Warm Up

Brainstorm: What do you

already know about early
American history that may have
caused the colonies to desire
independence from Britain
The French & Indian War:
Prelude to Revolution
The French and Indian War
Main Idea
The French and Indian War established British dominance
in North America but put a strain on the relationship with
the colonists.
Focus
• How did France develop an empire in N. America?
• What were the causes of the French and Indian War?
• What were the effects of the French and Indian War on
American colonists? Native Americans? British?
Background
• The executed King Charles I’s son was restored to the throne
after the reign of Oliver Cromwell
• Appropriately dubbed “The Restoration”
• Problem? Charles II had been living in exile in France and was being all
Catholic
• King Charles II wanted to generate wealth by controlling trade to
American colonies
• 1660 → Parliament passed a Navigation Act that required all
goods imported to the colonies to be transported on English
ships
• Also listed specific raw materials that the colonies could only
sell to England
• Included tobacco, cotton, and sugar
• These were the most profitable for the American colonists
 Background
• Navigation Act of 1663 → Required all goods imported by the colonies to
come through England
• Merchants who were bringing goods to the colonies had to stop in England, pay taxes,
and then ship the goods out on English ships
• What do you think this did to prices? Why?
 Background

• The Navigation acts • Merchants smuggled their

angered colonial goods to
merchants • Europe
• In most cases, the
merchants simply broke • Caribbean
the laws • African

How do you think England reacted to the

colonists breaking the law?
 Background
As a result of colonial
smuggling, the king revoked
the Massachusetts colonial
charter and declared
Massachusetts a royal
So What?
colony

• Charles successor, James II, merged Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Rhode Island together
to form the Dominion of New England
• Would also eventually include Connecticut, New York and New Jersey
• The King abolished colonial assemblies and appointed a new governor and councilors
• New governor, Sir Edmond Andros, ruled with an iron hand
 Background
France in North America
1608: Champlain (explorer) started
permanent French Settlement at Quebec
• Champlain made allies of
the Algonquin and Huron
NAs in the area to protect
the fur trade
• The French helped their
allies against the Mohawks
NAs
• French traders lived in NA
villages, learned languages,
married local women Map of New France
(Champlain, 1612)
The French and Indian War:
The Belligerents

The French The British

and their NA VS and their NA
allies allies
 The French and Indian War
• By 1750 English colonies spread from Maine • The French landed along the St. Lawrence River
to Georgia in Canada – many became trappers and traders
• More adventurous colonists began looking • They intermingled (and intermarried) with
for land west in the Ohio River Valley and Natives and by 1750 were looking for land in the
western Pennsylvania Ohio River Valley and western Pennsylvania
Perhaps it was only a matter of time before the French and English settlers fought over the same land.

Europe North America

• They competed for power in Europe, the Dates Name Dates Name
Americas, the Mediterranean, Africa, and Asia 1688- War of the League of 1689- King William’s War
• The French were Catholic, the British Protestant 1697 Augsburg 1697
• The French kept tight royal control over the 1701- War of Spanish 1702- Queen Anne’s War
colonies, the British allowed more self- 1713 Succession 1713
government 1740- War of Austrian 1744- King George’s War
• Three wars had already spread to the colonies 1748 Succession 1748
1756- Seven Years’ War 1754- French & Indian War
1763 1763
 The French and Indian War
• George Washington joined several wealthy
and influential friends and acquaintances
in forming the Ohio Company with the
express purpose to claim this land
• In 1749, the Ohio Company secured a land
grant from the king who wanted the land
settled and developed
• This put Washington and his friends in
direct conflict with the French who also
claimed this land
• The French king instructed that forts be built
along the Ohio River
 The French and Indian War
• Robert Dinwiddie, the
governor of Virginia, was
encouraged by the
Crown to force the
French out
• Washington volunteered
for the assignment
• His orders read as
follows…
 Washington’s Orders
• “As the French forces on the Ohio intend down as far as Logstown early in the Spring,
I think it is for His Majesty’s Service and the Protection of the Settlements on this
Dom’n to do all in our Power to prevent their building any Forts or making any
Settlem’ts on that river. I therefore, with advice of the Council, think proper to send
immediately out 200 men to protect those already sent by the Ohio Company to
build a Fort and to resist any attempts on them.”
 Washington’s Journal
• May 24th – At two o’clock, we arrived at the Meadows, where we saw a trader, who told us he had
seen two Frenchmen the night before, and that he knew there was a strong detachment on the
march…therefore I placed troops behind two natural entrenchments, and had our wagons put
there also.
• May 27th – About eight in the evening I received a message from Half-King who informed me, that
as he was coming to join us, he had seen along the road, the tracks of two men, which he had
followed, til he was brought thereby to a low, obscure place; that he was of the opinion the whole
party of the French was hidden there. That very moment I sent out forty men…to attack them
together. We had advanced pretty near to them, as we thought, when they discovered us; I
ordered my company to fire…the greater part of the action lasted a quarter of an hour before the
enemy were routed. We killed Mr. de Jumonville, the Commander of the party, as also nine
others; we wounded one and made twenty-one prisoners…The Indians scalped the dead and took
away the greater part of their arms, after which we marched down with the prisoners under guard
to the Indian camp…They [the French prisoners] informed me that they had been sent with a
summons to order me to retire. A plausible pretense to discover our camp and to obtain
knowledge of our forces and our situation. Instead of coming as an Ambassador, publicly and in an
open manner, they came secretly and sought the most hidden retreats more suitable for deserters
that for Ambassadors.
• May 30th – Detached Lieutenant West, and Mr. Spiltdorph, to take the prisoners to Winchester
with a guard of twenty men. Began to erect a fort with small palisades, fearing that when the
French should hear the news of that defeat we might be attacked by considerable forces.
Causes of the French and Indian War
The French were in control
of the desirable Ohio River
Valley →

