Wars of Empire

1. Wars of Empire Goal: To understand how Great Britain’s wars with France affected the American colonies

2. American Indians affect the balance of power • Britain wanted to kick France out of N. America for good • The French had the support of most of the American Indians • The British and French gave generous gifts to the Native American nations • Native Americans benefitted from preventing one empire from dominating the other

3. The Balance Shifts • In 1754, the British had 1.5 million colonists compared to 70,000 French • The outnumbered French worked with Native Americans to resists British expansion • “We can drive away the French when we please…not true with the British”

5. The French and Indian War • A young Virginian by the name of George Washington led British troops in the defeat of Ft. Duquesne • Washington and his men, however, had to surrender during the French counterattack • This sparked the French and Indian War

6. Early Battles • The British suffered disastrous defeats at first • The British managed to cut off French shipping to the Americas • Many Native Americans deserted the French for the better-supplied British • The British also managed to gain control of the St. Lawrence River, which led to the conquer of Quebec • In 1760, the British captured Montreal and forced the French governor to surrender the Great Lakes

7. Treaty of Paris 1763 • The British also won victories in India, the Philippines, West Africa, and the West Indies • In the treaty, the British kept Canada, the Great Lakes region, the Ohio River valley, and Florida • The Mississippi River became the boundary between the British and the Spanish claims in North America

9. Questions • Why did the French and British fight frequently during the 1600s and 1700s? • What was the outcome of the French and Indian War? • How did the French and British differ in their efforts to gain control in North America?

10. Pontiac’s Rebellion • American Indians of the interior N. America were devastated by the British victory • The British stopped most trade with Native Americans and flooded settlers into the western portions of the colonies • Indian groups attacked and captured British forts along the Ohio River Valley and settlements in the Middle Colonies • This was known as Pontiac’s Rebellion (Pontiac was an Ottawa chief who led an attack on Detroit)

11. The Rebellion is Vanquished • The Indians wanted to weaken the British to lure the French back, but failed to capture key British forts • Indian attackers ran low on supplies and their uprising soon fizzled • The British felt that respect for the Indians would cost less than fighting a war with them • The British made peace with most Indian tribes and promised to keep settlers out of Indian territories west of the Appalachians in the Proclamation of 1763 • There were too few soldiers, however, to restrain the west-bound colonists

12. Aftermath of the War • Revealed tensions between the British and their colonists • British desired more control over the colonies, accrued a large war debt, and now had to secure the large area taken from the French • Bickering among the 13 colonies during the war annoyed the British • The British attempted to make the colonists pay for their protection through new taxes and new trade regulations

13. Questions • What did the Indians involved with Pontiac’s Rebellion hope to accomplish? • What was the effect of the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s Rebellion on the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain?