Download The French and Indian War

The French and Indian War
The Seven Years War
“The War That Made America” – Fred
Anderson
Main ideas 1754-1763
• The “French and Indian War” was part of a
world war waged between the English/
Prussians versus the
French/Austrians/Russians.
• Demonstrates a major point of contact of
Europe and her armies in America –
something that was largely unseen up to that
point.
• Serves as an important biographical
experience for the soon-to-be leaders of the
American Revolution.
The French Empire
• Louis XIV
– Extremely powerful and
successful king.
– France overgrows Spanish
influence (Louis XIV was a
grandson of Spanish King
Philip II; his Versailles
Palace was built to imitate
Philip III’s palace).
– Image from wikipedia-
The French Empire in America
• Samuel de Champlain
– “Father of New France.”
– Allied with Huron tribes.
• Fur trade
– “coureurs de bois” and “voyageurs”
• Population – 60,000 by 1750 (English in PA, VA,
NC, SC = 1 million)
• Mostly Catholic, French Huguenots traditionally
not granted rights to move to America.
Questions about boundaries
• See textbook pages 107 and 108• “Although the French king claimed a vast territory
stretching from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf of
Mexico and from the Appalachians across the
Mississippi, in fact French settlement was
confined to the valley of the St. Lawrence
between Quebec and Montreal and to the mouth
of the Mississippi at New Orleans …. a fragile web
of control maintained by peripatetic priests,
soldiers, and fur traders extended deep into the
interior of North America.” (Fowler)
The American Indians
• Extremely important factor in this war. Both
the French and the British knew that they
needed to have great support from as many
American Indian tribes as possible.
• American Indians tribes had their own desires.
The American Indians
• “In bringing to an end the French empire in
North America, the French and Indian War
undermined, and ultimately destroyed the
ability of native peoples to resist the
expansion of Anglo-American settlement. The
war’s violence and brutality, moreover,
encouraged whites – particularly those on the
frontier – to hate Indians with
undiscriminating fury.”
To “set the war on fire” …
• George Washington, leading 150 men in
western Virginia collides with French military
and starts the war.
• Remember: specifics of military history not
particularly important in this course, although
what are some other important factors of this
event?
To “set the war on fire” …
• "I FORTUNATELY ESCAPED without any wound,
for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed
to and received all the enemy's fire, and it was
the part where the man was killed, and the
rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and,
believe me there is something charming in the
sound.“ – George Washington, aged 22
• http://www.whiskeyandgunpowder.com/Archives/2006/20061205.html
To “set the war on fire” …
• “The volley fired by a young Virginian in the
backwoods of America set the world on fire.”
• Horace Walpole
•
http://www.whiskeyandgunpowder.com/Archives/2006/20061205.html; and William Fowler
National Center for History in the
Schools UCLA
• Standard 3 : Historical Analysis and
Interpretation
G. Challenge arguments of historical
inevitability.
•
http://nchs.ucla.edu/standards/thinking5-12_toc.html
Acadian Controversy
• http://www.acadian-cajun.com/index.htm
• Reading…
Braddock
The Wounding of General Braddock by Robert Griffing
http://www.lordnelsons.com/gallery/frontier/griffing/61.htm
Some Sources
• “The American Spirit” by Kennedy, Cohen,
Bailey (2006; 13th Ed.)
• “The War that Made America” by Fred
Anderson (2005)
• “Empires at War: The French and Indian War
and the Struggle for North America, 17541763” by William Fowler (2005)”
• “A People’s Army ….” Fred Anderson (1984)