British colonists continued

to move further west into
land controlled by NA allies
of the French, forcing them
out →

French & NA allies would

raid British settlements →

British would retaliate

Tension between NA tribes caused different tribes
to take sides

The The
Huron, Iroquois
Ottawa League
and
others
British
French Allies
Allies
 The Iroquois League
• Alliance of NAs that were
allied with GB (Mohawk,
Oneida, Onondaga,
Cayuga, Seneca, and later
the Tuscarora)
• Had a constitution and a
council of leaders
• Traditionally had been
allies of the French, but
didn’t take sides until it
was clear which side was
winning

British secured the support of the Iroquois League

through bribes and gifts
The Albany Congress & The Albany Plan of
Union (1754)
The Albany Congress
•British officials believed war with France was imminent
•Urged colonial leaders to prepare for common defense
•Held at Albany, NY in the spring of 1754
•Meeting between NA leaders, colonial officials, and
representatives from 7 of the British colonies
The Albany Plan of Union
• Proposed by Ben Franklin
• Provisions of the plan
– Each colony would keep its own constitution, while a grand
council would deal with military issues, NA relations, and
Western settlement
Never approved
– Historical Significance: first attempt to unite the colonies
into one social, economic, military, and political entity
 Fort Necessity
• Washington’s forces were attacked on July 2,
1754
• Fort Necessity was an inadequate defense
• French and Indian allies took advantage of the
treeline
• Washington accepted liberal terms of surrender
• Admitted – personally – to the murder of the French
commander
• Surrendered his wagons and provisions
• He began the long retreat back to Virginia on
July 4th
• His soldiers carried the wounded on their backs
• His forces were surrounded by hostile Natives
• He failed miserably in his attempt to “repel” the
French
 Who Started the French and Indian War?
• The war began with Washington’s exploits at Fort
Necessity
• To regain the territory lost to the French the British sent
General Braddock to capture Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh)
• He failed to heed the warning of Native allies and was badly
defeated (Braddock was killed and several hundred soldiers lost)
• Emboldened Natives allied with the French attacked
along the frontier
• Fighting began in Europe two years later
• England allied with Prussia to attack Austria
• England was left free to attack France in North America
• Captured Quebec and Montreal with hardly any help from the colonists
• England won convincing victories in the Caribbean and India
• Despite colonists illegal trade with the French
• The first years of the war went badly for the British;
The French won battle after battle
• British officers in America:
• Forced colonists into the army, seized supplies, and
required soldiers to stay in colonists’houses when
needed
• When colonists resisted these actions, more British
soldiers were sent from GB to fight in the war
• In 1758, the British began winning the war
 British-American Colonial
Tensions Ignite During the War
Colonial Soldiers British Soldiers

• March in formation or
Methods of • NA-style guerilla
bayonet charge
Fighting: tactics

Military • Colonial militias served • British officers wanted to

Organization: under own captains take charge of colonials

Military • No military deference • Drills & tough discipline

Discipline: or protocols observed

Finances: • Resistance to rising • Colonists should pay

taxes for their own defense
Demeanor: • Casual, •British officers with
non-professional servants & tea settings
• Formally ended the
war in Europe and
therefore the F&I War
in N. America
• GB gained all French
land east of the
Mississippi River,
including much of what
is now Canada
1. Increased the British colonial empire in the Americas
2. It greatly enlarged GB’s debt, totaling around 130 million
(British) pounds
• Members of Parliament, including Prime Minister
Greenville, believed that colonists should have to pay
some of the debt incurred from the war, seeing that the
colonists benefitted from the French expulsion from
North America
• Greenville also believed colonists should pay for the
standing army GB kept in America, meaning
soldiers’salaries would be paid by the colonists
• Pontiac's Rebellion was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of
American Indian tribes, primarily from the Great Lakes and Ohio River
Valley Regions
• They were dissatisfied with British policies in the Great Lakes region
following the French and Indian War (1754–1763).
• Warriors from numerous tribes joined the uprising in an effort to drive
British soldiers and settlers out of the region. The war is named
after Pontiac, the most prominent of many Indian leaders in the conflict.
• American Indians attacked a number of British forts and settlements.
• Hostilities came to an end after peace negotiations after the Indians
were unable to drive away the British
• Significance: The uprising prompted the British government to change
the policies that had caused the conflict. The British government came
to the conclusion that colonists and Native Americans must be kept
apart.
• Reserved the land west of the
Appalachian Mountains for NAs
to prevent further disputes and
violence
• Gave British officials control of
westward migration
• British increase colonial taxes
to pay for British troops
patrolling the line
• Not widely enforced due to
bribery and lack of numbers of
troops for enforcement
• Slowed movement out of cities
that were centers of trade and
prosperity
Who Started the French and • When fighting ended,
Indian War? England stood
victorious and deeply
in debt
• The English believed
the war was waged to
protect and benefit her
colonial possessions
• The colonists believed
the war represented
the “Empire”
defending itself under
one common banner
• This disagreement led
directly to the
American Revolution
1. It united them against a common
enemy for the first time
2. It created a socializing
experience for all colonials who
participated

3. It created bitter feelings towards the

British that would only intensify