Battle for a Continent
North America in 1700
Map reference: 1700 (and map for 1750) shows geographic and political divisions among European powers in North America.
England: controlled much of the Eastern seaboard along the Atlantic coast.
France: controlled the interior regions, including the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi drainage area, notably the Ohio River Valley.
Spain: controlled Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and New Spain (Mexico). Note that Texas and New Mexico were parts of New Spain at the time.
These divisions set the stage for competition and conflict over land, trade, and influence in North America.
Mercantilism
An economic system prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Central idea: colonies exist to produce raw materials for the parent country and to purchase finished goods from the parent country.
Purpose: to benefit the parent country’s economy and political power.
This framework shaped colonial policies, navigation acts, and ideals of economic control.
Source attribution: George Cooper.
French and Spanish Methodologies of Colonization
Spanish motivations: Gold, Glory, God.
Gold: acquisition of wealth, riches, and resources through conquest and exploitation.
Glory: prestige, power, and national status through territorial expansion.
God: conversion to Catholicism via conquest and missionization; forced conversion was a tool.
Note: Conquistadors were often motivated by these factors in varying ratios.
French approach: focus on trade and relatively small, non-permanent migration.
Many migrants were single men who lived with Native Americans and adopted local lifestyles.
Beaver pelts and fur trade (e.g., beaver hats) were central economic drivers.
The French attachment to land and traditional peasant ties influenced settlement patterns and endurance in new territories.
These approaches produced different colonial dynamics, settlement patterns, and relations with Indigenous peoples.
Dynastic Conflicts in Europe (1700s) and the Great Wars of Empire
Europe’s dynastic landscape: England under William of Orange as a placeholder for the Stuart dynasty; Protestant leadership in Europe.
France ruled by the Bourbons.
Spain and the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Habsburgs, with Spain upholding Catholic leadership.
These dynastic rivalries fed broader imperial conflicts across continents, including North America.
The Great Wars of Empire (Overview of Major Conflicts)
War of the Grand Alliance (1689–1697): France against the Holy Roman Empire, Dutch Republic, England, Spain, Savoy, and others.
War of Spanish Succession (1702–1713): France and Bourbon Spain, Bavaria, Savoy, and others against Great Britain, Habsburg Spain, Holy Roman Empire, Dutch Republic, and others.
War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748): France, Prussia, Spain, Bavaria, and others against Great Britain, Habsburg Monarchy, Hanover, Dutch Republic, and others.
Seven Years’ War (1756–1763): Great Britain, Hanover, Prussia, Portugal against France, Spain, Habsburg Monarchy, Russia, Saxony, and others.
These wars shaped colonial borders, alliances, and perceptions of who guarded the Atlantic world.
King William’s War (War of the Grand Alliance) – In North America
England vs. France with Native American allies.
English actions: captured Port Royal and Nova Scotia under William Phips (who would become Governor of Massachusetts in 1692).
French actions: Native American raiding parties led by French trappers attacked and sacked Schenectady, New York.
Resolution: Peace of Rijswijk; Port Royal and Nova Scotia were returned to the French.
Nova Scotia and Schenectady
Key theaters: Nova Scotia (Port Royal) and Schenectady, New York.
These locations epitomize early colonial contest over coastal forts and inland settlements.
King William’s War – New England Context
In New England, the war was also known as the Second Indian War.
The First Indian War is known as King Philip’s War.
Historiographical note: some historians (e.g., Mary Beth Norton) argue that Native American outrages against outlying English communities contributed to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
Queen Anne’s War (War of Spanish Succession) – North America
Britain vs. France, with Native American allies.
British colonial militias under British officers trained to fight alongside regular troops.
Key defenses: Charleston, South Carolina; New York; and New England against French and Native allied forces.
Colonial gains: Port Royal, Arcadia (New France region) captured by British forces; Arcadia later returned to France.
Peace outcome: Treaty of Utrecht; Britain gained Newfoundland; Arcadia returned to France.
King George’s War (War of Austrian Succession) – North America
Greater British and colonial involvement; focus on the Ohio River Valley and the boundary between Arcadia and New England.
British/colonial victories: capture of Louisbourg, Cape Breton Island.
Peace outcome: Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) returned all captured territory to the French.
Consequence: Return of Louisbourg created a rift between colonists and Britain over war aims and imperial policy.
The Capture of Louisbourg (Louisbourg) – Details
Commanded by Colonel John Stoddard of Massachusetts; forces comprised primarily farmers and merchants from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Delaware.
French fleet attempted a blockade to recapture Louisbourg and Cape Breton but retreated due to North Atlantic storms.
Colonial leadership interpreted successes as evidence that God supported the colonial cause against Britain’s “antichrist” foes.
Post-war concessions in the Aix-la-Chapelle treaty led New Englanders to question British war aims and imperial policy.
The Great War of Empire (French and Indian War) / Seven Years’ War
Trigger: George Washington’s incursion into the disputed Ohio River Valley.
Participants: all three major colonial powers (Britain, France, Spain) with various Native American allies.
Spain joined on the French side.
