Chapter 4

Seven Years’ WarThe French and Indian War

• evidence of the rivalry among the European nations

• the British and the American colonists fought against the French and their Indian allies

Causes• both countries

claimed land• both wanted

access to the beaver pelt trade

• both wanted the fertile fishing grounds in Canada

• Protestant British settlers felt that the French Catholics represented a threat to their religious freedom

Who wants the new land in

North America?

• England• France• Spain• Netherlands

• the English colonies felt most threatened by France

• New France included:– St. Lawrence River

west to Great Lakes– South to Gulf of

Mexico– many forts

Most conflicts were over land in the Ohio River Valley.

Frenchfur trappers

traders

AlliesAlgonquins

Hurons

Englishfarmers

Allies Iroquois

Joseph BrantWilliam Johnson

English Leader – George Washington from Virginia

• was sent to build a fort where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers meet to form the Ohio River

• France already had a fort there – Fort Duquesne

• Washington surrendered and the French released the English

Albany Plan of Union

• seven colonies gathered in Albany, New York to confirm an alliance with Iroquois

• wanted to form a plan to unite the colonies in defense– proposed by Benjamin Franklin

• Grand Council – would have a representative from each colony with delegates elected by their colonial legislature

• would make laws, raise taxes, set up defense system

• not one colonial assembly approved the plan

• colonies did not want to give up their powers to others.– was rejected, but

would provide a model for the later government of the United States

• British Gen. Edward Braddock– led colonial troops

to attack and destroy Fort Duquesne

– came to the Americas with units of the regular army

– would suffer a humiliating defeat

– the Native Americans launched a surprise attack• were picking off the

British soldiers in their bright red uniforms

– Braddock had 5 horses shot out from under him until he was fatally wounded

– Washington was nearly killed

– nearly 70% of Braddock’s troops were killed or wounded• the British feared that

the Iroquois would abandon them (they didn’t)

• a military stalemate developed

• George II – did not want to get involved to organize and finance a sustained military campaign

• Colonial Assemblies – did not want to offer men or money to the effort

• war was declared anyway• in England the French

and Indian War was called the Seven Year’s War

William Pitt• most powerful minister in

George’s cabinet• took personal command

of the army and navy and began mapping military strategy

• was determined to expel the French from the continent– decided that the main

conflict would occur in the colonies

– both countries were struggling to control colonial markets and raw materials

Pitt promised large payments for military services and supplies to gain colonial support for war

Britain would have to foot most of the bill, which would create an enormous national debt

France won important victories, capturing Fort Oswego and Fort William Henry

Britain - captured Louisbourg- most important fort in French Canada- under the direction of Jeffrey Amherst

and James Wolfe two young, talented, and ambitious officers selected by Pitt

- this victory cut an important supply line for the French Canadians

- New France could no longer meet the military demands

The French forts of the Ohio River Valley and the Great Lakes began to fall.

Fort Duquesne was abandoned and renamed Fort Pitt; which would eventually become the city of Pittsburgh.

• British continue to win• the Marquis de Montcalm retreated toward

Quebec and Montreal• the British captured Fort Niagara, Crown Point,

Fort Ticonderoga, and• Quebec – the capital of New France

The fall of Quebec was the end for New France.

Battle of Quebec

• James Wolfe – British commander now a major general– began assaulting

Quebec with 9,000 troops

– realized that force of arms would not bring victory and began planning a well prepared attack

• ferried men across the Saint Lawrence River• under dark they crept to a back trail and

scaled a cliff to dominate a less well defended position

• French speaking soldiers in the front boats helped to dispatch sentries

• at sunup there were 3,500 troops on the Plains of Abraham, taking the French by surprise on September 13, 1759

• both Wolfe and Montcalm were mortally wounded

• on September 8, 1760 Amherst accepted the final surrender of the French army at Montreal

1. marked end of French power in North America

2. Britain gained Canada and all French lands east of the Mississippi River (except for New Orleans)

3. France keeps two islands in Gulf of St. Lawrence and islands in West Indies

Treaty (Peace) of Paris of 1763

4. Spain (on French side) gave up Florida to Britain

5. Spain received all French land west of the Mississippi River

6. Spain gained the port city of New Orleans

Strained Relations

• British thought the colonists did not provide enough support for the long and costly war that Britain fought to protect them

• French no longer held the area west of the Appalachian Mountains; so colonists saw no reason for them not to expand and prosper on their own without British help