The Great War for Empire - “The Seven Years War/French and Indian War”

The end of Anglo-French imperial competition on the North American
continent  laid the groundwork for the Revolutionary War. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salutary Neglect  Policy of the British government from the early to mid-18th century regarding its North American colonies under which trade regulations for the colonies were laxly enforced and imperial supervision of internal colonial affairs was loose as long as the colonies remained loyal to the British government and contributed to the economic profitability of Britain.

 

Economic  Theory – Mercantilism
Scientific tool for regulating colonial activity and re-integrating the colonies into the mother country.  Governments are responsible for overseeing, equipping, and managing natural resources – Why not manage trade?

 

Mercantlists believed that colonies existed to supply raw materials to their mother country and to purchase manufactured goods from their mother country.

 

 

Question? How can mercantilism be used to target rivals?    Answer:  By centralizing and regulating the economy 

 

EXAMPLE:   The Navigation Acts: long series of English laws that developed, promoted and regulated English ships, shipping, trade, and commerce between other countries and with its own colonies. 

 

 

 

 

 

How can Nations defend themselves economically?

Tariffs can be used to protect domestic activity and keep currency in the country and out of the pockets of  your enemies.

 

 

Using Mercantilism to target rivals

 

#1  Create a predictable tax revenue

#2  Impose tariffs to protect domestic industry

#3 Organize colonies to serve the mother country (put the colonies to work for you)

#4 If this fails make the colonies join your war efforts

 

 

 

 

REVISIT TALKING POINTS – European Settlement

French did not succeed in creating strong settler society    WHY NOT?

Primary activity was religious

Government saw only minimal returns from Colonization

Forbade emigration of religious dissidents – Huguenots
Unable to support/ fund additional` exploration

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imperial Battles on the World Stage:  

 The British recruited colonists and Native Americans as resources in ongoing skirmishes with France, Spain, and Holland.

 

The earliest contests among the European powers for control of North America, known to the British colonists as King William’s War (1689–1697) and Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713), mostly pitted British colonists against the French with both sides recruiting whatever Indian allies they could.

 

Neither France nor Britain at this stage considered America worth the commitment of large detachments of regular troops, so the combatants waged a kind of primitive guerrilla warfare. In the early history of America, settlers of competing countries often waged brutal conflicts with each other when their homelands went to war. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Brush Fire Wars"  1689-1748

Of the eighty-seven years between the Glorious Revolution (1688) and

the American Revolution (1775), Britain was at war with France and French-allied Native Americans for thirty-seven of them.

 

 

 

 

 

" Americans colonists are a most rude, depraved and degenerate race and it is a mortification to use 
that they speak English and can trace themselves from that stock"
British Customs Clerk

 

The Last of Mohicans Trailer

 

 

 

 

“The Seven Years War/French and Indian War”

 

 France and the Indians vs England for control of North America . The Iroquois of New York were the only Indians to side with England  

 

Prompt "The French and Indian War (1754-1763) altered the relationship between Britain and its North American colonies. Assess this change with regard to land acquisition, politics, and economics in the period between 1763 and 1775."

 

 

 

 

 

 

1753 – Gov. Dinwiddie of Virginia sent George Washington to instruct the French to leave the Allegheny-Monongahela Rivers area.  Washington carried out assignment and then left. 

 

 

 

1754 – Instead of leaving the French built Fort Duquesne at the junction of the two rivers.  Washington then returned and built Fort Necessity near by.  The two groups had their first conflict in Great Meadows and the war officially began. The French won and Ft. Necessity was surrendered on July 4. 

 

 

 

 

 “I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is something charming in the sound.” 

21 year old Militia Colonel George Washington 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1754  In 1754 the British government summoned an intercolonial congress to Albany, New York, near the Iroquois Indian country. Travel-weary delegates from only seven of the thirteen colonies showed up. Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union – it was the first major plan to unify the colonies with the goal of dealing with the common issues that existed – defense problems and Native American affairs.  The immediate purpose was to keep the scalping knives of the Iroquois tribes loyal to the British in the spreading war. The longer-range purpose at Albany was to achieve greater colonial unity and thus bolster the common defense against France. The plan was passed by the delegation in Albany, but the colonies rejected it, as did King George II. 

 

 

 

1755 – General Braddock with about 2000 men – 1400 British regulars and 600 Virginia Militia men – launched a second attack on Ft. Duquesne with Lt. Col. George Washington as his second in command.  The English were defeated again in the Battle of the Wilderness.  Braddock was killed and Washington led the troops to Ft. Cumberland in Maryland 

 

 

 

 

1756 – The fight intensifies in Europe.  Prussia teams with England and Austria teams with France. 

 

 

 

1757 – The French take Ft. William Henry at Lake George, New York .

 

 

 

 

1758 – Lord Jeffery Amherst and James Wolfe become the new British commanders and along with Washington begin to make progress.  They take Ft. Louisbourg for the English. 

 

1758 – The English capture Ft. Frontenac and Ft. Duquesne – Duquesne is renamed Ft. Pitt – today the city is Pittsburgh 

 

 

The Death of General Wolfe 

 

 

1759 – British Gen. Wolfe defeats French Gen. Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham to take the great fortress of Quebec.  Both generals are killed.  A major turning point – England took control and it was only a matter of time before they win the war. 

 

1760 – General Amherst takes Montreal – the capital of the French colonies.  A few days later Detroit falls and all the other forts along the Great Lakes are deserted. 

 

1762 – Treaty of San Ildefonso – between France and Spain – transfers all the French land west of the Mississippi and New Orleans to the Spanish.  Spain had come in on the side of France in the war and France decided to give land to Spain before the English could capture it 

 

1763 – Treaty of Paris  - 1 France gives up all of Canada to England  2. France and Spain give all lands east of the Mississippi except New Orleans to the English 3. The West Indies were unscrambled and redivided to look more like they did prior to the war 4. France got two small islands off the coast of Newfoundland as bases for their fishing fleet and were guaranteed fishing rights off Newfoundland 5. Spain’s title to New Orleans and lands west of the Mississippi river as arranged by the Treaty of San Ildefonso were recognized  

 

 

 

 

Lessons from the French and Indian War 
 France’s defeat in the Seven Years’ War results in the collapse of its North American empire. 

 

A military and political; victory for Britain and its American colonists, the war exposes and aggravates long-standing tensions between the mother country and its colonies and between colonists and Indians.