U.S. History IThe American Revolution (1754 to 1783)D2.His.14.9-12
The French and Indian War
Britain and France fought for North America from 1754 to 1763 (part of the Seven Years' War); Britain won Canada and the land east of the Mississippi, but its war debt and the Proclamation of 1763 set the stage for conflict with the colonists.
By 1750 the British colonies (Colonial Self-Government) were growing fast and pushing west, toward the Ohio River valley. France claimed that land too, and its forts and Native allies stood in the way. The war that followed decided who would control North America, and its costs led straight to the quarrel that became the Revolution.
🔑 Key idea
Britain and France fought for North America from 1754 to 1763, part of a worldwide war Europeans call the Seven Years' War. Britain won Canada and the land east of the Mississippi. But its huge war debt and the Proclamation of 1763, which closed the land west of the Appalachians to settlers, set the stage for conflict with the colonists.
💡 Why it works
Winning cost Britain dearly: its national debt nearly doubled, to about 133 million pounds. British leaders reasoned that the colonists, who had gained most from removing the French threat, should help pay for the war and for the soldiers now guarding the frontier. Colonists reasoned that they had fought and paid too, and had always been taxed by their own assemblies. Both sides believed they were being reasonable, which is why the quarrel grew so hard to settle.
✏️ Worked example: How the war began
Why did fighting start in the Ohio Country in 1754?
France built forts to link Canada with Louisiana; Virginia also claimed the Ohio valley.
Virginia sent a young officer, George Washington, with troops. In May 1754 his force attacked a French party at Jumonville Glen.
The French struck back and forced Washington to surrender Fort Necessity in July 1754.
Answer: Rival claims to the Ohio valley; the clashes of 1754 began a war that spread worldwide.
✏️ Worked example: What the treaty changed
In the Treaty of Paris (February 10, 1763), what did each power gain or lose in North America?
France gave Britain Canada and its land east of the Mississippi (except New Orleans).
France had already given Louisiana west of the Mississippi to its ally Spain.
Spain gave Florida to Britain.
Answer: Britain held everything east of the Mississippi; France was gone from the mainland.
The same year, Native nations of the Great Lakes and Ohio valley, led in part by the Ottawa leader Pontiac, rose against British forts (Pontiac's War). Partly to keep peace on the frontier, King George III issued the Proclamation of 1763 (October 7): no colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. Colonists who had fought to open that land were angry.
The land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi, which Britain won in 1763, became part of the United States in 1783.
During the war, Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union (1754), a council of the colonies to raise troops and taxes. The colonial assemblies rejected it; they would not give up their own powers. His cartoon "Join, or Die" was printed with it.
⚠️ Common mistake
The name misleads. The war was not fought between the French and the Native peoples. The British colonists named it for their enemies: the French and their Indian allies. Many Native nations fought on the French side, others with the British (most of the Haudenosaunee), and many tried to protect their own interests between the two.
Practice
Pass with 3 right answers, the last 2 in a row. Each right answer earns 2 XP.
OpenStax, U.S. History (Rice University, 2014), Chapter 4, Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763; Chapter 5, Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests, 1763–1774