Transcript The Colonies Come of Age

The French and Indian
War
Chapter 3 section 4
•
In the early 1500s, the French began to explore North America.
Jacques Cartier discovered and named the St. Lawrence River. He
then followed it to the site of what he would claim for France and
name Montreal.
•
In 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded the town of Quebec. The
first permanent French settlement in North America.
In the next 100
years, the French
explored and
claimed the area
around the Great
Lakes and the
Mississippi River
all the way to its
mouth at the Gulf
of Mexico. The
area became known
as New France.
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The main activity in this colony was trade in beaver
fur.
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In 1682, Robert Cavelier (aka Robert de La Salle) , claimed
the entire Mississippi Valley for France. He named it Louisiana
in honor of King Louis XIV. By 1754, the colony of New France,
had only 70,000 people (compared to 1,000,000 in the British
colonies).
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French colonists were mostly traders and Catholic Priests who
wanted to convert Native Americans. They did not try to
build towns or raise families. They had better relations with
the Native Americans than the British did.
France’s North
American Empire
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They relied on Native
American tribes like
the Hurons, Ottowas,
Ojibwas, and others to
do much of the
trapping.
In 1609, the French
helped the Algonquin
and other Native
Americans defeat the
Mohawk Iroquois.
The European
powers soon began
to fight for
control of North
America.
• First, the English forced the Dutch to give up their
colony. New Amsterdam was renamed New York.
The English
also
started
other
colonies
along the
Atlantic
coast, from
New
Hampshire
to Georgia.
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These English colonists interfered with the French settlers
in Canada. The British and the French clashed over the Ohio
Valley in 1754. The fight was called the French and Indian
War.
When it ended in 1763, France was forced to give up all its land in North
America to England. This was also known as the 7 years War. The fighting
was not isolated to the New World, but occurred across the world.
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France and Britain were competing to build the world’s
biggest Empire. One area of contention was the rich Ohio
River Valley. The colonists favored Britain because they
thought of themselves as British.
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The two forces would collide in 1754. The French built Fort Duquesne
where modern Pittsburgh is now. The British had granted 200,000 acres
in the Ohio country to a group of wealthy planters. The Virginia
Governor sent a militia, a group of ordinary citizens who performed
military duties, to evict the French.
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Georgie
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The militia, led by
22 year old George
Washington, built an
outpost called Fort
Necessity about 40
miles from Fort
Duquesne.
In May 1754,
Washington’s militia
attacked a small
detachment of
French soldiers.
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The French counter attacked and forced Washington to
surrender. This battle began the French Indian War for the
control of North America.
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A year after losing his first battle, GW went back to help British
general Edward Braddock drive the French out of Ohio. Braddock and
1,500 soldiers launched an attack on Fort Duquesne. They were
ambushed by the French and Native American allies.
Early French
Victories
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The British were not used to fighting people who shot at
them from behind trees, they were used to fighting people
who approached them in rows. So they fled. Washington’s
men fought well, but the British were defeated over and
over again in 1755 and 1756.
Pitt and the Iroquois turn the
Tide
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Britain’s King
George II put new
leaders in charge
to fight the
French.
One of them was
William Pitt.
Under Pitt, the
British were able to
start winning
battles.
The Iroquois
decided to join
with them because
of this.
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In September of 1759, the war took a decisive turn on the
Plains of Abraham outside of Quebec. Under the cover of
night, General James Wolfe scaled the high cliffs that
protected Quebec. He captured the French commander by
surprise.
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This battle led them to victory in the war. The French and
Indian War officially ended with the Treaty of Paris. Great
Britain claimed all of North America East of the Mississippi
River. This included Florida, which Britain acquired from
Spain, an ally of France.
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Spain gained
the French
lands west of
the
Mississippi,
including
New Orleans.
France kept
control of a
few small
islands near
New
Foundland
and the
West Indies.
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The Ottawa leader Pontiac saw the victory for the British
as bad news for the Native Americans. He and his men
captured eight British forts, and laid siege on two others.
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In response, British
officers presented
Small pox infected
blankets to two
Deleware chiefs during
peace negotiations.
The virus spread
rapidly among the
Native Americans.
By 1765, most Native
Americans had been
weakened by disease
and war, and had to
make treatise with the
British.
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To stop further
conflicts with the
Native Americans,
the British issued
the Proclamation of
1763, which banned
settlement west of
the Appalachians.
The British were
unable to enforce
this though.
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During the French and Indian War, the British began
cracking down on Massachusetts smugglers. In 1761, the
royal governor of Massachusetts authorized the writs of
assistance, which allowed the British soldiers to search any
ship or building. Because many merchants worked out of
their residencies, this allowed the British to search their
homes. The merchants of Boston were outraged.
British
policies
anger
Colonists
After the war the British sent 10,000 troops to the
territories to control Native Americans and the former French
subjects. This was meant to protect the colonies, but the
colonists saw this as might against them. Sending these troops
cost Britain money, this added to their debt from the war,
which had already doubled their national debt.
Problems
Resulting
from the
War
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To lower the debt,
King George III
hired a financial
expert, George
Grenville, as Prime
Minister in 1763.
Grenville outraged
the merchants when
he prompted
Parliament to enact
a law known as the
Sugar Act in 1764.
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2.
3.
The Sugar Act did
three things:
It lowered the duty on
foreign made Molasses
by half (so colonists
would not find it
profitable to smuggle)
It placed duties on
certain imports.
It strengthened the
enforcement of the law
for smuggling cases to
be held in viceadmiralty court rather
than sympathetic
colonial court.
This made the colonists angry
You won’t like me when I’m angry!