11/5/2018
Crisis in the Colonies:
The French & Indian War
Timeline

I. French/English
Competition Intensifies

 Both sought land and rivers in the Ohio River
Valley
 Also competed for control of North America’s
resources
 Valuable fur trade
 Profitable trade with Native Americans
1
11/5/2018
I. French/English
Competition Intensifies
(cont’d)

 France claimed lands west of the English colonies.
 Prevented future expansion for England.
 Territory stretched from the St. Lawrence River west to
the Great Lakes and south to the Gulf of Mexico
 France built a series of forts to protect land claims

II. Native Americans choose
sides

 Native Americans weren’t eager to give up their
land to either side.
“You and the French are like the two edges of a
pair of shears. And we are the cloth which is to be cut
to pieces between them.”
2
11/5/2018
II. Native Americans
choose sides (cont’d)

 The French expected the Indians to side with
them.
 Traditionally the French had respected their hunting
grounds.
 Many French trappers had adopted Native American
lifestyles.
 France had strong alliances with the Hurons and
Algonquins.
II. Native Americans
choose sides (cont’d)

 Most English settlers were farmers.
 Ignored Indian rights in the past.
 Still managed to gain an alliance with the Iroquois.
 Enemies of the Algonquins.
 English also gained further allies by charging lower prices
than the French for trade goods.
III. The French/Indian War
Begins

 April 1754 – Major George Washington led 150
men into the Ohio country.
 Discovers on the journey the French had completed Ft.
Duquense on the exact spot he had hoped to build a fort.
 Washington was forced to improvise and hurriedly built
Ft. Necessity.
 Washington’s men fired on French soldiers at Ft.
Duquense.
 Battle ended with 700 French and Indians surrounding
Ft. Necessity.
 Washington was outnumbered and forced to surrender
 Released by the French.
3
11/5/2018
IV. The British Suffer
Losses

 The British suffered many losses.
 Due in large part to British soldiers having little
experience fighting in the forests of North
America.
 The governments of the British colonies also
could not come to an agreement on how to
approach the war.
V. The Albany Plan of
Union

 Delegates from seven colonies met in Albany, NY
to discusss strategy.
 Benjamin Franklin a delegate from Pennsylvania
proposes the Albany Plan of Union.
 Idea: to create “one central government” for the 13
colonies. (Sound familiar?)
 Called for a legislature called the Grand Council.
 Made up of reps from each of the colonies.
 Council would make laws, raise taxes, and defend the
colonies.
V. The Albany Plan of Union
(cont’d)

 The plan is rejected by the colonies for fear of giving up
too much power.
“Everyone cries a union is necessary. But when they come to
the manner and form of the union, their weak noodles
(brains) are perfectly distracted.”– Benjamin Franklin, 1755
4
11/5/2018
VI. A Slow British Victory

 The tide of the war did not turn until the British
government gave the war its full support.
 1758 – British trained troops capture Louisbourg,
a key French fort.
 Ft. Duquense soon follows.
 By summer of 1759, the French had been pushed out of
Ft. Niagra, Crown Point, and Fort Ticonderoga.
VI. A Slow British Victory
(cont’d)

 In 1759, the British staged a daring attack.
 They scaled the cliffs below the Plains of Abraham and
captured the key French city of Quebec.
 British General Wolfe knew that few soliders would be
guarding the cliff – thinking it too steep to climb.
 Troops climbed the cliff in the dark and assembled on top.
 By morning, the French faced a surprise attack by 4000
British troops.

5
11/5/2018
VI. A Slow British
Victory (cont’d)

 The Fall of Quebec led to the collapse of French power in
North America.
 Fighting still dragged on over a period of four years.
VI. A Slow British
Victory (cont’d)

 Treaty of Paris
 Marks the end of French power in North America.
 British gained control of Canada and all French lands
east of the Mississippi (except New Orleans).
 Spain, who supported France in the war, gave up Florida
to Britain.
 In return, Spain received all French land west of the
Mississippi River (including New Orleans).
Question:

So…..whose responsibility is it to pay for the war?
The British?
The Colonists?
Native Americans?
Stay Tuned!!!!!
6