VA and US History: Revolution: The French and Indian War

When was it fought?

1754-1763

What is another name for the French and Indian War?

The Seven Years’ War

What was the primary cause for the war?

English were concerned about French Forts being built by in the Ohio River Valley as the population of English colonies were growing rapidly & pushing west

Who led the first conflict?

Young Major George Washington (1754)

What was the first conflict?

George Washington led a small force into Ohio in hopes of capturing Fort Duquesne

What was the result of the first conflict?

George Washington had to retreat to build Fort Necessity, but was defeated by the French and Native Americans, so he was forced to return to Virginia.

Which British general was sent to drive the French out of the Ohio Valley?

Edward Braddock (1755)

What was the result of Edward Braddock being sent?

He was defeated and killed by a French and Indian ambush

When is war declared?

1756

Who was England’s Native American alliance?

Iroquois

What was England’s colonial population?

1,000,000

What were England’s colonial activities?

Towns, trade, + farms

Who were France’s Native American alliances?

Algonquins, Hurons, Ottowas

What was France’s colonial population?

70,000

What were France’s colonial activities?

Fur trading + missionary priests

Britain’s global allies

Prussia, Portugal + allies

France’s global allies

Spain, Austria, Russia, Sweden + allies

On which lakes were the British forts that the French captured?

Lake Ontario and Lake George

Where did France’s Native American allies raid?

Farms from the New York Virginia frontiers

When British settlers’ farms and houses were burnt, what did they do?

Flee to the east coast

Who dominated the first 3 years of the war?

France and allies

Where were the victories for the French and their allies?

Fort Oswego and Fort William

Which battle between the French and British was the turning point in the war?

Ticonderoga

Which British foreign minister helps make a change in the war efforts in 1758?

William Pitt

How does William Pitt help lead his side to an advantage?

He makes peace with important Native allies and adopts their fighting strategies

What happened in September of 1759?

British General James Wolfe leads a surprise attack on Quebec

Which British victory cut off the French frontier forts? (led to eventual British victory in the war)

Fort Niagara

Results of the 1763 Treaty of Paris

• France lost Canadian colonies and claims to land east of the Mississippi River

• England got all French territory in Canada, Florida & rights to Caribbean slave trade

• Spain got French territory west of the Mississippi River & New Orleans

As an effect of the war, what did Chief Pontiac do?

He formed a Native American alliance to strike back at the British

When did Pontiac’s War end?

1765

What did the Proclamation of 1763 do?

Prevented further westward expansion (beyond Appalachian mountains) by the colonies (as a check) and issues new taxes on colonies to help pay for the war debt

What were the results of the Proclamation of 1763?

It failed, with minimal effect on colonial expansion, likely because it wasn’t policed by British troops

Sugar Act of 1764

Was designed to eliminate the illegal sugar trade between the colonists and the French/Spanish West Indies.

• Courts were established in America to try smugglers

Currency Act of 1765

Required colonial assemblies to stop issuing paper money (which was being produced since the French and Indian War) and retire all money in circulation

What did the Paxton Boys do?

Descended on Philadelphia for demands on tax relief; threatened bloodshed

Regulator Movement

Farmers of the Carolina upcountry were opposed to the rising taxes

Stamp Act of 1765

Required merchants and lawyers to buy stamps for ships’ papers and legal documents, tavern owners for licenses, printers for newspapers

What was the response to the Stamp Act?

Patrick Henry (from the House of Burgesses) called for a repeal of the tax, threatening to charge the king with mutiny

Sons of Liberty

• Formed in 1765 in Boston, Massachusetts

• A terrorist organization of colonists who:

  • Attacked stamp  agents

  • Destroyed the lieutenant governor’s home

• They would go on to be a powerful, underground colonial terrorist group in Massachusetts

What were the Townshend Acts?

Townshend, the new British treasury secretary, enacted the Quartering (Mutiny Act) of 1765 and the Townshend Duties, calling them “external taxes,” even though they had the same effect as a direct tax.

