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In North America the French and British fought over resources and land. They clashed over the fur trade and over rights to the rich fishing grounds of the North Atlantic. The French defended the Ohio Valley. The British feared that their colonies would be encircled by French settlements along the lower Mississippi Valley and in Canada.
The French traders and the British colonists knew that Native Americans could be a decisive factor in their struggle for North America.
The French had many Native American allies. Unlike the British, the French were interested mainly in trading for furs – not in taking over Native American land. The French were also more tolerant than the British of Native American ways.
The most powerful group of Native Americans in the East was the Iroquois Confederacy based in New York. The Iroquois managed to remain independent by trading with both the British and the French. They dominated the area around the Great Lakes. But by the mid-1700s, they were under pressure as the British moved into the Ohio Valley. The Iroquois gave certain trading rights to the British and became their reluctant allies, thus upsetting the balance of power between the British and the French.
Representatives from the colonies met to discuss the threat of war. Ben Franklin offered the Albany Plan of Union, an effort to unify the colonies under one government. None of the colonies approved the plan.
Britain and France went to war. The British called it the Seven Years’ War, but the colonists called it the French and Indian War. George Washington warned General Braddock that marching in columns and rows would make them vulnerable. Braddock ignored the advice, and he lost the battle at Fort Duquesne.
Britain was losing during the first few years. Then William Pitt took over. He had Britain pay for all the war supplies, racking up a huge debt. After the war, the British raised the colonists’ taxes to help pay for it.
The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the war and forced France to give up all of its land in North America to either Britain or Spain. The continent became divided between Britain and Spain, with the Mississippi River being the boundary.
Chief Pontiac recognized that the British were a threat and put together an alliance of Native American people. During Pontiac’s War, he lost important battles and eventually gave up. Settlers in Pennsylvania retaliated by attacking peaceful Native American villages.
In order to prevent more fighting, the British declared the Proclamation of 1763, forbidding expansion past the Appalachian Mountains. Some colonists were angry because they had just fought to get this land and had already bought property in the Ohio Valley. This caused friction between Britain and the colonies.