US HISTORY NEWS

Volume 1, Issue 1 January 2013

The French and Indian War

How it jump-started the American Revolution
Between 1754-1763, a real conflict broke out between Britain and France. Famously known as the French and Indian War or the Seven Years War in Europe the French and Indian War is one of those forgotten wars that had a big impact on history. Both France and Britain owned colonies in North American which caused conflicting claims to lands in America. The real showdown in American, between the French and British, was over the Ohio Valley. This region stretched along the Ohio River from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River. For Britain, it was an area rich with trade and growth, but for the French, it connected their lands in New France and Louisiana.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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The Virginians were outnumbered and forced to give up. This battle turned out to be the start of the French and Indian War.

The French and Indian War Britain Wins Control Biographies in History: George Washington Join or Die: The First Political Cartoon

France sent soldiers to the Ohio Valley, in 1750, to drive out the British. The British saw this as an act of war and decided to fight back. So, why is this war called the French and Indian War and not the French and British War you ask? Well, the answer is simple. This war wasnt simply between the French and the British, but the Native Americans that lived in that area as well. Instead of making this a multi-group war, Native Americans had formed alliances with either France or Britain, but most decided to fight for the French. For the Native Americans, it wasnt about picking sides, but to drive out those forces that could cause the most harm to their way of life. Can you name some ways the British has already changed their way of life from previous lessons? In April 1754, a twenty-one-year-old George Washington was sent to the Ohio Valley to lead the Virginians. After having a scuffle with some French soldiers on their way to a French fort, the Virginians quickly built Fort Necessity and on July 3rd, the French and their Native American allies attacked. The Virginians were outnumbered and forced to give up. This battle turned out to be the start of the French and Indian War.

The map above shows the area of land owned by the English, French, Spanish, and those lands contested by the French and English in 1754.
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Before that ordeal, colonial leaders met in June 1754, at Albany, New York, to talk about how to deal with the French force. Seven colonies sent delegates, or representatives to form a plan.

BIOGRAPHIES HISTORY
Born February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, George Washington was the first son of his father Augustines second marriage to Mary Ball. After his fathers death in 1743, young George

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the colonies should unite to fight the French.

Benjamin Franklin was one of those representatives. He said that the colonies should unite to fight the French. His idea, which became known as the Albany Plan of Union, was not approved. The colonies were not yet willing to fight as one.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Britain Wins Control

The colonist knew they needed help if they were to win the war. Parliament, the lawmaking branch of the British government, sent an army to help fight the French and their Native American allies. General Edward Braddock led the British troops with George Washington serving as adviser. In April 1755, Braddock and more than 1,800 troops marched to attack the French at Fort Duquesne. The British soldiers had been taught to fight in open fields with rules to engagement. They were quite surprised to find the French fighting like their Native American allies, from behind trees and large rocks. The early battles did not go well for the British, and Braddock was killed in the fighting. This does not stop Britain from sending more troops and supplies to the colonies, and the war slowly turned in its favor. British soldiers captured Fort Duquesne and several other French forts. They also defeated the French at Quebec and Montreal. In 1756, the fighting is happening across the ocean as well between Britain and France. Spain joins forces with France in a fight against Britain, but because Britain has a stronger navy, Spain is defeated in 1762. To make up for Spains losses, France gives Spain most of Louisiana. By 1763, the French and Indian War was over. The Treaty of Paris gave Britain most of Canada, all French lands east of the Mississippi River, and Spanish Florida. France lost nearly of its lands in North America.

grew restless under his mothers management and divided his adolescence among the households of relatives, finding a home with his half-brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. Because of his brothers influence, Washington learned trigonometry, surveying, and began to enjoy novels, music, and the theater. He also aspired to be just like his older brother when it came to his military service. In 1752, Lawrence Washington died from complications of a lung infection which left the estate of Mount Vernon to George in 1761. Washington also took over his older brothers militia office. The then twenty-oneyear-old pleaded to Richard Corbin, a member of the Council, in a letter to command for the campaign against the French, he stated:
In a conversation with you at Green Spring, you gave me some room to hope for a commission above that of major, and to be ranged among the chief officers of this expedition. The command of the whole forces is what I neither look for, expect, nor desire; for I must be impartial enough to confess, it is a charge too great for my youth and inexperience to be entrusted with. . . . But if I could entertain the hopes, that you though me worthy of the post of lieutenant-colonel, and would favor me so far as to mention it at the appointment of officers, I could not but entertain a true sense of the kindness.

Want to Learn More?

Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars: 1689-1763 by Maestro, Betsy: NF RL: 7.6/ Pts.: 1.0 The Matchlock Gun by Edmonds, Walter D.: F RL: 5.1/ Pts.: 1.0

Governor Robert Dinwiddie obliged Washington and sent him to warn French troops stationed north of the forks of the Ohio River that they were on territory claimed by Virginia.
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Washington continued
In April, Washington returned to Ohio country with 150 men to remove the intruders and received his first taste of war in a skirmish with a French scouting party. He wrote to his brother Jack, I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is something charming in the sound. A second engagement quickly followed and Washington, retreating to Fort Necessity, was beaten by a larger French force. He surrendered and because he didnt know French, he signed an embarrassing capitulation agreement which stated defeat and that they admitted to assassinating the commander of the French troops, Joseph Coulon de Villiers, sieur de Jumonville. And so, was the beginning of his military career.

Summarize what you have learned today concerning the French and Indian War. ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________

Above is the actual capitulation at Fort Necessity signed on July 3, 1754.

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Join or Die: The First Political Cartoon

In an effort to help colonies unite, Benjamin Franklin contributed what some are saying is the first political cartoon in history to his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, on May 9, 1754. This picture, along with his editorial, soon encompassed every newspaper in the thirteen colonies. At that time, there was a superstition that a snake which had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the pieces were put together before sunset. How does this cartoon talk about the colonies and creating unity? Explain your answer below.
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