Quartering (Mutiny) Act of 1765

Required colonists to provide quarters and supplies for British troops in America

Townshend Duties

Taxes on imports from GBR (lead, paint, paper, tea)

What was the response to the Townshend Acts/Duties?

The Massachusetts Assembly circulated a letter of opposition (to stand up against every tax) in 1767

How did the British respond to the Massachusetts Assembly letter?

They denounced those who were in support of the ideas

What were the Assembly’s voting results for the letter?

92-17, affirmed

Where did boycotts take place from British goods (as a way to oppose the Townshend duties)

Boston, New York, and Philadelphia

What event repealed the Townshend duties?

Townshend’s death

Committees of Correspondence

A propaganda campaign proposed by Samuel Adams (leader of Boston resistance movement) to publicize the grievances against England in every colony

Where did the ideas for revolution come from?

• Religious: Puritans had left England; this provided inspiration to separate from England

• Foreign: English Whigs stood up against the Tories in  England

• Political: Enlightenment ideas; a new concept of what gov’t should be

• No taxation without representation

Tea Act of 1773

An attempt toe save the British East India Company from falling into bankruptcy.

• Gave them the right to export tea directly to the colonies without paying any of the navigation taxes that were imposed on colonial merchants

Daughters of Liberty

• Led by Mercy Otis Warren

• Participated in anti-British riots 

• Helped spread pamphlets and literature against the British

Boston Tea Party

• Leaders in various cities had blocked entry of East India Company ships

• December 16, 1773 - 3 groups of 50 men dressed as Mohawk Indians broke open tea chests and heaved them into the harbor

• British demanded repayment for the property but Bostonians refused

What was the British response to the Boston Tea Party?

The Intolerable (Coercive) Acts

What were the Intolerable (Coercive) Acts?

1. Closed the port of Boston

2. Reduced their self-government autonomy

3. Those accused of crimes now had to be tried in England

4. Must quarter troops

   • These acts made the inhabitants of Massachusetts a martyr to the other colonies

Representatives of the Continental congress (except Georgia) convened in Philadelphia. What decisions did they make?

1. Rejected a plan  for a colonial union under British authority

2. Endorsed a statement of grievances reflecting the conflicts among the delegates

3. Resolutions recommending that the colonists make military preparations for defense against an attack by the British

4. Agreed to non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumptions as a means of stopping all trade with England

What were some strengths of the colonies?

• Strong leader in George Washington

• Familiar with the land

• Guerrilla warfare tactics

• French alliance

What were some strengths of the British?

• Well-trained soldiers

• World’s most powerful navy

• Lots of $$$ compared to the colonies

What battle is known as the “Shot heard round the world”?

Lexington and Concord

Battle of Lexington and Concord

• Small towns outside of Boston

• Minutemen meet Redcoats in a very brief skirmish

• Starts the war

Battle of Bunker Hill

• British Victory but costly

• Very high casualties for British inspire Americans

• Bloodiest battle of the Revolutionary War

• Flag includes the pine tree

What happened on Christmas night of 1776?

Washington crosses the Delaware to carry out a surprise attack against the British (Battle of Trenton)

Battle of Trenton

• After Washington’s secret crossing into NJ from PA

  • Surprises Hessians – mercenaries hired by the British

  • Major, inspirational victory for the Continental Army

Battle of Saratoga

• Two battles in
  NY in Fall of 1777

• The 2^nd was a decisive American victory

• Major turning point in the war

• Inspired France to agree to Treaty of Alliance

What was Benjamin Franklin’s task in the revolution?

To go to France in 1777 and gain a treaty of alliance against the British

Valley Forge

• Washington has his army camp in Pennsylvania during winter of 1777

  • Over 2000 men die during brutal, freezing winter

  • Surviving soldiers emerge in spring newly inspired 

Battle of Yorktown

French navy arrives for support in September of 1781

• October, 1781 

• Lord Cornwallis
  surrenders to the Continental Army

• America wins the war