French and Indian War Notes

1. French and Indian War Notes

2. FRANCE & BRITAIN CLASH (-) Britain & France were the two strongest powers in Europe. (-) They had a long-standing rivalry. (-) As the British-held American colonies pushed westward towards French-held territory, hostilities increased. (-) France considered the Ohio River Valley as their own. (-) The British built a fort in Ohio territory to trade fur. (-) The French destroyed the fort & built their own forts along the upper Ohio River Valley. (-) In the 1740s the French raided towns in Massachusetts Bay Colony & New York. (-) In response, a force from New England captured the French fort at Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. (-) The Natives took sides in the fighting between the British & the French. (-) The French had better relations with the Natives; they were more interested in trading, not taking land like the English were. (-) Natives often helped the French by raiding British settlements. (-) Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704 – http://www.1704.deerfield.history.museum/ THE COLONISTS TAKE ACTION (-) The governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, was part of the Ohio Co. of Virginia (OCV) (-) OCV was a group of men from Virginia had plans for settling the Ohio River Valley. (-) In 1748, the British Crown approved the OCV’s petition for a grant of land near the forks of the Ohio River (near present-day Pittsburgh). (-) In 1752 the company had a pathway established between the small fortified posts. (-) The French were not pleased to hear of British activity in the region. (-) In 1753, French began constructing a series of forts in the Ohio Valley. (-) Gov. Dinwiddie sent a surveyor named George Washington to tell the French that they were trespassing on British territory & they had to leave. (-) Washington delivered the message, but the French did not leave. (-) Gov. Dinwiddie made Washington a Lieutenant Colonel in 1754 & sent him into the Ohio Territory with a militia (a group of civilians trained to fight in an emergency) of 150 men. (-) Washington had instructions to build a fort at present-day Pittsburgh at the confluence of the Ohio, Allegheny & Monongahela Rivers. (-) When they arrived, Washington found that the French had already built a fort there – Fort Duquesne. (-) Washington established a fort nearby called Fort Necessity. (-) Washington attacked a larger French party nearby. (continued)

3. (-) French eventually surrounded Washington’s men & forced them to surrender. (-) His defeat began a series of clashes, and then full-scale war, called the French & Indian War. (-) Britain and the Colonists fought against the French & Indians (-) Part of a larger war known as the Seven Years’ War in Europe. (-) Representatives from New England, New York, Pennsylvania & Maryland met to discuss the pending war. (-) In 1754 they met at Albany, NY to discuss how to defend themselves. (-) The Albany Plan of Union was suggested by Benjamin Franklin. (-) Called for “one general government” for 11 of the American colonies. (-) Plan not approved because no colony wanted to give up their power. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR (-) The French alliances (close associations of nations or groups formed to advance common interests or causes) with the Natives allowed them to control large areas of land from the St. Lawrence River to New Orleans. (-) At start of the war, colonists fought the French & Natives without much help from the British. (-) In the fall of 1754 the British appointed General Edward Braddock as commander of the British forces in North America to drive the French out of the Ohio River Valley. (-) In June 1755, Braddock left Virginia with about 1,400 British soldiers & a small number of Virginia militia. (-) The surveyor George Washington served as one of his aides. (-) Washington warned Braddock that the lined up columns & rows that the British fought in were not suited for war on the frontier. (-) Braddock ignored Washington’s advice, (-) 9 July 1755: combined force of French & Native troops ambushed the British (-) They could not retreat in an orderly fashion. (-) Nearly 1,000 British were casualties of the attack, including Gen. Braddock. (-) The fighting in North America led to a new war in Europe known as the Seven Years’ War. (-) Prussia & Britain declared war on France. France was allied with Spain. (-) Prussia fought France & Spain in Europe; British fought the French in North America, the Caribbean & India.   (-) The first years of the war were bad for the British. (-) William Pitt came to power as Secretary of State & Prime Minister in Britain. (-) He was a great military planner. (-) The British began doing better in the war. (-) Pitt decided that the British would pay for all costs of the war because he thought it would make the war easier. (-) After the war, the British had a large debt (continued)

4. (-) They wanted to raise taxes in the colonies to help pay off the debt. (-) Pitt also wanted to completely conquer the French in North America. (-) He sent some of the best British officers to North America. (-) They captured or recaptured many of the French forts. (-) The British also captured several of the French controlled islands of the West Indies. (-) They defeated the French fleet in India. BATTLE OF QUEBEC (-) Quebec was the capital of New France. (-) It was built on a cliff & was well fortified. (-) The French believed it was impossible to attack. (-) In 1759, the troops of British Gen. James Wolfe found a poorly guarded path up the back of the cliff. (-) They overwhelmed the guards & marched up the cliff at night. (-) The British troops assembled outside of the fort on the Plains of Abraham. (-) They surprised & defeated the French army. (-) Gen. Wolfe was killed in the battle, and became a hero. (-) The French commander the Marquis de Montcalm, was wounded in the battle & died the next day. (-) In 1760, Gen. Jeffrey Amherst captured Montreal. (-) The fighting finally came to an end in 1763. (-) The Treaty of Paris was signed 10 February 1763 to officially end the war. RESULTS (-) The French were allowed to keep most of their colonies in the West Indies, but were forced to give up Canada & most of its land east of the Mississippi River to Britain. (-) Spain, France’s ally, gave up Florida to Britain, but they gained the Louisiana Territory from France. (-) France was no longer a power in North America after the war. (-) The continent was split with Spain to the west of the Mississippi River & Britain to the east. (-) The Indians still lived on the land, but with the French defeated, the Indians faced difficulties. They considered the British their enemies. (-) The British raised the price of goods & refused to pay the Indians for the use of their lands. (-) The British began to settle in the valleys of western Pennsylvania. (-) In the spring of 1763, Pontiac, the chief of an Ottawa village near Detroit, brought together different Indian tribes into an alliance. (-) The Indians attacked & captured many of the British outposts around the Great Lakes. (continued)

5. (-) They also killed settlers along the frontier of Pennsylvania & Virginia. (-) This became known as Pontiac’s War. (-) The Indians did not capture the important British forts at Niagara, Fort Pitt & Detroit. (-) By August 1765, the British had defeated Pontiac & his allies. (-) The following year, a peace treaty was signed. (-) To prevent more fighting with the Natives, the British attempted to stop westward expansion. (-) The Proclamation of 1763 declared that the Appalachian Mountains were the western boundary for the colonies.