The Duel for North America

1. The Duel for North America

2. In 1608, the French established their first North American settlement at Quebec along the St. Lawrence River. The leader of the settlement was Samuel de Champlain who eventually earned the title of “Father of New France.” • Many of the early settlers were searching for furs others came for religious reasons. In 1701, Antoine Cadillac founded the settlement of Detroit. Robert de La Salle floated down the Mississippi in 1682 to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle named the region he passed through Louisiana. • French officials established several fortified posts in what is now Mississippi and Louisiana. The most important of these was New Orleans, established in 1718. French North America

3. The French and English first fought over North America in 1689 in a war called King Williams War. Other smaller wars happened every few years. During these wars, both the English and the French tried to gain Native American tribes as allies. These wars were more guerilla wars than structured wars. • Spain eventually allied with the French and attacked into Georgia and South Carolina. • The biggest point of conflict in the fight was the Ohio Valley. In 1749, a group of British colonial speculators, mainly Virginians including the Washington family, secured shaky legal “rights” to some 500,000 acres in the region. The French were in the process of building a series of forts commanding the Ohio River. The most formidableof the forts was Clash of Empires

4. Fort Duquesne, built at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, later the sight of Pittsburgh. • In 1754, the governor of Virginia ushered George Washington onto the stage of history. Washington was sent to the Ohio country as a lieutenant colonel in command of about 150 Virginia militiamen. • Washington encountered a small detachment of French troops in the forest about 40 miles from Fort Duquesne and ordered his troops to open fire. In the fight, a French leader was killed. • The French quickly followed Washington’s troops and surrounded them at a hastily built fort called Fort Necessity. After a ten hour siege, Washington was forced to surrender on July 4, 1754. Washington’s attack signaled the start of what we call the French and Indian War (Seven Years War). Clash of Empires

5. During the early years of the war the colonists were extremely disorganized. Even the Indians had laughed at the inability of colonists to pull together. In 1754, the British government summoned an intercontinental congress to Albany, New York. Only 7 of the 13 colonies sent delegates to the congress. • The long range purpose of the congress was to achieve greater colonial unity and bolster the common defense against the French. One month before the congress met, Benjamin Franklin published a political cartoon which became the most famous of the colonial era. This cartoon showed the separate colonies as parts of a disjointed snake with the slogan “Join or Die” upon it. Clash of Empires

6. Franklin was one of the leaders of the Albany congress. His outstanding contribution was a well devised but premature plan for colonial home rule named the Albany Plan. The delegates adopted it but the colonies and Parliament rejected it. The colonies complained that the plan gave too little independence and Parliament said it gave too much. • In 1755, the British sent 60 year old General Braddock and a detachment of British regulars. His first objective was to take Fort Duquesne. Braddock’s regiment also had a large number of colonial militiamen as well. • The expedition moved extremely slowly and a few miles short of the fort, Braddock encountered a much smaller French and Indian army. The enemy was repulsed but they melted into the thickets and then began firing into the British ranks. Braddock was mortally wounded and his force was routed after appalling losses. Clash of Empires

7. The British launched a full-scale invasion of Canada in 1756. During that year, the British suffered defeat after defeat. • In 1757, William Pitt became the foremost leader in the London government. Pitt decided to concentrate the war effort on the two key French Canadian settlements of Quebec and Montreal. He also picked young and energetic leaders and bypassing incompetent and cautious old generals. Clash of Empires

8. Quebec fell to the British in 1759 and Montreal in 1760. The war gasped on until the Peace of Paris (1763) was signed. This treaty allowed the French to retain a few small West Indies islands. Spain was ceded the region of trans-Mississippi Louisiana and New Orleans. Spain ceded Florida to the British in return for Cuba, which the British had captured during the war. The British gained all French territory east of the Mississippi and became the dominant power in North America and the leading naval power in the world. Clash of Empires

9. American colonists emerged from the war with increased confidence in their military strength. British losses during the war proved to the colonists that the British Army was not invincible. Friction had developed during the war between arrogant British officers and the colonial troops. The British refused to recognize any American militia commission above the rank of Captain George Washington was deeply affected by this treatment. • British General Wolfe characterized the colonial militia as “in general the dirtiest, most contemptible, cowardly dogs that you can conceive.” American settlers felt that they deserved credit rather than contempt for risking their lives to secure a New World empire. Effects of the War in the Colonies

10. With the French gone from North America, the Colonists no longer felt the necessity of staying close to the east coast and began to settle farther and farther west. They had the spirit of independence. The French also had a thought that one day Britain would lose their hold on the American empire. • To prevent future problems with the Indian tribes, Parliament issued the Proclamation of 1763. This document stated that settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains would be prohibited. Many colonists were dismayed and angered and began to openly defy the proclamation by moving west of the line. • Lordly Britons, whose suddenly swollen empire had tended to produce swollen heads, were in no mood for back talk. These Britons were already annoyed with their unruly colonial subjects. Violence was on the horizon. Effects of the War in the Colonies