Chapter 6 The Duel for North America
- Briefing
o Contest for mastery of the North American content revolved between Britain, France and Sprain
§ Union of England and Scotland in 1707, “Great Britain” became nation’s official name.
§ Would also unavoidably involve Native Americans
o Engaged in 4 conflicts that were world wars that struggled for dominance in N. America and Europe.
§ Among which Seven Years’ War in Europe and French and Indian War in America set stage for American independence.
France finds Foothold in Canada
- France was among latecomers to settle in North America
o Including England and Holland
o For same reasons: Involved in 1500s in foreign wars and domestic strife, esp b/w Roman Catholics and Protestant Huguenots (French Calvinists)
§ Eventually Edict of Nantes in 1598 granted limited toleration to Huguenots
· Religious wars ceased and France blossomed under King Louis XIV
o Took deep interest overseas.
o 1608 founded Quebec, a colony commanding the St. Lawrence River.
§ Leading figure was Samuel de Champlain.
· Aka “Father of New France”.
§ Engaged in friendly relationship with nearby Huron Native Americans
· Fought with them against their foes, the federated Iroquois.
· HV French from them on were under threat of Iroquois tribes.
o Iroquois frequently as allies of British while ravaging French.
- French colonies were a royal regime
o King took control after numerous commercial companies faltered or failed.
o AR people elected no representative assemblies and was almost completely autocratic.
§ One right they enjoyed was right to trial by jury.
- French colonies’ growth was slow.
o As late as 1750, only 60,000 whites in New France.
§ Landowning French peasants had little economic motive to move
· Unlike English tenants who went for the British colonies.
§ Protestant Huguenots denied refuge in colony.
o AR French favored Caribbean Island colonies over Canada.
New France Fans Out
- Has one valuable resource: Beaver
o European fashion values beaver-pelt hats
o AR French fur-trappers ranged over North America for beaver.
§ Had a lot of coureurs de bois
· Fur-traders engaging in the industry w/ permission from French gov
§ Also recruited Native Americans into business.
· HV Native Americans recruited were decimated by diseases and debauched (corrupted, debased) on alcohol
· Mass killing of beaver also violated many natives’ beliefs.
o AR Native American and French traders trekked across the Great Lakes, extinguishing beaver population as in many areas.
- Missionaries attempt to convert Native Americans
o French Catholic missionaries, notably Jesuits (Soldiers of Christ, is largest male order in Catholic Church) worked zealously to save the Native Americans for Christ and from the fur-trappers.
§ HV suffered tortures at hands of Native Americans.
· AR only made a few permanent converts
· Played vital role as explorer and geographers.
- Explores work their way
o Antoine Cadillac founded Detroit, “the City of Straits” in 1701
§ Attempted to thwart English settlers pushing into the Ohio Valley
o Robert de La Salle sailed down Mississippi River in 1682 to where it mingles w/ gulf
§ Named the interior basin “Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV
· In attempt to check Spanish penetration into region of Gulf of Mexico.
§ Returned to Gulf three years later with colonizing expedition of four ships, but failed to find the Mississippi delta
· Instead in Spanish Texas where he was murdered by his rebellious men in 1687
- French persists in efforts to block Spain on Gulf of Mexico.
o Planted important posts incl. New Orleans (1718)
§ Fortified control over region of PD Louisiana and Mississippi
§ Also tapped into fur trade of interior valley.
o Illinois country was also very fertile.
§ Large amounts of grain exported to Europe and West Indies from here.
The Clash of Empires
- First contest among European powers was King William’s War (1689-1697) and Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713)
o Were the British colonists against the French “runner of the woods” or coureurs de bois.
§ Both sides recruited whatever Native American allies they could.
§ B/c neither Britain nor France considered its North American colonies worth detaching a lot of troops for, each side had primitive guerrilla fighting
· English suffered casualties from colonies in New York and Massachusetts.
· Spanish eventually teamed w/ French and used Florida and attacked S. Carolina
o HV English colonists scored a single victory when they temporarily seized a stronghold in PD Nova Scotia (New England)
- Peace terms signed at Utrecht in 1713, PD Netherlands
o French and Spanish were badly beaten
o Britain rewarded with French-populated Acadia (which British renamed Nova Scotia or New Scotland), Newfoundland and Hudson Bay.
