The Seven Years' War and the Road to Revolution

Vocabulary terms covering French colonization in Canada, the onset of the French and Indian War, key figures and battles of the Seven Years' War, and the subsequent territorial changes in North America.

King Louis XIV

The French monarch who reigned for 72 years (1643-1715) and took a deep interest in overseas colonies after internal strife and religious wars in France ended.

Samuel de Champlain

Known as the "Father of New France," he led the establishment of the permanent French empire at Quebec in 1608 and befriended the Huron Indian tribes.

Government of New France

An almost completely autocratic royal regime where people elected no representative assemblies and did not enjoy the right to trial by jury.

French Huguenots

Protestant group in France who were denied refuge in the Catholic colony of New France.

Ohio Valley

The chief area of contention between France and Britain; for the British, it was critical for westward movement, while the French needed it to link Canadian holdings to the lower Mississippi Valley.

Fort Duquesne

A pivotal French fort located where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers join to form the Ohio River, later the site of Pittsburgh.

French and Indian War

A conflict touched off by George Washington in the Ohio Valley in 1754 that lasted for two years before widening into a global conflict.

Seven Years' War

A global "9-sea war" fought in America, Europe, the West Indies, Africa, the Philippines, and on the ocean.

Albany Congress

A 1754 intercolonial meeting in New York intended to keep the Iroquois loyal to Britain and to achieve greater colonial unity for defense against France.

Benjamin Franklin

The leading spirit of the Albany Congress who published the "Join, or Die" cartoon and proposed a premature scheme for colonial home rule.

General Edward Braddock

A British officer sent to Virginia in 1755 with 2,000 men to capture Fort Duquesne, where he was fatally wounded in a defeat by French and Indian forces.

William Pitt

A superlative British leader who took over the London government in 1757, focusing military efforts on the Quebec-Montreal area and seeking colonial cooperation.

James Wolfe

The British commander who led the expedition against Quebec; he was fatally wounded during the battle on the Plains of Abraham.

Marquis de Montcalm

The French commander who fell fatally wounded during the British siege of Quebec in 1759.

Battle of Quebec (1759)

One of the most significant engagements in British and American history, which led to the surrender of the city and the eventual end of French rule in North America.

Peace of Paris (1763)

The treaty that ended the war, removing France from the North American continent while allowing them to keep several sugar islands in the West Indies.

Trans-Mississippi Louisiana

The territory, including the outlet of New Orleans, which France ceded to Spain at the end of the conflict.