copyright 2005 heathcock 1 4-3 the colonies grow 1607-1770 france and britain clash

Copyright 2005 Heathcock 1

4-3The Colonies Grow1607-1770

France and Britain Clash


British-French Rivalry

Britain and France had been competing for centuries. By 1700 they were two of the strongest powers in Europe.


Their rivalry created hard feelings between British and French colonists in North America.


British land companies wanted to expand into the Ohio River Valley. But the French said the Ohio country belonged to them. They didn’t want British colonists sharingin their profitable fur trade.


Ohio River Valley


Native Americans Take Sides

The French traders and the British colonists knew that whoever got the best trade terms from Native Americans and the most help in the war would probably win control of North America.


The French had many Native American allies. Unlike the British, the French were more interested in furs than taking over Native American land.


French trappers and fur traders often married Native American womenand followed their customs. During the wars between Great Britain and France, Native Americans often helped the French by raiding British settlements.


Indians take sides


The Iroquois Confederacy

The most powerful group of Native Americans in the East was the Iroquois Confederacy.


The Iroquois remained independent by trading with both the British and the French. By playing the British and French against each other, the Iroquois dominated the area around theGreat Lakes.


As the British moved into the Ohio Valley the Iroquois leaders were pressured into giving trading rights to the British and reluctantly became their allies.


This upset the delicate balance of power between the French and British.


American Colonists Take Action

When a group of Virginians decided to settle in the Ohio Valley they sent a 21-year-old surveyor/planter named George Washington to tell the French that they were trespassing on British territory.


Washington told them they had to leave. They ignored him.


Washington's First Command

Washington was promoted to lieutenant colonel and sent back to the Ohio country with a militia of 150 men.


The militia was to build a fort where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet and form the Ohio River — present-day Pittsburgh.


When Washington and his troops arrived, the French were already building Fort Duquesne there. Washington built Fort Necessity nearby.


Although greatly outnumbered, Washington’s men attacked a French scouting party. The French surrounded them and forced them to surrender. The soldiers were later released and returned to Virginia.


When the story was published Washington's fame spread throughout the colonies and Europe. In spite of his defeat, the colonists saw Washington as a hero who struck thefirst blow against the French.


The Albany Plan of Union

In June 1754, representatives from four colonies met in Albany, New York to discuss how they could defend themselves against the French. They also hoped to persuade the Iroquois to take their side against the French.


The representatives adopted a plan suggested by Benjamin Franklin that was known as the Albany Plan of Union.


Franklin's plan called for "one general government." It would have an elected legislature to govern the colonies, collect taxes, raise troops, and regulate trade.


Ben Franklin’s Albany Plan of Union


Not a single colonial assembly approved the plan. None of the colonies were willing to give up any of their power.


Franklin wrote, “Everyone cries, a union is necessary, but when they come to the manner and form of the union, their weak noodles [brains] are perfectly distracted.”


Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity marked the start of a full-scale war. The colonists called it the French and Indian War because they fought two enemies -- the French and their Native American allies.

copyright 2005 heathcock 1 4-3 the colonies grow 1607-1770 france and britain clash

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