| French and Indian War (1753-1766) |
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Sections:- Competing European Claims in North America
- The Battle of Fort Necessity
- The Albany Congress
- Braddock's Defeat
- Seven Years War in Europe
- Fortunes Reverse for France and Britain
- French Defeat: Treaty of Easton
- Treaty of Paris
- Pontiac's Rebellion
- The Royal Proclamation of 1763
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| Historical Context
In the middle of the 18th century, the major European powers had competing claims for land in North America. In particular, the French held trapping and trade routes in the Ohio Valley and feared English colonial incursions into their territory due to the increasing population of the colonies. Furthermore, the two European powers competed over trade issues with the Native Americans in the disputed region.
Attached Documents
The contemporary map below illustrates the confusing nature of territorial claims of the competing European powers. The blue areas are French territories, the other colors represent British colonial territories The color blocks for the colonies extend to the west because they presumably comprised all the land from coast to coast, although no one really knew where the west coast was.
The modern map below illustrates the competing claims to territory more clearly. Note the dotted areas between the French and British claims. These areas were disputed territories, populated by Native Americans.
This video clip (2:34 minutes) traces the evolution of the relationship between Native Americans and the imperial powers from before the French and Indian War to American Independence.
Questions to Consider
1. What do you think the nationality of the cartographer who produced the first map was? List at least two reasons for your answer.
2. Analyze the location of the territorial claims by France and Britain on the second map. Why does such an arrangement make conflict between the countries likely? Why would both countries be so eager to possess the disputed land?
3. Why and how did the French develop close ties with the Native Americans? How did this relationship differ from that between the Indians and Americans?
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| Historical Context
Through the 1740's and 50's, the French set up a series of forts along the Ohio River Valley to protect their fur trading interests from British colonial expansion. As some of these forts conflicted with English claims, Virginia Governor Edward Dinwiddie dispatched a young George Washington in 1753 to deliver a protest to the French. This protest was ignored. The British, acting on intelligence from Washington's trip, then sent a party to construct a fort on the site of modern Pittsburg. The force was driven off by the French who, in turn, constructed Fort Duquesne on the site.
The next year, Dinwiddie turned to Washington to expel the French from the site. Washington surprised a French party initially, inflicting heavy causalities, but was quickly overwhelmed by superior French and Native American numbers. Washington had to retreat to the hastily constructed Fort Necessity, which he had to surrender shortly there after. This incident was a prelude to the French and Indian War.
Attached Documents
The 1772 painting by Charles Willson Peale depicts a young George Washington.
Adam Stephens was a twenty year associate of George Washington and a soldier defending Fort Necessity. His account demonstrates the difficult circumstances and organizational problems encountered by the soldiers.
The last photo shows a recreation of the crudely constructed Fort Necessity
Questions to Consider
1. Was it foolish of Dinwiddie to send such a small force into hostile territory?
2. Why were the French so much more successful than the British in securing Native American allies? |
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| Historical Context
When in 1754 it became apparent that war with France was inevitable, the colonies sent delegates to Albany, New York to discuss strategy for common defense. The Albany Congress eventually approved a document, primarily written by Benjamin Franklin, promoting a substructure of government below British colonial authority to govern the colonies. According to the plan, the council would be comprised of elected representatives from each colony and headed by a President-General appointed by the crown. However, the colonies were not ready for political union and it is unlikely that the British government would have supported the plan even if the colonies had adopted it. This document would, in many ways, presage the colonial concerns over representation voiced during the Revolution and parts would be incorporated into the Articles of Confederation and, eventually, the Constitution.
Attached Documents
The "Join or Die" cartoon published in 1754 by Benjamin Franklin is considered the first political cartoon of the colonies. It became a symbol for American revolutionaries in years to come.
The letters from Benjamin Franklin to Governor Shirley of Massachusetts outline the benefits of the plan.
Questions to Consider
1. How is the Albany Plan similar to the Constitution? How is it different? Pay particular attention to points 9-16 in the Albany Plan and Article I section 8 of the Constitution.
2. Could the Albany Plan be seen as an early version of Congress’ ability to regulate commerce? Why would this be a controversial proposal from the colonial perspective?
3. Summarize the main points of the arguments Franklin makes for allowing the colonists to choose representatives. What problems does he believe the Union could solve? How does he argue that colonial representation would be beneficial to England? |
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| Historical Context
In July 1755, the British sent a force commanded by a career desk officer from Virginia to attack Fort Duquesne from which the French controlled the Ohio River Valley. The heavy force, complete with siege cannon, was attacked by the smaller French force and their Native American allies before they could take positions around the fort. The battle was a disaster for the British, their worst military defeat in the 18th century. Both the British commander, Braddock, and the French commander Beaujeu, were killed in the fighting. George Washington, 23 years old at the time, won accolades in both colonial and British press for rallying the defeated British and preventing the battle from turning into a rout. Braddock's defeat in 1755 was a prelude to full-scale war between the French and British beginning in 1756. The first two years of fighting were characterized by humiliating defeats for the British.
Questions to Consider
1. How does Washington's estimation of the size of the French and Indian force compare with the force in the French document? What impact did the unfamiliar fighting style of the Native Americans have on the British troops?
2. Although the accounts are quite similar and were written on the same day, why does Washington include different details in the letters to Dinwiddie and to his mother? |
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| Historical Context
The French and Indian War was essentially the North American theatre of a larger conflict, the Seven Years War, in Europe. It was, in effect, the first world war. The Seven Years War was fought in North America, Europe, and India. When hostilities between the French and British erupted in 1755, European powers began forming alliances and diplomatic relationships that created the parties of a second, distinct conflict for supremacy on the European continent. Britain, Prussia, and Hanover fought against an alliance of France, Austria, Saxony, Russia, Sweden and Spain. Prime Minister Pitt of England provided subsidies to Prussia to fight in Europe and committed British troops and resources to winning the war against the French in North America. The European phase of the war lasted from 1757 to 1763.
