The French & Indian War!
1754-1763
The Next Step Toward Revolution!
Many times we don't think about (or are not taught about) how the colonists actually came to the conclusion that revolution was the answer to the issues between the colonies and the Mother Country.
Consider the following things:
1. The colonists didn't arrive at this conclusion overnight. (And many of them never supported independence at all. It is a "myth" that "all colonists" wanted independence. In fact no more than 50% supported it at any given time and usually it was closer to 33% for, 33% against and 33% neutral depending on how the war was going.)
2. It is illogical to think that the colonists decided one day that independence was the answer. There were no democracies or republics on the face of the earth at the time of the war. The most recent democracy and republic were the Greeks and the Romans, respectively.
3. Without the Enlightenment, the Great Awakening and the French & Indian War, we can't logically arrive in 1763 on the eve of Revolution. The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening showed the Americans that they could think for themselves and the French and Indian War doubled the English Crown's debt level, leading the government to tax the colonists without allowing them even 1 seat in Parliament--the triggers fo the American Revolution.
The Background!
This war was not just fought in North America! It was the true "first world war!"
The British, French, Americans, Canadians, American Indians, Prussians, Austrians, Russians, Spaniards and East Indians all fought in the war! (In the United States we really only study the North American fighting!)
Fighting occurred in North America, the Caribbean Islands, West Africa, India and continental Europe.
Britain and France both wanted to dominate in North America. Previous conflicts (King William's War, Queen Anne's War and King George's War) all spread from Europe to North America (and this transfer was one of the complaints the colonists had when justifying the American Revolution in the 1770s---it disrupted colonial trade/economics.)
But...
the fighting in the French and Indian War began with the bloody conflict at the Forks of the Ohio River.
Britain and France both believed that whoever controlled the Ohio country would win the entire continent.
The Indians in the Ohio Country wanted to preserve their position/lands, cultures and communities against the external pressures from the British and French.
The fighting started when 21-year-old Major George Washington.
(He was an officer in the British army remember! One reason he wanted to fight for the Continental Army was that he could not rise above the rank of major in the British army because he was born in the colonies and he was not a 'royal.' He was the commander of the Continental Army in the revolution of course!)
The war went badly for the British at first. In 1755 General Edward Braddock marched against the French at Fort Duquesne (The site of the football stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania today!) at the confluence of of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers.
The different tribes of indigenous people allied with the French or the British.
General John Burgoyne
General Edward Braddock
Braddock gave Washington his sash before he died and Washington took the sash with him everywhere he went for the rest of his life. It is on display today at Mount Vernon.
George Washington: Man Who Triggered the F/I War!
Washington and his men built Fort Necessity, a very rickety structure in a low-lying area surrounded by hills (a really vulnerable place to be for defensive purposes,) for protection from the French. They were forced by the French to surrender and Washington and his men returned to Virginia. (This action triggered the French and Indian War--thanks, George and Governor Dinwiddie. Their purpose for ousting the French was personal gain--they were going to make a LOT of money off the sale of land they acquired for free. NOT very "noble.")
Washington was a volunteer aide to General Braddock and distinguished himself in the retreat from the Battle of Monongahela after Braddock's death. He is credited with saving MANY troops' lives.
He was the colonel and commander of the Virginia Regiment from 1755-1758, building the regiment into the best-trained provincial militia of the time.
He led the regiment at Fort Duquesne, assisting with the defeat of the French and then returned to Virginia, resigned from the militia, married Martha Custis and took up life as a Virginia plantation owner.
He gained political and military skills and experience in the French and Indian War that would serve him well throughout his life...and he was only 28 years old by the end of the war! (The fighting ended in America in 1760.)
The Treaty of Paris of 1763
The massive transfer of land is difficult for us to understand in the modern era.
The terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1763:
Britain returned to France:
*Guadalupe, Martinique and St. Lucia (all in the Caribbean)
*the fishing islands at Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Gulf of St. (Canada)
*the fishing rights on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland (It's also difficult for us to comprehend the importance of this concession; but at the time the cod-consuming 18th century, the concession was major.)
*Goree in West Africa & Belle-Ile-en-Mer in the Bay of Biscay.
