The French and Indian
War
French and Indian War Paintings by Nat Youngblood usccls.org
The French and Indian
War
Or…
• The Seven Years War
Or…
• La guerre de la Conquête
Or…
• Fourth Intercolonial War
Or…
• Great War for the Empire
Who Fought?
•
God
The French and Indian War was fought Save the
by the British against the French and King!!
their Indian (Native American) allies
• The British had Indian allies too.
• Remember, the colonists were
Englishmen at this time. They were
loyal subjects and did not think of
themselves as anything but
Englishmen
The Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union
• 7 of the 13 colonies sent representatives to
a conference in Albany, New York
• Benjamin Franklin proposed a Union so the
colonies could:
– Make decisions over Indian affairs
– Handle trade issues
– Defend themselves against the French
The colonies said, “No
thanks”
Why did they Fight???
French claims
Spanish claims
English claims
Remember the “G” in Glory!
• England and France and Spain were all in
competition with each other and with other
European countries
• France had long claimed the Ohio River
Valley
• As the 13 colonies prospered, many colonist
began to look west toward lands that were
claimed by the French
One Part of a Bigger War
The war was driven by the antagonism between Great Britain (in
personal union with Hanover) and the Bourbons (in France and
Spain), resulting from overlapping interests in their colonial and
trade empires, and by the antagonism between the Hohenzollerns
(in Prussia) and Hapsburgs (Holy Roman Emperors and Archdukes
in Austria), resulting from territorial and hegemonial conflicts in
the Holy Roman Empire. The Diplomatic Revolution established
an Anglo-Prussian Camp, allied with some smaller German States
and later Portugal, as well as an Austro-French Camp, allied
with Sweden, Saxony and later Spain. The Russian Empire left its
offensive alliance with the Habsburgs on the succession of Peter III,
and like Sweden concluded a separate peace with Prussia in 1762.
The war ended with the peace treaties of Paris (Bourbon France
and Spain, Great Britain) and of Hubertsburg (Hohenzollerns,
Habsburgs, Saxon elector) in 1763. The war was characterized by
sieges and arson of towns as well as open battles involving
extremely heavy losses; overall, some 900,000 to 1,400,000 people
died.
Just kidding… You don’t have to learn all
that stuff!
But… this was a World War
England and her Allies
France and her Allies
George Washington
• A young Major in the Virginia
Militia, George Washington
was sent into western
Pennsylvania to counter the
French
• His group encountered a party
of French scouts and there was
a fight. A French officer was
killed
• This was one of the first events
that sparked the world-wide
conflict
A young George Washington
Washington-Custis-Lee Collection, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia
Peace
Before
After
England’s North American Territory is
now HUGE!!
• France cedes (gives up) all land EAST of the
Mississippi to England
• France gives New Orleans to Spain
• Spain gives Florida to England (who will later
give it back, but that’s another story)
• In North America, the only possessions France
has are some islands in the Caribbean
(West Indies)
The Result?
• England is in debt (big time!)
• England needs money to pay for
the war
• Fighting Indians would be too
expensive
So…..
England’s Plan
• Enforce existing taxes on the colonists (The state of
Salutary Neglect was over)
• Impose new taxes (after all, the war was to
protect the colonists, so they should pay. Right???)
• Declare that there would be no settlements west of
the Proclamation Line of 1763. (England was
too broke to fight any Indian wars!)
Vocabulary
• Salutary Neglect: The unofficial policy England
had toward her colonies; tax and trade
restrictions were loosely enforced (the
colonists liked it!)
• The Proclamation of 1763: Colonists were
forbidden to settle west of the Appalachian
Mountains because England wanted to avoid
wars with Indians
The
Proclamation
of 1763
Colonial Reaction
TEKS 8.4A: analyze causes of the American Revolution,
including the Proclamation of 1763, the Intolerable
Acts, the Stamp Act, mercantilism, lack of
representation in Parliament, and British economic
policies following the French and Indian War