French and Indian War Notes

French and Indian War (1754-1800)

The French and Indian War is the first topic of Unit 3 in the AP U.S. History curriculum.
The video aims to explain the causes and effects of the French and Indian War.

The war was NOT between the French and the Indians. It was between the British and the French.
The French allied themselves with several groups of American Indians.
The British also had alliances with some American Indian groups, but they weren't as significant.

The French and Indian War was a smaller conflict within the larger global conflict called the Seven Years' War.
The Seven Years' War was the worldwide conflict, while the French and Indian War was the American theater of this war.

In 1753, George Washington, then a Lieutenant Colonel in the Virginia militia, was sent to warn the French to stop encroaching on British land.
The French commander rebuffed Washington.
Six months later, the French took control of a British post called Fort Duquesne (in Pennsylvania).
In 1754, Washington, with American Indian allies, attacked and regained the fort, but the French retook it two months later with a larger force.
These territorial disputes led to the beginning of the French and Indian War in 1754.

Before Washington's defeat at Fort Duquesne, the Albany Congress met to discuss British colonial defense against the French and Indians.
Delegates from several British colonies discussed a more organized colonial response to:
- Frontier defense
- Trade
- Westward expansion
The Iroquois Confederacy was invited, but they were not really involved in the discussions.
American Indian groups allied to maintain some control over their lands by exploiting the conflict between European powers.
Their primary fear was one European nation gaining complete control of North America.

Benjamin Franklin introduced the Albany Plan of Union.
The plan proposed a council of representatives to decide on frontier defense, trade, and westward expansion.
The plan was ultimately rejected because the taxation required for its existence was unpopular.
The Albany Plan of Union laid the foundation for the future revolutionary Congress.

Initially, the French were more successful against the British colonists.
As the Seven Years' War expanded, the British implemented policies that were unpopular with the American colonists:
- Forced impressment of American men into the Royal Navy.
- Quartering of troops in colonial homes; colonists were expected to feed and house soldiers at their own expense.

King George, concerned about the cost of the war, opened peace negotiations with the French.
The war ended in 1763 with the signing of the Peace of Paris.

Spain ceded Florida to the British.
The French were ousted from the North American continent.
The Spanish gained control of former French lands west of the Mississippi River.
All land east of the Mississippi River, including the Ohio River Valley, was granted to the British.

With the Ohio River Valley under British control, American colonists began to migrate westward.
This migration intensified conflicts with Native Americans.
Ottawa leader Pontiac led raids against colonists in Detroit and other military forts in Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The British Parliament established the Proclamation Line of 1763 to protect colonists from violence with Native Americans.
The Proclamation Line forbade colonists from migrating west across the Appalachian Mountains and taking land in the Ohio River Valley.
Colonists largely ignored the Proclamation Line and migrated west anyway, believing they were entitled to the land after fighting the war.

The war was expensive, causing the British national debt to roughly double.
The cost of running the colonies increased significantly.
The British Parliament decided to raise revenue by increasing taxes on the American colonies.
This decision added to the growing colonial resentment.