George Washington, I want you to take your militia to the Ohio River Valley and protect out new fort being built
They French are building Fort Duquesne. Let's build Fort Necessity
The Iroquois controlled western New York—land the French passed through to reach the Ohio River. In 1754 colonial delegates met with Iroquois leaders in Albany, New York. They hoped to develop a program “for their mutual security and defense against the encroachment of their foreign neighbors.” At the Albany Conference, the Iroquois refused an alliance with the British but did offer some support. The conference also issued the Albany Plan of Union, a proposal developed by a committee led by Benjamin Franklin. The Plan of Union proposed that the colonies form a federal government. Benjamin Franklin created the first published political cartoon, “Join or Die,” to try and convince the colonies to support the Albany Plan of Union. All the colonial assemblies rejected the plan. No colony was willing to give up any of its power to a central government or to pay taxes for a common defense.
In April 1757, British General Edward Braddock arrived in Virginia as commander of the British forces in North America. Braddock selected George Washington to be his aide in the colonies. British troops marched back out to Fort Duquesne but were attacked by the French and their Indigenous peoples allies. Braddock was killed but Washington was able to hold the British forces together during their retreat. The successful ambush emboldened the Lenni-Lenape people who began attacking British settlers in western Pennsylvania. For the next two years, the French and Indian War, as it was called in the colonies, raged along the frontier.The British lost battle after battle in the Ohio Valley and around the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
The tide began to shift against the French after William Pitt became secretary of state and leader of the British House of Commons in 1757. Instead of tangling with the mighty French army in Europe, Pitt planned to seize the French colonies in North America. Pitt poured money, supplies, and reinforcements into the British colonies. In 1758, he sent several generals to America. These generals had been successful in Europe and they started to win victories in North America against the French. Gradually, the British fleet cut off supplies and reinforcements from France. The British were able to take the French colony of Quebec and continued to defeat the French forces in North America. New France surrendered after Montreal was captured.
“I am sure I can save this country, and nobody else can.”
The French and Indian War came to an official end with the Treaty of Paris, signed in February 1763 when Great Britain had defeated France. Britain’s military strength now outranked that of both France and Spain. The treaty gave Britain vast new lands: all of the former French territory in North America east of the Mississippi River, except for two islands off the Newfoundland coast and two in the Caribbean. From Spain, which had been France’s ally, Britain received the land south of Georgia, Spanish Florida. To repay Spain, France gave Spain the Louisiana territory west of the Mississippi River. Indigenous Peoples were not included in the negotiations.
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