French And Indian War And Its Effect On Ordinary People

Mike Grishaber
Mr. Della Torre
U.S. History CP
11/13/14

French and Indian War The French and Indian War or as known as “The Seven Years War”. It lasted from 1754-1763. The French and Indians did not fight each other. It is named the French and Indian War because they fought together. They fought against the British for control of territory. The war did not only affect the people in the war but also outside the war. The French and Indian War affects the ordinary people by being taxed and prevents them from passing the Appalachians by the Proclamation of 1763. There were many causes that lead the French and Indians teaming up against the British. As an example, The Ohio country was not officially claimed by anyone. The British and French both claimed it as their territory. They wanted to remove each other’s forts. George Washington at this time was on Britain’s side. Britain had sent Washington to tell the French to abandon their string of forts being built between Lake Erie and the forks of Ohio River. Washington was sent back to Virginia but 6 months later, Washington returned with a regiment of Virginia provincial troops and was able to defeat the
French at Great Meadows. After, Washington was trying to build a fort quickly to defend them against the French attack that was incoming. They were unable to finish before the French arrived, so they were forced to surrender. A numerous amount of events happened in the French and Indian War.
Once the war was declared between the French and British, Prussia immediately entered the war on Britain's side. Austria, Sweden, and Russia entered the war on the French side. A new appointed French commander Marquis De Montcalm, was strengthening the French forces as they captured Fort Oswego which was strengthening their control over the Great Lakes. William Pitt was newly named the British Secretary of State. He said he was using as much resources to being able to defeat the French. Also, he said the Parliament will cover any expenses. The British took a huge and costly defeat at Fort Carillon. Even though the French were outnumbered 4 to 1, they won the battle and the British suffered almost 2,000 casualties. The British captured
Louisbourg.
Louisbourg is a French port and the British were able to severely restrict the French from getting imports from their allies. Once British captured Fort Niagara, they were able to cut off the French contact from Canada to the French posts in Lake Erie. Without one shot being fired, the French surrendered their last stronghold in North America when 17,500 provincial troops surrounded the stronghold in 3 directions. This signified the end of the war, in which the Treaty of Paris was signed. Once the French and Indian War had ended, there were consequences. Britain had won the war, but they were suffering financially. They had spent a lot of money during the war. France was also suffering financially. The British Government issued a Proclamation to restrict the colonists from passing the Appalachians. It was like that because they wanted to have a peace with the Native Americans and not have any more conflicts. After the war, The French lost almost all their land in North America. It was given mostly to the British and some of it was given to Spain. Britain thought that, since the war was fought on the behalf of the colonists, they should bear some of the costs. They then issued the Stamp Act. This was ill-received by the colonists, and it lead to them rebelling against the British.
The ordinary people had been restricted to go past the Appalachians due to the
Proclamation of 1763. The British suffered a huge debt so they had to put some of it on the colonists which was a bad thing to do since later it would cause the American Revolution. For France, They lost lots of land and also suffered financially. This then caused the French Revolution. Overall, the war caused a lot of problems for the Countries that had participated in the war.