Attached Documents
On the map of North America below, the final outcome of the territorial conflicts of the French and Indian War are illustrated. The map of Europe and India shows the opposing alliances and the area of major conflict.
Questions to Consider
1. What are the modern names of the areas of greatest conflict in Europe? |
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| Historical Context
In 1757, expansion advocate William Pitt became the British Prime Minister and vowed to lead country to victory. Pitt concentrated on expelling the French from North America, as well as buying the cooperation by the colonists by stimulating the North American economy with a massive infusion of British currency and the support of the Native Americans with promises of fixed territorial boundaries. The greatly fortified force devastated the Cherokee to the South and began capturing strategic French forts and cutting off their supply lines.
The British converged on Quebec, conquering the city in an epic battle in 1759 and in 1760, they captured Montreal. In the final years of the war, the British defeated the French Navy and took several French colonies in the Caribbean. Thus, the French Empire in North America came to an end.
Prime Minister William Pitt protected the British economic interests at stake in the Seven Years War, focusing on the conflict in North America by subsidizing the Prussians to fight in Europe and gaining the cooperation of the colonists and Native Americans against the French.
Attached Documents
Benjamin West's famous 1770 painting The Death of General Wolfe depicts the British capture of Quebec in 1759. The contemplative Native American in the foreground represents the alliance between the British and the Iroquois.
Thousands of colonists fought for the British in the French and Indian War, but often the strict discipline and hierarchical nature of the British forces alienated the more loosely organized colonial forces. In this excerpt, a soldier from Massachusetts describes his experience.
Questions to Consider
1. Note the dress of the man standing behind the Indian in West's painting. What do you think it symbolizes?
2. Based on the account by the Massachusetts soldier, what kinds of punishments did the British soldiers incur? |
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| Historical Context
As the war progressed in North America, the French found themselves increasingly on the defensive. The Treaty of Easton, signed in 1758, essentially sealed their fate. In the treaty, the British, through promises to respect Native American lands, were able to separate the French from their Native allies. The British promised the Six Iroquois Nations to stop settlements west of the Alleghenies in exchange for their neutrality in the war. This caused the French to abandon Fort Duquesne and, by 1760, Detroit and Montreal, the last two French strongholds in North America, had fallen. This was the end of major fighting in North America. The provisions of the Treaty of Easton set the Proclamation Line of 1763, which limited colonial expansion into Indian lands.
Attached Documents
This 1761 account by Governor Glen of South Carolina underscores the continuing importance of good relations with Native Americans during this time period.
Questions to Consider
1. List a few reasons why Native American cooperation was so important to the British.
2. What kind of activity does Governor Glen emphasize as the way to maintain a positive relationship with neighboring tribes?
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| Historical Context
The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War. The war resulted in a massive realignment of colonial holdings by the major powers. France transferred its claims west of the Mississippi to Spain and ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to the British, ending its presence on the North American mainland. The Treaties of Easton and Paris limited colonization to the Eastern seaboard, thus the expanse of Indian territory ended the threat of a European power on the frontier.
Questions to Consider
1. Describe the changes in territorial claims after the French and Indian War.
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| Historical Context
Following the Treaty of Paris, Native Americans quickly grew disenchanted with the British. Compared to the French, the British exhibited little cultural sensitivity and traded unfairly. Furthermore, they failed to stop encroachments on Indian land by settlers and constructed forts in violation of the newly signed treaties. This unrest eventually culminated in a rebellion by Pontiac, a Native American leader from near modern Detroit who united various tribes with the goal of expelling the British. The uprising lasted from 1763 to 1766.
Pontiac attacked the British frontier forts, hoping to drive the British out of the Ohio Valley. As the British had just fought a massive war with the French, largely over the Ohio Valley, they were unwilling to cede the claim. Massacres and atrocities occurred on both sides, though, most notably, British General Jeffrey Amherst gave the Native Americans blankets infested with smallpox. Since Native Americans had no prior exposure to smallpox, their bodies had no immunity to the disease. The tactic was devastating. Pontiac's rebellion ultimately fell apart when the Native Americans realized that they would not receive French help. By the time it was over, the British lost more soldiers fighting Pontiac than they lost fighting the French in North America.
Attached Documents
In this 1763 address by Pontiac to a gathering of tribes, he characterizes the British as dishonest and inhumane and entreats Native Americans to join the rebellion.
Washington's letter on Pontiac's Rebellion alludes to the distress of the colonists and the expense of defending them.
Questions to Consider
1. What "melancholy" news does Washington share in his letter? How are the colonists affected by the violence?
2. According to Pontiac, how did the French and British differ in their relationships with the tribes?
3. How do you think Pontiac regarded the outcome of the French and Indian War? Explain your answer. |
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| Historical Context
After the conclusion of the French and Indian war, settlers continued to defy treaties that limited expansion into Indian lands. Violent incidents such as Pontiac's Rebellion prompted the English crown to attempt to mandate an end to encroachments on territory promised to the Indians. The effort was largely unsuccessful and is viewed by many to be a leading cause of the Revolutionary War.
Attached Documents
The Proclamation of 1763 sets parameters for colonial interaction with Native peoples in the newly acquired land.
Questions to Consider
1. What provisions did the Proclamation contain?
2. Why would these provisions be unpalatable to colonists? |
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