The French and Indian War

1. The French and Indian War England and France compete for land in North America

2. The French and Indian War1754-63 WHAT WAS IT? • The colonial part of the “Seven Years War” that ravaged Europe from 1756-1763 • The bloodiest American war in the 1700s (higher mortality than the American Revolution)

3. BACKGROUND • In the 1740s, both England and France traded for furs with the Native Americans in the Ohio Country. • By the 1750s, English colonists, especially the investors in the Ohio Company, also hoped to convert the wilderness into good farmland.

4. COMBATANTS • For the first three years of the war, the French & Indians, though outnumbered, dominated the British (Canadians & Americans) • American colonists wanted to drive out French & get rid of Native threat • Native Americans joined French – want land BACK!

5. The tide eventually turned for the British • Lord William Pitt began adapting their war strategies to fit the territory and landscape of the American frontier. • The French were also abandoned by many of their Indian allies. • French collapsed eventually suffering a massive defeat at Quebec in September 1759.

6. The end and a new war • By September 1760, the British controlled all of the North American frontier; the war between the two countries was effectively over. • The 1763 Treaty of Paris, also ended the European “Seven Years War” • Under the treaty, France was forced to surrender all of her American possessions to the British. • the British continued to fight with the Indians over the issue of land claims. "Pontiac's War" flared shortly after the Treaty of Paris was signed

7. Treaty of Paris 1763 • The Treaty that officially ended the French and Indian War. • The British gained control over the area west of the 13 British Colonies all the way to the Mississippi River. • The French agreed to give up any colonies in North America, including all of Canada.

8. North America 1763

9. Lasting effects • ended French influence in North America • England gained massive amounts of land • hurt relationships between the English and Native Americans • Soured the relationship between England and its colonies that eventually led into the Revolutionary War. • Soured the relationship between colonists and Native Americans

10. MAJOR FIGURES George Washington • Served as a commander in the Virginia militia • Officer of the British army • In his years in the field, he learned one important fact: the British could be beaten.

11. MAJOR FIGURES • King of Great Britain during French & Indian, Revolutionary War • mentally unstable due to disease porphyria, (lead poisoning) • given to bouts of madness, unpredictability King George III

12. Chief Pontiac • Ottowa Chief Pontiac believed Natives had been forsaken by white man • Organized an army to drive out white man

13. “It is important for us, my brothers, that we exterminate from our lands this nation which seeks only to destroy us. You see as well as I that we can no longer supply our needs as we have done from our brothers, the French. The English sell us goods twice as dear (expensive) as the French do, and their goods do not last … and they do not want to give us credit as our brothers, the French, do.” - Ottawa Chief Pontiac

14. Proclamation of 1763 • Pontiac’s Rebellion resulted in coordinated attacks by Native Americans on American colonists of Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Illinois territory and Pennsylvania. • To calm violence, the Proclamation of 1763 set the boundary between Colonials and Native Americans • Forbade any colonist west of Appalachian Mountains

15. TAXES • British are broke after war • Cannot afford large army to protect colonists ---> Proclamation of 1763 • Want to increase revenue coming from colonies  taxes on colonists