The French and Indian War and the Battle for the Ohio Valley

1. Chapter 4 The Road to Independence

2. Section 1 The French and Indian War

3. Question • Why was the Ohio Valley so important to both the British and the French?????

4. Answer • Vital waterways • Base of the Great Lakes region • Native American tribes (Iroquois) • French did not want the British interrupting their trade. • 1st battle of the war, British Fort Necessity lost to the French. Defeat for George Washington.

6. Causes of War • 1754-1763 North American campaign • 1757-1766 European phase • British and Colonists against French and Native Americans. • Fought for control of eastern North America.

7. Rivalry Between Britain & France • Competition for areas started after colonization. • British settled colonies. • French built forts to protect trade. • French explored farther inland, past Appalachian Mountains • England claimed some of this territory. • Conflicts in Europe mirrored those in colonial America, and vice versa.

8. British settled towns and built farms while French established ports. • French relations were usually better with Native Americans than English.

9. Albany Plan of Union • Colonists met in Albany in June 1754. • Try to strengthen ties with Iroquois league. • Also wanted to unified war effort. • Ben Franklin came up with a plan to form a permanent union of the colonies. It called for a grand council of delegates from each colony and have a President. • The colonists opposed this because they did not want to relinquish power to a central government. • Would provide a model for later government.

10. Early British Defeats • The British defeated in early battles even though they outnumbered the French. • Fighting style was traditional European. • Native Americans fought guerrilla warfare.

11. Pennsylvania July 1755 • 900 French & Indians v. 1500 British troops and 450 colonial militia. • During this 3hour battle, the British lost 1/3 of their forces. Among those killed was British General Edward Braddock, whom George Washington had warned of different fighting tactics. Braddock did not want to listen to the “colonists”. • This battle showed the incredible bravery of George Washington.

12. British win the war • When William Pitt became Prime minister, he ordered taxes to be raised and borrowed money to pay for war effort. • This ultimately led them to conduct the war and prepare the troops much better.

13. Tide of War Turns • The British seized 3 important forts from the French: • July 1758 captured Louisbourg on the St. Lawrence • Nov 1758 Fort Duquesne in Pennsylvania • July 1759 Fort Niagra This put the French on the defensive, they abandoned their forts in New York and retreated to Canada. Now the Iroquois wanted to back the British, but too little too late.

14. Fall of Quebec • In 1759, the British wanted to invade Canada and capture Quebec. • After heavy losses, the British decided to lay siege to the city. • British supply ships would be leaving, feared supplies would run out, the British launched a surprise attack. • French overwhelmed • Fell to British • Once the British overtook Montreal, all of Canada fell to the British.

17. Treaty of Paris 1763 • France gave Canada to British and surrendered its claim to all lands east of the Mississippi River except for New Orleans. • British gave Cuba back to Spain in exchange for Florida.

18. British thought colonists did not provide enough support. British did not see colonists as British Citizens or equals. Americans shocked by weaknesses of British military tactics. Americans felt British did not treat them with respect or share the same values. Colonists wanted to be led by colonial officers. Americans no longer needed the British to expand into western territory. Weakened Loyalty to British

19. Section 2 Issues Behind the Revolution

20. Changing British Policy • During the years of salutary neglect, the colonies developed their own economy. But now England intended to enforce the policy of mercantilism. • Colonists were not allowed to manufacture anything that competed with products in England. They must not buy from anybody but the English, they must not ship their products to any country but England.

21. George III • At age 22 he became King in 1760. • Replaced William Pitt as Prime Minister with personal advisor John Stewart.

22. Proclamation of 1763 • Native Americans worried about settlers moving into their lands. One of the areas of concern was the Great Lakes region. • At 1st the British didn’t care... • Pontiac’s Rebellion – uprising consisting of many tribes. They destroyed British forts and killed approximately 2000 colonists.

23. The English government came to the conclusion that it would take a standing army of 10,000 men to control the western Indians and to protect all the American colonies. • To prevent fighting among the colonies and to avoid war, they decided to try to keep the colonists confined where they already were.

