1. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 1 4-3 The Colonies Grow 1607-1770 France and Britain Clash

2. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 2 British-French Rivalry Britain and France had been competing for centuries. By 1700 they were two of the strongest powers in Europe.

3. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 3 Their rivalry created hard feelings between British and French colonists in North America.

4. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 4 British land companies wanted to expand into the Ohio River Valley. But the French said the Ohio country belonged to them. They didn’t want British colonists sharing in their profitable fur trade.

5. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 5 Ohio River Valley

6. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 6 Native Americans Take Sides The French traders and the British colonists knew that whoever got the best trade terms from Native Americans and the most help in the war would probably win control of North America.

7. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 7 The French had many Native American allies. Unlike the British, the French were more interested in furs than taking over Native American land.

8. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 8 French trappers and fur traders often married Native American women and followed their customs. During the wars between Great Britain and France, Native Americans often helped the French by raiding British settlements.

9. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 9 Indians take sides

10. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 10 The Iroquois Confederacy The most powerful group of Native Americans in the East was the Iroquois Confederacy.

11. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 11 The Iroquois remained independent by trading with both the British and the French. By playing the British and French against each other, the Iroquois dominated the area around the Great Lakes.

12. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 12 As the British moved into the Ohio Valley the Iroquois leaders were pressured into giving trading rights to the British and reluctantly became their allies.

13. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 13 This upset the delicate balance of power between the French and British.

14. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 14 American Colonists Take Action When a group of Virginians decided to settle in the Ohio Valley they sent a 21- year-old surveyor/planter named George Washington to tell the French that they were trespassing on British territory.

15. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 15 Washington told them they had to leave. They ignored him.

16. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 16 Washington's First Command Washington was promoted to lieutenant colonel and sent back to the Ohio country with a militia of 150 men.

17. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 17 The militia was to build a fort where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet and form the Ohio River — present-day Pittsburgh.

18. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 18 When Washington and his troops arrived, the French were already building Fort Duquesne there. Washington built Fort Necessity nearby.

19. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 19 Although greatly outnumbered, Washington’s men attacked a French scouting party. The French surrounded them and forced them to surrender. The soldiers were later released and returned to Virginia.

20. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 20 When the story was published Washington's fame spread throughout the colonies and Europe. In spite of his defeat, the colonists saw Washington as a hero who struck the first blow against the French.

21. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 21 The Albany Plan of Union In June 1754, representatives from four colonies met in Albany, New York to discuss how they could defend themselves against the French. They also hoped to persuade the Iroquois to take their side against the French.

22. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 22 The representatives adopted a plan suggested by Benjamin Franklin that was known as the Albany Plan of Union.

23. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 23 Franklin's plan called for "one general government." It would have an elected legislature to govern the colonies, collect taxes, raise troops, and regulate trade.

24. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 24 Ben Franklin’s Albany Plan of Union

25. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 25 Not a single colonial assembly approved the plan. None of the colonies were willing to give up any of their power.

26. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 26 Franklin wrote, “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.”

27. Copyright 2005 Heathcock 27 Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity marked the start of a full- scale war. The colonists called it the French and Indian War because they fought two enemies -- the French and their Native American allies.