The French and Indian War
Objectives
•
Describe the causes and major events of the
French and Indian War.
•
Analyze the causes and effects of Pontiac’s
Rebellion.
•
Summarize how the wars and their outcomes
changed the relationship between Britain and
the colonies.
Terms and People
•
George Washington – young, ambitious Virginian who led
colonial troops against the French in 1754
•
French and Indian War – a war that pitted the British and
their colonial allies against the French and Indians
•
Pontiac’s Rebellion – an Indian uprising against the British in
the Ohio River valley after the French and Indian War
•
Proclamation of 1763 – between the British and Indians, it
restricted colonial settlers to east of the Appalachian
Mountains
Terms and People
•
(continued)
Albany Plan of Union – 1754 plan that called on the colonies
to unite under British rule and cooperate with one another in
war
How did Great Britain’s wars with
France affect the American colonies?
A series of wars between the European empires
spread to the colonies.
Colonists allied with Britain fought against the French
and their Indian allies.
Map 6-7a p108
French and Indian War (1754-1763)
Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)
• Began as rivalry over Ohio Valley
• Washington sent to Ohio territory by governor
of Virginia
– Washington attacked French troops
– Surrendered at Fort Necessity
• Became a global war
• 1759 Quebec fell to the British
• British
• American Colonists
• French
• Indians
In the
French
and
Indian War:
• Most Indians fought
alongside the French
because they treated
the Indians with respect
and generosity.
• The British treated
Indians harshly and
took their lands
for farming.
Overall, the Indians tried to maintain a balance of
power between the French and the British.
The French and British
fought over who
controlled the Ohio
River Valley and the
Great Lakes area.
Map 6-6 p105
In the early years of the war, from 1754 through to 1758,
the British were defeated
by the French and their Indian allies.
A young George Washington led an early
battle against the French in 1754.
The death of General Edward Braddock in a French and
Indian ambush was a significant defeat for the British.
New Tactics Learned
Soon groups of colonial
militiamen helped the
British fight the French
by serving as scouts
and soldiers.
Rogers’ Rangers was
an effective militia that
included Indians
fighting against the
French.
Colonists gained
military experience
In 1758 and 1759, the British
interrupted the shipment of French
supplies and started to win battles.
Many Indians deserted the French to
fight on the
British side.
The Treaty of Paris of 1763
ended the war and
greatly increased British territory.
The British conquest was
not good for the Indians.
•
The British
stopped supplies
to the Indians.
•
British settlers
quickly moved
into Indian lands
in western
Pennsylvania and
Virginia.
The Indians rebelled.
•
They attacked British
forts and the new
British settlements.
•
They tried to weaken
the British in any way
they could, in order to
lure the French back.
This Indian uprising
called Pontiac’s
Rebellion ended in
1764.
The British agreed
settlers would
remain east of the
Appalachian
Mountains.
Tensions arose between the British and colonists
after the French and Indian War.
The British
The Colonies
wanted more control over the
colonies
did not want British control
wanted the colonies to help
pay for the wars
wanted more land for
settlements
wanted the colonies to join
together under the Albany
Plan of Union
wanted to maintain their
individual autonomy
wanted colonies to cooperate
in time of war
did not want to be unfairly
taxed by the British
Albany Plan of Union
• 1754 British government summoned an
intercolonial congress in Albany, NY
• Seven colonies sent delegates
• Purpose was to keep Iroquois allied with the
British
• Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for colonial
home rule that was adopted by the delegates
but which never came to fruition
Colonial leader Benjamin Franklin
drafted the Albany Plan of Union that would:
•
unite the colonies under British rule.
•
unite the colonies in fighting wars.
•
create a continental assembly with delegates
from each colony.
p106
Franklin drew this
political cartoon to
encourage support
of colonial unity
and his plan.
The colonists and the British each rejected the Albany Plan
for their own reasons.
Treaty of Paris (1763)
• France eliminated from North American
continent
• Spain received as compensation transMississippi Louisiana and New Orleans
• Great Britain emerged as the dominant power
in North America and the leading naval power
in the world.
The French and Indian War changed the
relationship between the colonies and Great Britain.
In the 1760s, the British placed new, unwanted
taxes and regulations on the colonists.
The colonists increasingly resented the erosion of
their autonomy and the involuntary tax burden.
Consequences
•
•
•
•
Colonial self-esteem raised
Colonists received military experience
British no longer seen as invincible
Tensions developed between British officers
and colonists. Colonists were looked upon
with contempt
• British officials upset that colonists did not
fully support the common cause
• War did encourage some colonial unity
• French and Spanish threat to the colonies was
eliminated/reduced
• Indians lost the ability to play off the
Europeans against each other
• Colonists had a new sense of destiny as a
growing people with a continent open before
them
• Britain in debt and now had troops they had
to maintain in North America
Proclamation of 1763
• 1763 Pontiac’s Uprising
– Ottawa chief Pontiac led several tribes against the
British in the Ohio country, killing over 2000
soldiers and settlers
• Proclamation prohibited settlement in the
area beyond the Appalachians
• Colonists defied the proclamation and pushed
westward
– Attempt to prevent another uprising
Map 6-8 p110
Closure
• List one cause of the French and Indian War
• List two results of the war
• Why were the colonists upset with the
Proclamation of 1763?