Chapter Five: Roads to Revolution, 1750-1776

Triumph and Tensions: The British Empire, 1750-1763

The earliest battles among European power for control of North America, known to British colonists as King William's War (1689-1697) and Queen Anne's War (1702-1713). Most of the battles were between the British colonists, the French, and the French ally Spain.
The War of Jenkins's Ear started in 1739 between the British and Spaniards. This small battle became a war and became known as King Georges's War in America. It ended in 1748.
Britain gained most of France’s territory, and tightened its grip over it and its other territory, the American Colonies.
Many different types of colonists were angry; colonial resistance reflected deep democratic stirrings in America that would eventually cause The American Revolution.

A Fragile Peace
The French, preparing for another war in Ohio, started building defensive forts.
In 1754, George Washington was sent to Ohio Country to secure the land of the Virginians who had secured legal rights to 500,000 acres.
Native Americans, fearing their land would be taken, drove the British back to Virginia.
The Albany Congress met in 1754 to sign a treaty with the Iroquois. Only 7 of 13 colony delegates showed up. The Albany Plan of Union attempted to unite all of the colonies under one leader, but the plan was hated by individual colonists and the London regime, and never got approved by any colonial legislatures.

The Seven Years’ War in America
General Braddock set out in 1755 with 2,000 men to capture Fort Duquesne. His force was slaughtered by the much smaller French and Indian army. Due to this loss of troops, the whole frontier from Pennsylvania to North Carolina was left open to attack. For 3 years, colonial expansion was halted in Penn, Mary., and Vir.
The war was going badly for Britain- facing defeat on all sides.
Ohio/Iroquois took back their alliance w/ France, which allowed Britain to capture Duquesne.
In 1757, William Pitt took charge of military. He encouraged colonists to join military because he freed America from the financial burden of the war.
He attacked and captured Louisbourg in 1758, also New York, Quebec in 1759 (Wolfe), and finally Montreal in 1760.

The End of French North America
The Treaty of Paris (1763) ended the battle and threw the French power off all lands east of the Mississippi, except for New Orleans. British also traded Cuba for Spanish Florida.
In 1755, the British uprooted the French Acadians (Nova Scotia) after they refused allegiance to Britain, and scattered them as far as Louisiana (Cajuns).

Anglo-American Friction
During the war, there was a lot of tension between British soldiers & the colonists, who didn’t want to assist the soldiers.
Pitt’s promise that Britain would pay for the war angered its citizens. The war pushed Britain into major debt. After the war, many colonists also fell into debt. George III came to the throne in 1760, and increased English/colonial tension.

Frontier Tensions
Great Lakes Indians were scared that, now they’re British subjects, the motherland would cut off their trade/supplies.
In 1763, Ottawa chief, Pontiac, led several tribes, and some French traders, in a violent campaign to drive the British out of the Ohio country. His warriors captured Detroit and overran all but 3 British outposts west of the Appalachians.
The British countered these attacks. This, combined with supply shortages and disease, defeated the uprising.
Proclamation of 1763 asserted Britain’s power over land and trade. It prohibited settlement in the area beyond the Appalachians. Many colonists disregarded it.
Britain also stationed 10000 soldiers in forts to enforce the proclamation. Britain thought colonists should pay for this.

Imperial Authority, Colonial Opposition, 1760-1766

Writs of Assistance
In 1760, Massachusetts’s governor let revenue officers use Writs of Asistance to seize smuggled