Britain returned to Spain:
*Havana, Cuba and the Philippines.
Britain's gains from France:
*Canada
*all French territory east of the Mississippi River
*Grenada, Saint Vincent & Dominica & Tobago in the Caribbean
*Senegal in West Africa
*Minorca in Spain.
Britain's gains from Spain:
*Florida in partial payment for the return of Havana.
Britain's North American holdings stretched from Hudson Bay in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south and from the Atlantic Seaboard in the east to the Mississippi River in the west.
It seemed the next challenge was to determine the best way to make the land profitable!
The treaty changed the world order in favor of Great Britain.
North America in 1754
North America in 1763
After the war...the road to revolution...
1763-1776
In 1763, the colonists were proud to be British subjects and didn't consider independence...but it didn't last...
They had fought alongside the legendary British regulars and had won against the French (Catholics) and the English colonists were proud to have kicked the French Catholics out of most of North America. (There were a few French Catholics left in the extreme north/Canada.)
The seeds of revolution were "planted" in the Treaty of Paris of 1763 that King George III and his ministers celebrated.
Wars (and victories--especially vs. France) were a big part of British citizens' sense of national identity.
The war had helped to establish a bond between the English and Scots; but in America, it was the beginning of the split between Britons.
In 1763 England's North American empire was vast---over 30 colonies on mainland North America and in the Caribbean plus territories in the interior of the continent.
Maintaining/sustaining an empire that large required MONEY and MILITARY personnel.
The perplexing question that faced the government in London was this: what to do with the acquisition of too much power too rapidly over too many people. The challenge? Governing a continent from a small island---British politics and the government's relationship with the colonies were both stretched to the limit.
North America in the mid-18th century was a place of extreme change.
*The government officials in France, England and Spain scrambled to adjust to the new circumstances, organize the migration/resettlement of their subjects and to try to organize new relationships with the indigenous people.
More changes for the average person:
*European migrations to North America, within North America
*Migrations to the backcountry ('Backcountry' means anything more than 50 miles off the coast.)
*All of these changes intensified old struggles and new tensions---between settlers & colonial elites.
Indians and Whites in 1763
This negotiated "middle ground" was deteriorating by the 1760s.
Political, social and economic arrangements between Indians and Euro-American colonists that were established over decades were changed forever and had to be re-established after the war ended.
Similar to King Philip's War in New England (1675-1676) the French and Indian War undermined the possibility of lasting peace between the groups of people.
Facts to Remember!
A letter that was mailed to London from the colonies might make it to London in a matter of 2-3 months. (Six weeks if they were lucky!) If the king replied immediately (not happening in reality) the response might reach the colonies in another 2-3 months. So the gap between messages could be up to 6 MONTHS!
2. Colonists thought in local terms rather than global terms. Their worlds were "small" and yet 'global' simultaneously. The colonies were a series of villages with a very few 'cities'---Boston, Philadelphia, Williamsburg, Charleston, Newport and New York City. The vast majority of colonists lived in very small communities.
3. Rivers were the interstate highways of the 18th century. Roads were sparse, usually muddy/potholed/poorly maintained, and travel by road was painfully slow.
4. Ethnic diversity was the rule rather than the exception. The British colonies were inhabited by MANY different groups and diversity was standard. English, Scots-Irish, Germans, Highland Scots, Dutch, Swedes, Finns, French Huguenots, Spaniards, Jews, indigenous, Africans and British soldiers all inhabited the British colonies!
5. The population of the colonies doubled every 25 years.
Virginia (the largest colony) had a population of almost 350K people in 1763.
Massachusetts' population was 250K.
Pennsylvania's population was about 300K.
New York's population was about 100K and Connecticut's population was about 145K.
Maryland: 16K.
New Hampshire: 45K.
Georgia: 11,500 (including 4500 enslaved people.)
Meanwhile the indigenous population declined everywhere. The estimated indigenous population in North America in 1492 is estimated to have been 4-5 M and European disruptions and diseases decimated the indigenous tribes---the estimated population at the end of 1799 was 500K. Even so, many indigenous communities were as large as European communities.