French & English Mercantilist Wars

2. French & English Mercantilist Wars

3. The introduction of new English mercantilist policies changed its economic and military attitude towards the colonies: • Increase protective tariffs and create trade regulations so the colonies worked for motherland • If that failed, go to war with economic rivals and get the colonists to fight too

4. A series of European conflicts involving England & France spilled over into colonial North America: • King William’s War (1689-1697) • Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) • King George's War (1743-1748) • These wars were based on mercantilist competition & had little political significance, but...

5. led to a land frenzy in the 1750s, among French & British colonists Territorial disputes along the Ohio River sparked the French & Indian War

6. Westward Expansion & Land Conflicts, 1750-1775

7. Turning Point: 1754

8. English officials & colonists met to discuss Iroquois problems at the Albany Congress • Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union for a coordinated colonial army • Was vetoed by colonial assemblies & Parliament

9. Was too expensive & would limit each colony’s power to control its own actions • Would give the colonists too much power

10. In 1754, VA governor sent 22 year old George Washington to protect an Ohio Company claim Turning Point: 1754 Washington’s troops were forced to retreat from Fort Duquesne; This clash proved to be the beginning of the French & Indian War

11. Ben Franklin’s Albany Plan of UnionAmerica’s 1st political cartoon

12. French & Indian War

13. The war went bad for England from 1756 to 1758 • In 1757, Prime Minister William Pitt took command of the military: • Used well-qualified generals • Had a “blank check” to fund the war in America, India, & Europe • In 1758, the tide of the war turned; England won by 1760

14. 1758-1761 The Tide Turns for England By 1761, Spain became an ally of France

15. Treaty of Paris

16. France—lost Canada, most of its empire in India, & claims to lands east of the Mississippi River • Spain—got all French lands west of the Miss. River, New Orleans, but lost Florida to England • England—gained all French lands in Canada, exclusive rights to the Caribbean slave trade, & total control of India

17. North America after 1763 America in 1750 America in 1763

18. Perceptions of the War

19. English views: • Americans took forever to organize & balked at helping raise money for an expensive war to protect their own lands

20. Colonial views: • Colonies could be very strong when they worked together • Newly gained frontier had land to be settled • Colonial commanders learned how to fight

21. British-American Tensions

22. Effects of the War on Britain

23. The war increased England’s colonial empire in North America • Pitt’s “blank check” greatly enlarged England’s debt

24. Britain’s contempt for the colonials created bitter feelings England’s leaders felt that a major reorganization of its American Empire was necessary

25. Effects of the War on Americans

26. The French & Indian War united the colonists against a common enemy for the 1st time

27. It was an affluent and optimistic “post-war” period with little thought of independence: • Most colonists considered themselves proud members of England’s empire

28. Eroding Bonds of the Empire

29. In 1760, George III became king & began a new colonial attitude: Parliamentary sovereignty • English officials assumed that Parliament must have ultimate authority over ALL laws & taxes • The colonists tried to reserve the colonial authority for their own legislatures

30. No Taxation Without Representation

31. The colonists assumed that their assemblies were quasi-equal to Parliament because they sent no representatives to Parliament • British officials responded that Parliament represents ALL British citizens no matter where they live • The colonists insisted that only their colonial assemblies could tax Americans

32. After the Seven Years War, everyone expected George to remove British army from America • But…this large, expensive army was not removed • British citizens were not happy because they had to pay for it • Colonists doubted the army’s value against Native Americans

33. Pontiac’s War

34. Backcountry natives banded together to repel white frontier settlers during Pontiac’s War: • Indian successes exposed the British army’s weakness • Attacks revealed desperation of Native Americans after the withdrawal of the French • Colonials took matters into their own hands

35. Paxton Boys in PA • Used violence against Christian Natives to demand military protection

36. Pontiac’s Rebellion, 1763 Fort Detroit British “gifts” of smallpox-infected blankets from Fort Pitt

39. The Proclamation of 1763

40. In response to Pontiac’s war, the British government established the Proclamation Line of 1763: • Forbade colonists from settling across the Appalachian Mountains • for their own protection • Americans viewed the line as an obstruction to their “legitimate economic development”

41. North America in 1763

42. Despite the mounting tension, by 1763, most Americans were loyal “brothers” to England because of: • a shared British culture • dependence upon British consumer goods • shared nationalism after British military victories against France