§ AR pinched St. Lawrence settlements of Quebec and Montreal of France
§ Foreshadowed France’s eventual doom.
o Britain also won limited trading rights w/ Spanish America.
§ HV there was much smuggling and friction.
o MW peace continued, in which Britain neglected its American colonies.
- The start of the War of Jenkins’s Ear
o British captain Jenkins, while encountering Spanish revenue authorities, had one ear sliced off by a sword.
§ AR War of Jenkins’s Ear broke out in 1739 b/w British and Spaniards
o Involved primarily Georgia and Caribbean Sea
§ Philanthropist-soldier James Oglethorpe defeated Spanish foes.
o HV soon merged with large-scale War of Austrian Succession in Europe
§ Called King George’s War in America
§ France once again allied w/ Spain.
· Where New Englanders once again invaded New France and w/ help of British fleet and some good luck, French fortress of Louisburg on Cape Breton Island captured in 1745
- Peace Treaty of 1748, where French still clung to vast holdings in North America
o Had handed Louisburg back to French foe.
§ AR victorious New Englanders outraged by Old World diplomats.
§ Also, Louisburg was still a threat to American colonies.
George Washington Inaugurates War w/ France
- Conflict arises over show should own Ohio Valley
§ Was critical to the British colonists because it is directly west of the direction they are expanding their settlements.
§ French wanted to hold onto it to link Canadian holdings to that of Mississippi Valley
- Virginians start conflict via securing shaky legal “rights” to around 500,000 acres in the region.
o MW French were in process of creating forts to command strategic Ohio River
o Governor of Virginia had also ushered George Washington to secure Virginia’s claims in 1754
§ Washington sent to Ohio county and won a small battle with French troops in forest.
§ French responded w/ reinforcements and made him surrender in July 4th 1754. Washington HV was permitted to march away.
o AR of shooting and danger, British authorities in Nova Scotia brutally uprooted 4000 of French Acadians in Nova Scotia in 1755
§ British already feared a backstab from French Acadians whom Britain had acquired in 1713
§ They were forced to scatter as far south as Louisiana
o MW American colonists had shown lack of unity.
§ Colonists nearest to shooting responded more generously w/ volunteers and money than those in safety.
Global War and Colonial Disunity
- First three Anglo-French colonial wars in Europe, HV fourth and final, the French and Indian War, began in America.
- George Washington’s battles in wilds of Ohio valley in 1754 rocked along in undeclared basis for two years.
- Conflict in Europe
o There was Britain and Prussia v. France, Spain, Austria, and Russia.
o Germany (Prussia)’s leader Frederick the Great deservedly won title of “Great” through great military strength.
§ British, unable to send effective troop reinforcements, sent him gold.
o MW British attempts to set up better defenses against New France
§ 1754 British government sent intercolonial congress to Albany, New York
· Immediate purpose was to keep Iroquois tribes loyal to British.
o Chiefs were presented w/ wagonload of gifts.
· Only 7 of 13 colony’s delegates arrived.
§ MW month before congress Benjamin Franklin published in his Pennsylvania Gazette the famous cartoon of “Join, or Die”.
- Franklin leads the Albany Congress
o Contributed a well-devised but premature scheme for colonial home rule.
§ Albany delegates unanimously adopted the plan.
· HV to colonists it gave too little independence; to London it gave too much.
§ TF Franklin observed “all people agreed on need for union, but were distracted when it came to details”.
Braddock’s Blundering and Its Aftermath
- The opening of French and Indian war proved to be disastrous for British.
o General Braddock sent to Virginia w/ strong detachment of British regulars
o Set out in 1755 to capture Fort Duquesne.
§ Was defeated by behind-the-tree fighting methods of Indians and lack of disciplined troops on his part.
§ Defeated by a much smaller French and Indian army.
· Braddock mortally wounded while George Washington was shot.
· Entire British force routed after losses.
§ AR Native Americans took to empty frontier from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.
· TF desperate local authorities offered bounties while George Washington, w/ 300 men, desperately tried to defend frontier
o MW British launched full-scale invasion of Canada in 1756
§ HV unwisely attacked many posts at once instead of focusing on Montreal and Quebec
§ AR defeated once again.