Demographics (circa 1750): New France had about 50{,}000 French-born residents; combined population of all British North America exceeded 1{,}500{,}000.
This global conflict set the stage for decisive shifts in North American control and Indigenous alliances.
The Middle Ground (Ohio River Valley)
The Ohio River Valley became the Middle Ground, a contested zone where tribes from across eastern North America—Delaware, Iroquois, and others—coalesced with French and British actors.
French claimed land north of the valley and the valley itself; British claimed land south of the valley and the valley itself.
This positional contest shaped alliances and military campaigns in the region.
The French and Indian War (Continued) – Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Ohio Territory
Ohio Company of Virginia (1747): investors including Lawrence Washington (George Washington’s elder brother) aimed to develop the land and sell to new immigrants for profit.
By 1749, the Governor of New France ordered British colonists out of the Ohio Territory, signaling rising hostilities and imperial competition.
George Washington – Early Career in the War
Washington was the second son; a young man seeking to make a name for himself as his elder brother Lawrence inherited their father’s estate.
Professionally a trained surveyor; at this stage not an experienced military commander.
While surveying for the Ohio Company, he engaged in a skirmish with the French; Seneca Chief Half-King (Tanacharison) killed the French commander Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville.
French forces responded; the Seneca party slipped away; Washington established Fort Necessity near present-day Pittsburgh.
Fort Necessity fell to the French, and Washington signed a surrender document (in French) stating he was responsible for the death of the French diplomat Jumonville.
Braddock’s Defeat (French and Indian War) – 1755
After the fall of Fort Necessity, British forces under General Edward Braddock (with about 3,000 troops, including colonial militia) marched to attack Fort Dequesne (Duquesne).
They were defeated by a combined French and Native American force, with significant losses (over 2{,}000 of Braddock’s troops).
Braddock’s defeat precipitated a shift in British governance and war strategy in North America, contributing to a later mobilization under William Pitt.
Native Alliances and the War Effort
In the North, the French were aided by Algonquin, Abenaki, and Shawnee.
In the West, the French allied with Ottawa, Ojibwa, Wyandot, and Mohawk (the latter two are part of the Iroquois Confederation).
Most tribes allied with the British fought in the South, notably the Catawba and Cherokee.
General pattern: many tribes favored the French temporarily due to greater tolerance of Indigenous lifeways and fear of English land loss; by the war’s outbreak, most tribes anticipated English expansion would lead to land seizure.
British War Aims Under William Pitt (Britain’s North American Strategy)
William Pitt, British Prime Minister, reframed North America as the primary war aim after several setbacks.
Advantages that supported British success: superior industrial capacity, abundant food supplies (from Europe and the North American colonies), robust naval resources enabling movement of troops from Europe to North America with limited disruption by the French; better-trained troops (European regulars and American militia).
These strategic assets helped Britain gain the upper hand in the North American theater.
Major British Victories (Key Forts and Battles)
Louisbourg (Île Royale)
Fort Frontenac
Fort Ticonderoga
Crown Point
Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh)
Niagara
Battle of Quebec on the Plains of Abraham; Quebec surrendered but both commanders (Major General James Wolfe and the Marquis de Montcalm) died on the field.
Treaty of Paris (1763) – Outcomes in North America
Great Britain received all of Canada from France.
Britain acquired several Caribbean islands from France and Florida from Spain.
Britain now controlled all of the Eastern Seaboard of North America.
Spain received Louisiana from France as compensation for surrendering Florida to Great Britain.
France was effectively evicted from North America, retaining only a few sugar islands in the Caribbean.
North America after the Treaty of Paris, 1763
Consolidated British territorial dominance over Canada and much of the North American mainland east of the Mississippi.
Spain gained Louisiana but watched British expansion pressures on its territories.
The colonial landscape shifted from expansive frontier conflicts to questions about governance, taxation, and the appropriate relationship with the British metropole.
Results of the French and Indian War (Long-Term and Interim Effects)
Long-Term: France removed as a threat to British colonies in North America.
The British government stationed troops in North America for the first time, prompting colonial questions about military presence and imperial control.
Britain’s national debt tripled due to war expenditures; colonies paid little to no taxes to support these costs.
Spain no longer needed Texas as a buffer against France because control of Louisiana shifted hands; British territorial gains altered balance in the Gulf region.
Growing alienation in the British colonies toward the mother country intensified due to troop presence and increased taxation.
Britain developed resentment toward the colonies for perceived non-support of military and administrative expenses, contributing to escalating tensions that would culminate in colonial resistance and independence movements.
Pontiac’s Rebellion and the Proclamation of 1763
Pontiac, an Ottawa leader, united Native American groups in opposition to British policies and encroachment on Indigenous lands.
The uprising reflected pan-Indian sentiments, influenced by Neolin (a Delaware Shaman).
In response, Parliament passed the Proclamation of 1763, establishing a Proclamation Line beyond which English settlement was prohibited.
This policy attempt aimed to stabilize relations with Indigenous peoples and manage colonial expansion, but it deepened colonial resentment toward British restrictions on western settlement.