French and Indian War Main Concepts:  French and British have land disputes in North America.  Native Americans help the French since they are already allies and distrust the British.  War ends with Treaty of Paris and a French defeat which hurt Native Americans.

Rivalry Between the French and the British In the 1700’s Britain and France were leading powers who both competed for claims in North America. The British felt they had the rights to land beyond the Appalachian Mountains and Ohio River Valley and so did the French. The British wanted the rich resources available and the French enjoyed fur trading with the Native Americans. To protect their claims in the valley the French built a chain of forts from Lake Ontario south to the Ohio River. The British responded by building their own forts in what is now western Pennsylvania- but before they finished the French seized their site and built their own fort, Fort Duquesne. Spring 1754, the governor of Virginia sent a militia to drive out the French- leading the group was George Washington. After marching to Fort Duquesne, Washington set up a small fort nearby. He called it Fort Necessity. Washington’s outpost soon came under attack by their Native American Allies who forced Washington’s soldiers to surrender. The French and the British both sought Native American alliances.

Native American Alliances  Native Americans helped the French since they are already allies and distrust the British.  To counter the threat of the French and their Native American Alliances the British colonists tried to make a treaty with the Iroquois Confederacy.  The Iroquois Confederacy (Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Tuscarora) was the most powerful group of Native Americans in eastern North America. They met with delegates in New York and refused a partnership with the British. They also refused to not take any side and remain neutral.

French and Indian War  In 1756 the British formally declared war. France had many early successes in the war.  In 1757 William Pitt, the new British leader, saw the colonial conflicts as the key to building a vast British empire. Borrowing heavily to finance the war, he paid Prussia to fight in Europe and reimbursed the colonies for raising troops in North America.  In July 1758, the British won their first great victory at Louisburg. A month later, they took Fort Frontenac at the western end of the river.  They closed in on Quebec, where Gen. James Wolfe won a victory on the Plains of Abraham in September  With the fall of Montreal in September 1760, the French lost their last foothold in Canada. Soon, Spain joined France against England, and for the rest of the war Britain concentrated on seizing French and Spanish territories in other parts of the world.

New British Policies The French defeat was a blow to the Native Americans in the Ohio River Valley. They lost their French allies and trading partners and now had to deal with the British. The British raised the price of their goods. Unlike the French, the British refused to pay Native Americans to use their land while even more colonists began settling on their lands. Many Native Americans saw the settlers as a threat to their way of life. One of these was the Pontiac, the chief of Ottawa village near Detroit. In 1763 Pontiac and his forces captured the British fort at Detroit. They killed settlers along the Pennsylvania and Virginia frontiers. The same year, Britain’s King George declared that colonists were not to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. To enforce the new rule, the British planned to keep 10,000 troops in America. The Proclamation of 1763 helped remove a source of conflict with Natives and kept the colonies on the coast were the British could control them. Colonists believed the proclamation limited their freedom of movement. They feared that the large number of British troops might interfere with their liberties. As a result, distrust began to grow between Britain and its American colonies. Britain’s financial trouble also led to problems. They were in debt as a result of the war with France, so the British government made plans to tax the colonists and tighten trade rules.

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