The French & Indian War

Problems with the Indians British colonists and native Americans were having trouble getting along Metacomet, AKA King Philip, wanted the British to stop taking land from his people Metacomet

Problems with the Indians In 1675, a war broke out between British colonists and Metacomet’s warriors Both sides attacked innocent people The British were helped by members of other native American tribes who depended on the British for trade

Problems with the Indians By the time the war stopped, Metacomet had killed 600 British colonists The British had killed over 3,000 Indians and King Philip himself Metacomet’s grave

The French and British were rivals for power in Europe and North America In the 1600s and 1700s the two sides fought three wars over territory in America France was still trying to get the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes The British wanted to settle this region The French thought this would harm their fur trade with the Indians in the area, so they build three forts on land claimed by Virginia The British were not happy!

Problems with the French The British felt these forts were keeping them from expanding west A war seemed likely Benjamin Franklin wanted to unite the colonies in the Albany Plan of Union, but it didn’t succeed because the colonial governments didn’t want to give up their individual authority

The French & Indian War 1754 – The French stopped the British from building a fort in western Virginia, and built one themselves, named Fort Duquesne The British sent George Washington to build the British fort anyway. He name it Ft. Necessity. The French attacked and beat Washington and his army Washington’s defeat was the official beginning of the French and Indian War. George Washington

The French & Indian War War also began in Europe and elsewhere. The worldwide conflict was called the Seven Years’ War. The King sent Edward Braddock to command the British forces, but Ed didn’t know much about fighting in the frontier He tried to attack Ft. Duquesne and is was a disaster!

The French & Indian War Things looked bad for the British until General James Wolfe captured Quebec-the capital of New France. After this, Britain won most of the important battles and the defeat of Quebec turned out to be the major turning point in the war.

The Treaty of Paris The war ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris Britain got Canada and everything else France owned in America except New Orleans England also took Florida from Spain who had tried to help France France lost almost ALL of its land in North America – they lost bad!

Consequences

Pioneers All the land England just gained was now empty Many settlers wanted to claim the land and start new cities west of the colonies Pioneers faced starvation, sickness, or attack from unfriendly Indian tribes (Why was King Philip’s War fought?)

Pontiac’s Rebellion Many Indian tribes were worried that they were losing their land to the English Indians, led by Pontiac, attacked English forts that had been put up to protect the pioneers Pontiac attacked British forts from 1763-66 until his followers abandoned him and he had to give up

Proclamation of 1763 King George III did not want to spend a lot of his money defending settlers from Indian attacks, so he issued the Proclamation of 1763 The Proclamation said that no one was allowed to settle past the Appalachian Mountains People who already settled past the mountain range had to move back

Proclamation of 1763 Even though they were not allowed, many people crossed the Appalachian Mountains anyway British soldiers could not keep everyone from crossing The fact that settlers crossed the mountains against the Proclamation shows their unhappiness with British laws in America