3.2 APUSH Notes - 7 Years War (French and Indian War)

France in the New World

• France was late to the game, thanks to the turmoil back home

• 1608: permanently colony at Quebec on the St. Lawrence River

• Treaties with the Native Americans

• Native Americans were involved in some treaties with both sides

• Would switch sides with whoever they thought they could benefit the most from

• Mainly with France at first but switched to Britian by the end of the war

• Reliance on fur trapping

• Coureurs de Bois: “runners of the woods”

• runners of the woods were fur trappers

• British colonists against French fur trappers

• foreign wars, domestic issues over religion

Former Conflicts in the New World

• Continued battles over control of North America

• 1689-1697: King William’s War

• 1702-1713: Queen Anne’s War

• 1739-1748: War of Jenkin’s Ear (King George’s War)

• Spanish general cut off the ear of a British commander; sent him home with his ear in his hand to send a message

• France aligned with Spain; protected assets

Rivalry

• Increased tensions between Britain and France

• As Britain’s colonies expanded, they threatened French trade networks

• France attempting to expand into Ohio Valley

• French trading with Native Americans who were being kicked off the land

• Lieutenant Colonel George Washington sent to secure VA’s claims

• 21 years old

• Ended in the first bullets of the war being fired

• First real world war

The War (1754-1763)

• Fought not just in America, but in Europe, the West Indies, the Phillippines, Africa, and on the seas

• technically began in 1756 (so that would be 7 years)

• Began being poorly for the British colonists

• England made gains in each

• British leader William Pitt turned the tide with strategic moves against the French

• 1759: Battle of Quebec, vital British victory

Treaty of Paris (1763)

• France loses all North American continental possessions

• England gains Canada and North America from the French, along with Florida from the Spanish

• This consolidates Britain control over the eastern half of the North American continent

Consequences of the War

• France left with very few holdings in the New World

• Spanish holdings were also reduced

• Britain emerged as the dominant power in North America

• Britain left very in debt

• Turned to the colonies to attempt to raise revenue

• Colonists saw this as Britain’s war that they had been dragged into

• Tensions had grown between colonists and British over military matters

• Colonies gained confidence in their military skill

• The first showing of colonial unity

• Americans thought the British were snobs

• The British thought the American militias were “scum”

Consequences of the War

• Native American Violence

• 1783: Pontiac’s Uprising resulted in the deaths of 2,000 soldiers & settlers

• Ottawa chief Pontiac

• Britain retaliated by deliberating distributing blankets infected with smallpox to Native Americans

• Land-hungry Americans pushed westward

• Proclamation of 1763: issued by London, prohibiting settlement beyond the Appalachians

• Designed to prevent future conflicts with Native Americans

• Americans moved west anyways

Colonial Complcations

• Basis for the 1754 political cartoon “Join or Die” by Benjamin Frainklin

• Britian rejects the plan for its potential to put too much power in colonial hands

• Colonies themselves reject the plan; shows they do not trust one another at this stage