Pitt’s Palms of Victory
- Was a great military leader aka “Great Commoner”
o Drew much of strength from common people, was a splendid orator.
o Became foremost leader in 1757.
§ Had decided to soft-pedal assaults on West Indies
§ MW concentrate on Quebec-Montreal area.
· Also had picked young leaders to replace old incompetent ones
- First mission against Louisbourg 1758
o Fell even though it had been greatly strengthened.
- Aimed towards Quebec in Battle of Quebec 1759
o Pitt chose James Wolfe as a leader
§ Had under Wolfe’s leadership, defeated the French and made Quebec surrender, though Wolfe did die fatally wounded.
o Soon Montreal fell in 1760
- Paris Treaty 1763
o French power was completely thrown off North America and left behind a fertile French population in Canada
§ Though were allowed to keep several small but valuable sugar islands in West Indies.
§ Also, to compensate Spanish ally for its losses, had ceded to Spanish all trans-Mississippi Louisiana and the outlet of New Orleans.
o Spain turned Florida over to Britain in return for Cuba, where Havana had fallen under British arms.
- AR of French and Indian Wars made Great Britain emerge as dominant power in North America while it took place as leading naval power of world.
Restless Colonists
- French and Indian War beneficial for colonists, though not so much for Old Britain
o Colonists had fought bravely alongside British regulars
§ Gained experience as soldiers and officers
§ Around 20,000 American recruits were under arms.
§ Bolstered self-esteem of colonists
o HV British invincibility shattered due to Braddock’s army had regulars huddling helplessly or fleeing.
- Friction develops between British and colonists
o British regarded themselves as professionals and displayed contempt for amateurs
§ Refused to recognize any American militia rank above captain.
§ TF George Washington was only a colonel.
§ British showed condescension and viewed them as cowards.
o HV colonists believed they were the cutting edge of British civilization.
- British were distressed by reluctance of colonists to support “the cause”
o When colonists used fraudulent papers and traded with enemy ports of Spanish and French West Indies.
§ This trade kept those islands from starving while the British attacked them
§ AR British took drastic measures and forbade export of all supplies from New England and middle colonies.
o Some colonists were self-centered
§ Refused to provide troops and money for war
§ Demanded rights but did not undertake responsibilities of being English
§ TF Pitt had to offer reimbursements for colonies before they helped
o AR there was colonial disunity.
§ Since colonies had to be bribed to defend themselves.
o Disunity caused by large distances
§ Geographical barriers incl. rivers.
§ Conflicting religions, from Catholic to Quaker to Protestant
§ Varied nationalities, differing types of government, boundary disputes, and resentment of backcountry settlers against aristocratic elites.
- HV when American soldiers gathered there was a sense of unity.
Americans: A People of Destiny
- Previously French had been a threat
o TF American colonies had to depend close on British military power
- HV now that the French threat is gone, colonies ranged far w/ new spirit of independence
o Spanish and Native American menaces were now substantially reduced.
§ Spanish Florida removed, HV still very much in control of West America
§ Removal of French from Canada and Spanish from Florida weakened the natives as they could no longer set rival Europeans against each other
· AR natives would have to deal exclusively with the British.
- The Ottawa peoples engage in violent campaign against British
o Ottawa chief Pontiac led several tribes (w/ aid of some French traders) in violent campaign to drive British out of Ohio country.
§ Managed to besiege Detroit in 1763 then all but 3 British posts west of Appalachians.
· 2000 soldiers and settlers killed.
o AR British responded by distributing smallpox-infected blankets to be distributed among Native Americans.
§ MW Pontiac perished at hands of a rival chieftain in 1769
- AR Native American threat ceased while British kept regular troops along frontier
o TF American colonists now free to move west.
§ Pioneers including Daniel Boone had already moved into Tennessee and Kentucky
- HV Proclamation of 1763 drawn
o Prohibited any settlement beyond the Appalachians
§ Was not intended to oppress the colonists but to prevent problems with the Native Americans like Pontiac’s uprising.
§ HV colonists felt that they deserved the land
· Had just “won” it through victories.
o French and Indian War developed new vision of destiny
§ AR continued anyways in westward trails
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