval force in the world
French were allowed to retain several small but valuable sugar
islands in the West Indies
France’s final blow came when they gave Louisiana to Spain to
compensate for Spain’s losses in the war.
Restless Colonials
France had lost its American empire & could only
console itself with the thought that England would one
day lose their American empire
colonists, having experienced war firsthand and come
out victors, were very confident.
– However, the myth of British invincibility had been
shattered
friction developed--British refused to recognize any
American officers above the rank of captain
hardworking Americans believed that they were equals
with the Redcoats
During the French and Indian War--Americans from
different parts of the colonies found they had a lot in
common (language, ideals) and barriers of disunity
began to melt
Americans: A People of Destiny
Imagine getting $1 million; parents try to
control it; what do you do?
the French had been beaten, the colonists could
now roam freely, and were less dependent upon
Great Britain
Spain was eliminated from Florida
the Indians could no longer play the European
powers against each other, since it was only Great
Britain in control now
1763 - Ottawa chief Pontiac led a few French-allied
tribes in a brief but bloody campaign through the
Ohio Valley—failed
land-hungry Americans could now settle west of the
Appalachians
– Parliament issued its Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting any
settlement in the area beyond the Appalachians
Proclamation was meant to
work out the Indian problem,
– colonists saw it as another form
of oppression from a far away
country
1765 - an 1000 wagons rolled
through the town of Salisbury,
North Carolina, on their way
“up west” in defiance of the
Proclamation
– blatant disobedience by the lowly
Americans
Britain was annoyed over
already unruly colonists
the stage was now set for the
Revolutionary War