24. The British thought that the Appalachian Mountains, which ran roughly parallel to the Atlantic coastline a few hundred miles inland, would be a useful barrier to keep the colonists separated from the Indians in the west. • They proclaimed that for the time being the colonists should not settle on the western side of those mountains and that the Indians should not go eastward. This Proclamation Line of 1763 . • The colonists still continued to cross the barrier.

26. Britain’s Financial Problems • War debt- in Europe as well as in America. • High taxes • Believed the colonies should have to pay for their government and defense. • Prime Minister George Grenville intended to raise taxes on the colonies.

27. Sugar Act - 1764 • This act replaced the old Molasses Act of 1733. • The molasses Americans imported was made into rum, which was sold in the colonies. • The Molasses Act would have made foreign molasses too expensive to buy. But the Molasses Act had not been enforced. Now in the Sugar Act, Grenville lowered the duty on molasses to threepence a gallon and he intended to collect it. • British would patrol for smuggling and those caught would be tried in Britain.

29. Quartering Act 1765 • Colonists had to provide housing and supplies to British troops.

30. Stamp Act – March 1765 • A stamp had to be put on nearly every piece of printed matter in daily use; on newspapers, magazines, calendars, receipts, legal papers for buying and selling land, on ships’ papers on insurance policies, and even on playing cards. If your papers did not have stamps on them, they would be seized and you would be tried without a jury in an Admiralty Court and be fined or jailed. • The colonists quickly replied to what they considered British tyranny. They organized town meetings to protest. In order to punish British businessmen, colonists decided not to buy their goods.

32. October 1765. “No taxation without representation” Sent letters and petitions to the King and parliament. Stamp Act Congress

33. Boycott • Some also called for a boycott of British goods. • They started doing this throughout the colonies.

35. Sons of Liberty & Daughters of Liberty • Some of the richest and most respected Americans formed this secret society, to terrorize the agents of the British who were trying to sell the stamps • Most stamp distributors resigned or fled. • Boycott resulted with British merchants loosing money. • Repealed 1766.

37. The Funeral of Miss Amer-Stamp

38. Rising Tensions in the Colonies: Declaratory Act • Issued the same day as the Stamp Act was repealed. • Parliament gave themselves authority to make laws in all cases whatsoever. • Addressed representation argument.

39. Townshend Act - 1767 • Charles Townshend who was now Chief financial officer; thought he saw a way to collect money. • Raise money through duties • Protests and violence began again • Boycotted British goods

40. Boston Massacre – March 5, 1770 • British sent troops to Boston to quiet some of the resistance, but that simply increased colonial resistance. There was continued tension between troops and Bostonians. Two regiments of British troops sent to Boston in 1768 had been taunted for months by people there. • March 5, 1770 an unruly crowd threatened troops. The troops were getting jeered at and pelted with snowballs by a few restless unemployed workers. In the confusion the British troops fired killing 5. • The first to die was Crispus Attucks. John Adams wound up defending the nine soldiers who were arrested. 7 not guilty, 2 guilty on lesser crimes. Britain cancelled Townshend Act but kept the tax on tea.

42. Boston Gazette

45. Committee of Correspondence • Formed to coordinate resistance throughout the colonies.

46. Boston Tea Party – Dec. 16, 1773 • The British East India company was in financial trouble. It had large amounts of teas stored in England. But the company could not sell the tea there because it did not have enough money to pay the customs taxes due. To help this huge business, which not only controlled the trade of India but even governed the land, the government decided to let the company sell the tea directly to the colonies without paying any duty in England. • In this way the company, even if it actually paid the customs charges in the colonies, could sell the tea for less than the colonists were then paying for smuggled tea. Everybody, it seemed, would benefit. The East India Company would sell its tea, the crown would get the American duty, and the colonists would pay less for tea.

47. The colonists did not see it that way. Colonial merchants, who stood to lose their profitable trade in smuggled tea, led the resistance. They cried monopoly against the East Indian Company. They insisted that as soon as they went out of business the East India Company would raise the price of tea. Most of the colonies refused to buy any of the tea, which quickly became a symbol of British tyranny. • Colonists disguised as Indians, threw 342 chests of tea into Boston harbor.

50. Robinson Tea Chest, found by John Robinson who later fought in the war.