Transcript Unit 4: French Colonization and the French & Indian War

Unit 4: French Colonization
and the French & Indian
War
Lesson 2: The French & Indian War
Contest for Power
 A basic cause of the
war was that, by the
early 1700s, France
& England both
wanted to be the
richest & most
powerful nation in
Europe
 Both countries had
colonies in North
America & the
Caribbean, and both
had trading outposts
in Africa & India
France v. England
 This contest for power
led to 4 wars in
Europe & North
America
 Only the war fought in
North America resulted
in major change
The French ended
up losing all of their
land on mainland
North America
What’s the Difference?
 The War fought in
North America had 2
names:
 1. The colonists over
here called it The
French & Indian War
 2.Europeans called it
The Seven Years’
War
Re-Cap
 French settlements
over here were to the
north & west of the
English settlements
 They also claimed
land in the
Mississippi River
valley
Unwilling to Share
 Both France &
England claimed the
Ohio Valley (west of
the 13 English
colonies)
 They both wanted
ownership of that
land so they could
trade for furs with the
Native Americans
One more reason each
country wanted the Ohio
Valley
 For France, the Ohio
Valley was between
Canada & their
settlements in the
Mississippi River valley
(it would better connect
their settlements)
 For England, the settlers
wanted to move west of
the colonies
Who gets the land?
 The side that could
put up the better
fight!
 So in this part of the
world, you had the
French, the British,
and the…
 Native Americans
 If these were the 3
groups of people over
here, and it was the
French v. the British,
what would likely be the
deciding factor in one
side being stronger than
the other?
 Who the Native
Americans chose
to support
Which side made the
Natives a better offer?
 The British could offer
them more & better
goods
 The French offered them
respect
 Who would you go
with?
 They went with the
French, who, unlike
the British, tried to
understand the
Natives’ lifestyle
One Exception
 The Iroquois sided
with the British
 They were powerful,
controlled the fur
trade along the St.
Lawrence River, &
controlled all boat
travel on the Great
Lakes
Remember?
 The French built a
string of military forts
connecting all of their
land between
Canada & the Gulf of
Mexico
 They did this in 1752
to strengthen their
claims in the Ohio
Valley
 This made many British
colonists, especially
those in Virginia, furious
 The governor of Virginia
accused the French of
trespassing on Virginia’s
territory,
 & he sent George
Washington, a young
major in Virginia’s militia,
to tell them to leave
 The French
commander refused
to leave, saying that
“no Englishman had
the right to trade
upon [the Ohio
River].”
What happened next?
 Washington led 150
soldiers from Virginia
to build a fort on the
Ohio River
 He soon learned,
however, that the
French were already
building a fort on the
spot they’d wanted
 (the French called it
Fort Duquesne)
Did Washington do anything
to get back at them?
 In Pennsylvania, on
his way to the
proposed fort,
Washington met a
French scouting
party,
 ordered his men to
attack them, & 10
French soldiers were
killed
 Several more small
battles took place in the
Ohio Valley before war
was officially declared
 Then in 1755, about
2,000 British & 450
colonial soldiers went
to capture Fort
Duquesne
 They were led by General
Edward Braddock, with
the help of G.Washington
The Problem Braddock
Caused
 Gen. Braddock was
used to the way
Europeans fought-
 Soldiers lined up
in neat rows in
open fields
 Washington warned him
that this style wouldn’t
work to fight the French &
Native Americans over
here
Braddock Didn’t Listen
 On July 9, 1755, about
1,000 British soldiers
were killed when the
French fired from the
woods and hills, rather
than visibly from a field
like Braddock expected
 Braddock himself was
wounded & died a
few days later
And war still hadn’t even
been declared yet!
 They finally did so in
1756, & by mid-1757,
the French & Native
troops had captured
2 major British forts
 The British King
appointed William
Pitt to take control of
the war
A new leader pulls the
British back up
 The war was also being
fought in Europe & India,
but Pitt believed it would
be won in North America
 So he sent more
troops & the British
navy here, & in 1758
the British won
several important
battles
The hardest task of the
war was to…
 capture Quebec
(capital of New France)
 Why was it important to
capture it?
 Quebec supplied other
French forts further up the
St. Lawrence
 Taking the city would
cut off French
soldiers’
supplies &
make it harder
for them to fight
Why would Quebec be so
hard to capture?
 It was a walled city
on top of steep cliffs
above the St.
Lawrence River
 Enemies who tried to
climb the cliffs were
easy to see & fire
upon
 For these reasons,
Quebec was able to
resist the siege of
9,000 British soldiers
for several months
 Eventually, though, the
British found a rough,
unguarded path winding
up the cliffs a few miles
away
 During the night, 4,000
soldiers made their way
up to the Plains of
Abraham (grassy
field outside the city)
 A battle broke out, the
French were forced to
surrender, & the
British captured
Quebec
 This marked the end of
French power in
N.America, but fighting
continued until 1760
when Montreal (New
France’s other major
city) was finally captured
Is it over yet?
 In 1763, the French &
Indian War officially
ended when the British &
French signed the Treaty
of Paris
 Treaty: a written
peace agreement
Treaty of Paris
 Results: England now
ruled New France
(Canada), the Ohio
Valley,
 & all French lands
east of the
Mississippi River
(except New
Orleans, which was
ceded to Spain)
The bad thing about
England winning the war

A major reason why English
colonists had held onto their
connections with England was so
protect
them against the
French over here
England would

After the war, the French were no
longer a threat to the colonists
 This contributed to the
colonists’ desire to separate
from England (ie: the start of
the
 Revolutionary
War)
Why did everybody come?
 Spanish:
 riches, sea route to Asia
 British:
 Roanoke:
 expand British empire
 Jamestown:
 riches
 New England:
 religious freedom
 French:
 riches, sea route to Asia, protect their land claims,
missionary work
What did all 3 groups have
in common?
 Mercantilism:
 A nation’s desire
to expand its
power by
acquiring wealth
& land