The French & Indian War

The Ohio River Valley By the 1740s, both French and English traders had begun entering the Ohio River Valley, leading to rival claims to the region This led both sides to begin building forts to protect their claims

George Washington After the French seized an English fort in western Pennsylvania, Virginia governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered a young Virginia militia officer named George Washington to raise a force and retake the fort

Fort Necessity In 1754, the 22-year-old Washington’s troops engaged the French in battle, but were forced to retreat and build their own temporary defensive position at Ft. Necessity Eventually, Washington was forced to surrender to the French, leaving them in control of the Ohio River Valley

The Albany Conference Representatives from 7 English colonies tried to convince the Iroquois tribe, who controlled western New York, to ally themselves with England against France While the Iroquois refused an alliance, they did agree to remain neutral and not support the French

The Albany Plan of Union The representatives who met for the Albany Conference agreed to ask Britain to unite all colonial forces under one commanding officer They also drafted an idea known as the Albany Plan of Union, which proposed that the colonies unite and form their own federal government, but the idea was ultimately rejected

Gen. Edward Braddock In 1755, the British sent General Edward Braddock and 1500 British soldiers to command the defense of the Colonies Braddock appointed Washington as his top aide and marched out to retake Ft. Duquesne

Braddock’s Expedition Braddock’s army was ambushed by the French and their Indian allies Braddock was killed in the fighting and only Washington’s calm command allowed the British and Colonial forces to escape and retreat

Indian Skirmishes With the English defeat, many of the Indian tribes grew bolder and began attacking settlers along the Appalachian frontier For the next two years the English, French, and Indians raided each other along the frontier and the Ohio River Valley

The Seven Years’ War By 1756, the fighting between the English and French had spread to an all out world war – the two enemies weren’t just fighting in North America, but also in Europe, Africa, and India

French Lose Support The powerful British Navy gained control of the Atlantic, cutting off French supplies and reinforcements to North America Additionally, the Iroquois began to put pressure on other Native American tribes to end their support for the French, leaving the French badly outnumbered and ill-supplied

Forbes Expedition In 1758, English General John Forbes successfully pushed the French out of Ft. Duquesne and rebuilt it as Ft. Pitt (now Pittsburgh) The French were forced to retreat back into Canada

Battle of the Plains of Abraham In 1759, English General James Wolfe moved his forces up the St. Lawrence River and attacked the city of Quebec The English won the battle (although Wolfe was killed), effectively ending the major fighting of the North American theater of the war

The Spanish Disaster In 1761, Spain entered the war in support of France, but the English dominated the Spanish, seizing their colonies of the Philippines (in East Asia) and Cuba (in the Caribbean) By 1763, France and Spain sued for an end to the war

The Treaty of Paris (1763) Formally ended the Seven Years’ War (and it’s North American component, the French & Indian War) between England and France The treaty would result in a major redrawing of the map of North America

The Redrawing of a Continent England gained control of Canada and all French claims east of the Mississippi River from France and control of Florida from Spain Spain was given the port of New Orleans and all French claims west of the Mississippi River by France as an apology for getting Spain involved England returned Cuba and the Philippines to Spanish control France was left with only a few sugar producing islands in the Caribbean from what had once been a huge North American empire

An Expensive War The British government had taken on enormous debts to fund the war and support quickly grew in Parliament for making the Colonies pay at least a part of the cost of their defense