Transcript The French and Indian War

The French and Indian War
1754-1763
War over control of North America
between the French and British
Video Clip
Salutary Neglect
Before 1763, the American colonists were
quite happy with their situation because
the British allowed them to govern
themselves…..why?
 Distance
 England was busy with European wars
 Royal governors were supposed to
enforce the law but colonial legislatures
paid their salaries
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Power of the Purse
Before 1763, colonial legislatures had the
sole right to raise taxes.
 After 1763, Parliament in London began
raising taxes on the American colonies.
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Mercantilism
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It was an economic system in the British
empire. The sole purpose of the colonies
was to enrich the economy of England.
Lack of free trade
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When it came to trade, the British
parliament told Americans what they could
and could not do. The British were in the
middle of their industrial revolution: They
needed raw materials to feed their
factories, plus they needed markets to buy
their finished goods.
Navigation Acts, 1650s
The Navigation Acts were an example of
England’s mercantilist policies.
 Parliament regulated American trade:
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The colonies could only trade with England
 If the colonies wanted to trade with other
countries, goods had to be shipped on British
ships and merchants had to pay a tax tp the
British.
 Its purpose was to guarantee that only the
British would profit from trade with the
colonies.
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On the upside
The Navigation Acts encouraged colonial
shipbuilding
 They provided the American colonists with
a sure market for their goods.
 Thanks to the policy of salutary neglect,
the British never really enforced these
laws.
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On the downside
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Trade restrictions
angered American
colonists
When merchant
violated British law,
they were arrested as
“smugglers.”
To avoid this,
American merchants
bribed British officials.
Who would control North America?
Several European countries had colonies
in North America.
 England controlled the 13 colonies that lay
east of the Appalachian Mountains.
 France controlled Canada, plus French fur
trappers traveled west of the
Appalachians.
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Map of American Colonies
The French and British Clash
In American it was called the French and
Indian War
 In Europe it was called the Seven Years’
War
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The Ohio Valley
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The war began west of the Appalachians-near
Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania
The French claimed the region.
For a decade, American settlers had been
moving into the region.
George Washington had moved into the regionto survey the land and take it over!
The Virginians regarded this region as part of
Virginia!
They received land grants from the British
government, moved into the region, and clashed
with the French and their Native American allies.
Native Americans
They sided with the French because they
were fur trappers, not settlers. (The British
were settlers: they evicted Native
Americans from the land.)
 The Iroquois sided with the British
 The French built a line of forts west of the
Appalachians.
 They ran like this: Quebec, Montreal, the
Great Lakes, and the Ohio Valley.
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Albany Plan of Union: 1754
A Step Toward Colonial Unity
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In the middle of the war, Benjamin Franklin
called a meeting in Albany, New York
It was the first attempt at uniting the 13 coloinies
under one government
He drew a cartoon with a snake chopped up into
pieces entitled, “Unite or Die.”
The plan failed: The 13 colonies were not ready
to unite under one government
(They did not unite until the First Continental
Congress in 1775)
Treaty of Paris, 1763
The peace treaty that officially ended the
French and Indian War
 England took Canada
 England took everything east of the
Mississippi
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End of “Salutary Neglect”
During the war, Parliament decided that
neglecting the colonies was an unwise
policy
 When the war ended in 1763, the British
decided to clamp down on the thirteen
colonies.
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The National Debt
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The British emerged from
this war with a giant
national debt.
To pay it off, Parliament
decided to tax the thirteen
colonies.
In response, the colonies
protested that this was
“taxation without
representation.”
Two years after the war
ended, the American
colonists were protesting
the new British policy.
What the American colonists
learned during the war….
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The British were not
invincible! (They
almost lost the French
and Indian War.)
George Washington
and others gained
valuable experience
by fighting alongside
of the British.
Pontiac’s Rebellion, 1763
Pontiac led a powerful coalition of Indian
nations against the British in the Great
Lakes.
 Parliament decided it did not want any
more expensive clashes between settlers
and Indians. As a result, Parliament
decided to keep the two groups separate.
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Pontiac
Proclamation Line of 1763
Parliament prohibited American settlers
from moving west of the Appalachian
Mountains.
 The British wanted to:
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Reduce the cost of protecting American
settlers
 Control the colonists
 Reap the profits from the fur trade and land
specualtion
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A Power Struggle
In 1763, Parliament began passing laws
that denied American colonists their
traditional rights.
 What was Parliament?

That building in London with Big Ben.
 The government of England-and all the
colonies of the British Empire.
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Military Occupation
The British stationed 5,000 troops in the
new western lands.
 This was the beginning of the British
occupation of America.
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Impact:
The End of “Salutary Neglect”
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Parliament suddenly became quite
involved in American affairs.
Who’s Angry?
Settlers on the frontier!!!
 American colonists ignored the law and
moved onto the frontier.
 This shocked Virginians like George
Washington, who had fought for that
territory.
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