1. The Duel for North America, 1608–1763
Chapter 6
The Duel for North America, 1608–1763

2. p112

3. Theme: As part of their worldwide rivalry, Great Britain and France engaged in a great struggle for colonial control of North America, culminating in the British victory in the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War) that drove France from the continent.

4. Theme: Before the Seven Years’ War, Britain and its American colonies had already been facing some tensions, as can be seen in sporadic British efforts to enforce trade laws and colonial reaction to the peace treaty in 1748.
During the Seven Years’ War, the relationship between British military regulars and colonial militias added to the tensions.

5. The French defeat in the Seven Years’ War created conditions for a growing conflict between Britain and its American colonies.
The lack of a threatening European colonial power in North America gave the American colonists a sense of independence that clashed with new British imperial demands, such as stationing soldiers in the colonies and the Proclamation of 1763.

6. What divided the colonies in 1754?

7. Essential Question
How did an American identity develop during this period?

8. How was America different/similar 1775 vs. 1700?
How did Americans differ among each other in 1775?
In light of these two questions, was there, by 1775, an American character and/or culture?

9. Some Developments
Huge surge in colonial population (2 million inhabitants)
Print Revolution
Influence of Enlightenment and Pietism
Wealthy colonists and influx of European goods lead to new material culture

10. Social Tensions
Limitations on available land in New England
Groups (such as German, Dutch and Scotts-Irish) attempt to maintain religious and cultural identities while competing for political power
Increasing interest in western lands leads to conflict with Native Americans

11. Spirit, Ch.5 Docs A1-4
How would the authors each respond to the question, “Was there an American character?” What evidence would they use?

12. Crisis of legitimacy. Suspicion è distrust of government
Pluralism, constantly complicated by new arrivals. Pluralism as a fact, and then as a way of seeing American è leads to tolerance
Social mobility possible and valued
In light of the above, American character is not a fixed thing, but rather a culture/society with its constituent conflicting parts/people (values/lifestyles). This all leads to a broader conception of national character.

13. Specific aspects-
-individualistic, yet community
-sense of rights/rights in conflict/insistence on preserving rights/emphasis on rule of law
-religion (or not)/multi-faith/practical necessity of tolerance

14. French Settlement 1598 Edict of Nantes 1608 Quebec established
Granted limited toleration to Protestants in France and ended religious wars
France became the most powerful nation in Europe
1608 Quebec established
-New France comes under the direct control of the king
-no representative assemblies or the right to a trial by jury

15. Detroit founded by Antoine Cadillac to prevent English penetration into the Ohio Valley
Louisiana explored by Robert de La Salle to prevent Spanish penetration into the Gulf of Mexico region
New Orleans established as a fort (1718)

16. Map 6.1 France’s American Empire at Its Greatest Extent,
1700
Map 6-1 p99

17. Map 6.2 Fur-Trading Posts To serve the needs of European fashion, fur-traders pursued
the beaver for more than two centuries over the entire continent of North America.
They brought many Indians for the first time into contact with white culture.
Map 6-2 p100

18. European Rivalries King William’s War (1689-1697)
Queen Anne’s War ( )
Colonists fought French coureurs de bois
Indians recruited by each side
Spain allied with France
Colonists captured Port Royal in Acadia
Treaty of Utrecht (1713)
Britain received Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Hudson Bay

19. King George’s War (1744-1748) (War of Austrian Succession)
Spain allied with France
Colonists capture French fortress of Louisbourg
In the treaty of 1748, Louisbourg was given back to the French which upset the New Englanders

20. Map 6.3 Scenes of the French Wars The arrows indicate French-Indian attacks. Schenectady
was burned to the ground in the raid of At Deerfield, site of one of the New
England frontier’s bloodiest confrontations, invaders killed fifty inhabitants and sent more
than a hundred others fleeing for their lives into the winter wilderness. The Indian attackers
also took over one hundred Deerfield residents captive, including the child Titus King.
He later wrote, “Captivity is an awful school for children, when we see how quick they will
fall in with the Indian ways. Nothing seems to be more taking [appealing]. In six months’
time they forsake father and mother, forget their own land, refuse to speak their own
tongue, and seemingly be wholly swallowed up with the Indians.”
Map 6-3 p101

21. Map 6.4 North America After Two Wars, 1713
Map 6-4 p102

22. Table 6-1 p101

23. Table 6-2 p103

24. 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
French Acadians kicked out of Canada. Became Cajuns of Louisiana

25. Map 6.5 The French and Indian War in North America, 1754–1760
Map 6-5 p104

26. Map 6.6 Global Scale of the Seven Years’ War Among the first of the truly “world
wars” of the modern era, the Seven Years’ War sucked in several nations who did battle
around the globe.
Map 6-6 p105

27. 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
Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire all sent commissioners to the Congress

28. Famous Cartoon by Benjamin Franklin Delaware and
Georgia were omitted.
p106

29. Map 6.7A North America Before 1754
Map 6-7a p108

30. Treaty of Paris (1763) France eliminated from North American continent
Spain received as compensation trans-Mississippi Louisiana and New Orleans
Great Britain emerged as the dominant power in North America and the leading naval power in the world.

31. Map 6.7B North America After 1763 (after
French losses)
Map 6-7b p108

32. 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
British refused to recognize American militia commissions above the rank of Captain.
American shippers maintained trade with Spanish and French West Indies
Some colonists refused to provide troops and money for the war

33. 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 also felt more empowered

34. 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
1765 an estimated 1000 wagons moved through one North Carolinian town on their way west

35. Map 6.8 British Colonies at End of the Seven Years’ War, 1763 This map, showing
the colonies thirteen years before the Declaration of Independence, helps to explain why
the British would be unable to conquer their offspring. The colonists were spreading rapidly
into the backcountry, where the powerful British navy could not flush them out. During
the Revolutionary War, the British at one time or another captured the leading colonial
cities—Boston, New York, P hiladelphia, and Charleston—but the more remote interior
remained a sanctuary for rebels.
Map 6-8 p110