Seven Years' War

The Seven Years’ War

• France + Britain had been fought for almost 100 years

• Taxes and national debt rose greatly as a result

  • High tax rate inspired discontent and helped spark the American Revolution

• British trade reached around the globe ~1750s

• British efforts began to dislodge the French from their forts in western Pennsylvania

  • This was the catalyst for the Seven Years’ War

  • War eventually spread to Europe, West Africa, and Asia

Effects of the War

• France ceded Canada to Britain in return for two sugar islands in the Caribbean ~1763

  • Peace of Paris

• Spain ceded Florida in exchange for the return of the Philippines and Cuba

  • Both were seized by Britain during the war

• Spain gained the French Louisiana Territory 

  • Ended France’s presence in the New World

• Britain raised taxes on American colonies to recoup money spent on the war

New Native Identities

• War helped establish a distinct Native American identity

  • Traditionally identified most strongest along lines of kinship, shared language, and common geographical region

• Violence directed against Indians led leader to envision both stronger allegiance to tribal “nationhood”

• Peace of Paris was ushed in a period of:

  • Confusion over land claims

  • Control of the fur trade

  • Tribal relations

• Continued expansion of British colonies posed a dire threat to Indians