The French and Indian War

The French and Indian War Chapter 3 section 4

In the early 1500s, the French began to explore North America. Jacques Cartier discovered and named the St. Lawrence River. He then followed it to the site of what he would claim for France and name Montreal.

In 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded the town of Quebec.The first permanent French settlement in North America.

In the next 100 years, the French explored and claimed the area around the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River all the way to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. The area became known asNew France.

Themain activity in this colony wastrade in beaver fur.

In 1682, Robert Cavelier (akaRobertdeLa Salle) , claimed the entire Mississippi Valley for France. He named it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV. By 1754, the colony of New France, had only 70,000 people (compared to 1,000,000 in the British colonies).

French colonists were mostly traders and Catholic Priests who wanted to convert Native Americans. They did not try to build towns or raise families. They had better relations with the Native Americans than the British did.

France’s North American Empire • They relied on Native American tribes like the Hurons, Ottowas, Ojibwas, and others to do much of the trapping. • In 1609, the French helped the Algonquin and other Native Americans defeat the Mohawk Iroquois.

The European powers soon began to fight for control of North America.

First, the English forced the Dutch to give up their colony. New Amsterdam was renamed New York.

The English also started other colonies along the Atlantic coast, from New Hampshire to Georgia.

These English colonists interfered with the French settlers in Canada. The British and the French clashed over the Ohio Valley in 1754. The fight was called the French and Indian War.

When it ended in 1763, France was forced to give up all its land in North America to England. This was alsoknownasthe7 years War. The fighting was not isolated to the New World, but occurred across the world.

France and Britain were competing to build the world’s biggest Empire. One area of contention was the rich Ohio River Valley. The colonists favored Britain because they thought of themselves as British.

The two forces would collide in 1754. The French built Fort Duquesne where modern Pittsburgh is now. The British had granted 200,000 acres in the Ohio country to a group of wealthy planters. The Virginia Governor sent a militia, a group of ordinary citizens who performed military duties, to evict the French.

Georgie • The militia, led by 22 year oldGeorge Washington, built an outpost called Fort Necessity about 40 miles from Fort Duquesne. • In May1754, Washington’s militia attacked a small detachment of French soldiers.

The French counter attacked and forced Washington to surrender. This battle began the French Indian War for the control of North America.

Early French Victories • A year after losing his first battle, GW went back to help British general Edward Braddock drive the French out of Ohio. Braddock and 1,500 soldiers launched an attack on Fort Duquesne. They were ambushed by the French and Native American allies.

The British were not used to fighting people who shot at them from behind trees, they were used to fighting people who approached them in rows. So they fled. Washington’s men fought well, but the British were defeated over and over again in 1755 and 1756.

Pitt and the Iroquois turn the Tide • Britain’s King George II put new leaders in charge to fight the French. • One of them was William Pitt. • Under Pitt, the British were able to start winning battles. • The Iroquois decided to join with them because of this.

In September of 1759, the war took a decisive turn on the Plains of Abraham outside of Quebec. Under the cover of night, General James Wolfe scaled the high cliffs that protected Quebec. He captured the French commander by surprise.

This battle led them to victory in the war. The French and Indian War officially ended with the Treaty of Paris. Great Britain claimed all of North America East of the Mississippi River. This included Florida, which Britain acquired from Spain, an ally of France.

Spain gained the French lands west of the Mississippi, including New Orleans. France kept control of a few small islands near New Foundland and the West Indies.

The Ottawa leader Pontiac saw the victory for the British as bad news for the Native Americans. He and his men captured eight British forts, and laid siege on two others.

In response, British officers presented Small pox infected blankets to two Deleware chiefs during peace negotiations. • The virus spread rapidly among the Native Americans. • By 1765, most Native Americans had been weakened by disease and war, and had to make treatise with the British.

To stop further conflicts with the Native Americans, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763, which banned settlement west of the Appalachians. • The British were unable to enforce this though.

British policies anger Colonists • During the French and Indian War, the British began cracking down on Massachusetts smugglers. In 1761, the royal governor of Massachusetts authorized the writs of assistance, which allowed the British soldiers to search any ship or building. Because many merchants worked out of their residencies, this allowed the British to search their homes. The merchants of Boston were outraged.

Problems Resulting from the War • After the war the British sent 10,000 troops to the territories to control Native Americans and the former French subjects. This was meant to protect the colonies, but the colonists saw this as might against them. Sending these troops cost Britain money, this added to their debt from the war, which had already doubled their national debt.

To lower the debt, King George III hired a financial expert, George Grenville, as Prime Minister in 1763. • Grenville outraged the merchants when he prompted Parliament to enact a law known as the Sugar Act in 1764.

The Sugar Act did three things: • It lowered the duty on foreign made Molasses by half (so colonists would not find it profitable to smuggle) • It placed duties on certain imports. • It strengthened the enforcement of the law for smuggling cases to be held in vice-admiralty court rather than sympathetic colonial court.

This made the colonists angry You won’t like me when I’m angry!

The French and Indian War