Causes of the Revolution*Setting the Stage

French and Indian War

*The Spark

YOUNG GEORGE WASHINGTON FORT NECESSITY

Union“Join, or Die” – Benjamin Franklin

Source: http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume5/images/snake_med.jpg

The Albany Congress

In 1754, war was inevitable. The colonies sent delegates

to Albany to discuss strategy for common defense.

They approved a document written by Benjamin Franklin promoting a substructure of government below British authority to govern the colonies.

The council would be comprised of elected representatives from each colony and headed by a President-General appointed by the crown.

The colonies were not ready for political union and it is unlikely that the British government would have supported the plan.

"Join or Die" (1754) published by Franklin is considered the first political

cartoon of the colonies.

Braddock’s Defeat”The Shooting of General Braddock at Fort Duquesne” Edwin Will Deming

Source: http://www.britishbattles.com/images/monongahela/monongahela-illustration-l.jpg

Braddock’s Defeat

In July 1755, the British sent a force from Virginia to attack Fort Duquesne.

The heavy force was defeated by the smaller French force and their Native American allies.

Both the British commander, Braddock, and the French commander Beaujeu, were killed.

23 year old George Washington won accolades for rallying the defeated British and preventing the battle from turning into a rout.

The first two years of fighting were characterized by humiliating defeats for the British.

1757 – Prime Minister Pitt

Commits to Expelling French from North America

Add Investments to Colonial Economy

Gain Support of Natives w/ Promises of Fixed Boundaries (Treaty of Easton)

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/images3/chatham.jpg

Treaty of Easton

“The concerns of this Country are so closely connected and interwoven with Indian Affairs, and not only a great branch of our trade, but even the Safety of this Province, do so much depend upon our continuing in Friendship with the Indians, that I thought it highly necessary to gain all the knowledge I could of them; and I hope that the accounts which I have from time to time transmitted of Indian affairs will show, that I am pretty well acquainted with the subject.“

-Gov. Glen of South Carolina (1761) http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/glen_on_indians.html

What kind of activity does Governor Glen emphasize as the way to maintain a positive relationship with neighboring tribes?

Treaty of Easton

http://keep3.sjfc.edu/students/mem07949/e-port/msti431/pwpt/Iroquois_6_Nations_map_c1720.png

Fortunes Reverse

The greatly fortified force devastated the Cherokee to the South and began capturing strategic French forts and cutting off their supply lines.

The British conquered Quebec in 1759. In 1760, they captured Montreal. In the final years of the war, the British defeated the French Navy

and took French colonies in the Caribbean. The French Empire in North America came to an end.

Treaty of Paris (1763)

Changes to North America

End of War in N.A.

http://www.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/images/british-era-1763-75.jpg