Chapter 6 :The Duel

for North America1608-1763

France finds a Foothold in Canada

• Edict of Nantes (1598):– Granted limited toleration of

French Protestants– Ends religious wars in France– Allowed them to venture to New

World• Samuel de Champlain:

– “father of New France”– Befriended the Hurons

France finds a Foothold in Canada

• France and the Hurons– Fought Iroquois

• Led to the creation of a lasting enmity• Hampered penetration of the Ohio Valley

• Govt in New France– Fell under royal control

• Failed commercial companies.• No elected assemblies• No trial by jury

• Population– By 1750 only 60k

New France Fans Out

• The Beaver– Hunters plundered the land and

supplied the fashion-setters of Europe

– Drawbacks?• Indians who were attracted to trading

suffered losses (disease and alcohol)• Violated Indians’ religious beliefs

– Hunted all throughout the continent• As far west as the Rockies, as far south

as Spanish Texas• Inflicted ecological damage.

New France Fans Out

• French Catholic missionaries– Jesuits– Tried to save Indians from fur trappers– Indians tortured them– Played significant role as explorers and

geographers• Andrew Cadillac

– Settled Detroit• Robert de La Salle

– Floated down Mississippi (1682)– Named interior basin Louisiana (Louis XIV)– Goal was to block Spain on the Gulf of

Mexico– After his death Fr. est. New Orleans (1718)

The Clash of Empires

• King William’s War (1669-1697) and Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713)– Both put Br. Colonists agst Fr.

Colonists (and their Indian allies)– Both guerilla wars– Spain allies w/Fr.– Treaty of Utrecht (1713)

• GB gets French Acadia (renamed Nova Scotia), Newfoundland

The Clash of Empires• War of Jenkins's Ear (1739-1743)

• Land squabble between Britain & Spain over Georgia and trading rights.

• Battles took place in the Caribbean & on the Florida/Georgia border.

• Name comes from a British captain named Jenkins, who was trading illegally with the Spanish West Indies, (ear was cut off by the Spanish)

• became a part of the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1749),– bringing a new threat from France

– The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)• returned the Fr. naval fortress of Louisbourg to Fr.

after its capture by NE militiamen • the treaty also reaffirmed British military superiority

over Spain, effectively giving Georgia to the British.

Map 4.4 European Spheres of Influence, 1754 (p. 122)

• France and Spain laid claim to vast areas of North America and used their Indian allies to combat the numerical superiority of British settlers. For their part, Native Americans played off one European power against another. AS a British official observed: “To preserve the Balance between us and the French is the great ruling Principle of Modern Indian Politics.” By expelling the French from North America, the Great War for Empire disrupted this balance, leaving Indian peoples on their own to resist encroaching Anglo-American settlers.

George Washington Inaugurates War with

France• Background:– Ohio Country is desired by GB colonists

• Fr. Wanted it for key stronghold

– Came to a head in 1749• Group of GB speculators (chiefly Virginians)

secured “legal” rights to territory– Included George Washington

• At same time, Fr. were creating forts to maintain control of the territory

– Esp. important was Fort Duquesne» Located where Allegheny and

Monongahela join to form Ohio River» Modern-day Pittsburgh

George Washington Inaugurates War with

France• 1754:– VA governor sends Washington and 150

militia men to secure Virginia’s claim– Encountered a small group of Fr. troops– VA militia fired first shots– Fr. returns w/ more troops– Surround Washington– Washington surrenders (but able to go

home)

• Fighting spreads to Nova Scotia– Fear of Fr. Acadians backlash– GB deports Fr. to Louisiana (are

descendants of the Cajuns)

Global War and Colonial Disunity

• War continues “undeclared” for 2 years– Then widens to the Seven Years’ War

• GB and Prussia vs. Fr., Spain, Austria & Russia

• British govt calls an intercolonial congress to Albany, NY– Only 7 colonies show up– Immediate concern was to ally with Iroquois– Longer range purpose was to achieve

greater colonial unity (agst France)– B. Franklin publishes his famous cartoon

(see next slide)– B. Franklin emerges as leader

Famous Cartoon by Benjamin Franklin

• Benjamin Franklin proposed a Plan of Union among the colonies• proposal for a unified colonial

government, which would operate under the authority of the British government.

• With a continental assembly that would manage all western affairs (never materialized)

– Trade– Indian policy– Defense

Global War and Colonial Disunity

Braddock’s Blundering and

Aftermath• General Braddock– Sent to VA to fight French– Most of his force = untrained colonial

militiamen– Braddock loses and is mortally

wounded

• Washington left to defend what he could

• 1756- British launch invasion of Canada– Not very successful

Pitt’s Palms of Victory

• William Pitt– “Organizer of Victory.”– Decided to concentrate on

Quebec-Montreal– Launches expedition agst

Louisbourg (gb wins)– Quebec falls

• Montreal falls next

Pitt’s Palms of Victory

• The Treaty of Paris of 1763 granted British sovereignty over half the continent of North America.• Treaty between Britain, France, and Spain,

which ended the Seven Years War (and the French and Indian War). • France

• lost Canada• the land east of the Mississippi• some Caribbean islands and India to

Britain• gave New Orleans and the land west

of the Mississippi to Spain, to compensate it for ceding Florida to the British.

The Great War for Empire • In 1756, the fighting spreads to Europe

• The Treaty of Paris of 1763 granted British sovereignty over half the continent of North America

• In 1763 the Ottawa chief Pontiac & his Indian allies captured British garrisons & killed many settlers

• The Indian alliance gradually weakened, & they accepted the British as their new political “fathers.”

Land Conflicts • The growth of the colonial population

caused conflicts over land, particularly in Pennsylvania & Connecticut • To provide for the next generation Kent

(Connecticut) families joined other Connecticut farmers in 1749 to form the Susquehanna Company, a land-speculating venture.

• Hoping to settle the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Penn., the company petitioned the legislature to assert jurisdiction. William Penn’s family invoked proprietary rights and issued land grants

• Connecticut and Penn. Settlers were burning down each other’s houses.

• The two gov’ts sent the dispute to London where it remained undecided until independence

Land Conflicts• In the Hudson River Valley (at the same time as

the conflicts in Penn. & Conn.)• Massachusetts settlers tried to claim manor lands• Wappinger Indians reasserted ownership to lands

they had once owned• Dutch and German tenants asserted ownership

over land they leased.• British general Thomas Gage & his men joined

local sheriffs to suppress these uprisings.• Intimidated the Wappinger Indians• Evict the Massachusetts squatters.

• Land disputes in NJ & Southern Colonies:• English aristocrats in New Jersey & the southern

colonies successfully asserted legal claims to land based on outdated charters.

Map 4.6 Westward Expansion and Land Conflicts, 1750-1775 (p. 129)

• Between 1750-1775 the mainland population doubled—from 1.2 million to 2.5 million—sparking westward migration and legal battles over land, which had become increasingly valuable. Violence broke out in many areas, as tenant farmers and smallholders contested landlord titles in astern areas and backcountry settlers fought with Indians, rival claimants and eastern-dominated governments.

War’s Fateful Aftermath

• Proclamation Line of 1763 – A proclamation from the British govt

which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.

• Result?– The War for Empire gained land for the

crown but did not provide the expansionist-minded Americans with the new land they wanted.