The French and Indian War

• The war was mainly a result of conflicts dealing with trading rights. England had more people than France in North America, but in expanding, they would run into the Ohio Valley which was controlled by France.
• After a few conflicts around the Ohio region (near Fort Duquesne) with the French, as well as the deportation of many French from Nova Scotia, England declares war on France in 1756. England did not have much success in the war until William Pitt took office and turned things around. With the capture of Fort Duquesne and the attacks on Montreal and Quebec by the English, the French surrendered Canada and the war ended in 1763.
• The Earl of Bute (who had become the leading figure in the Privy Council after the resignation of Pitt in 1761) dictated the Peace of Paris that ended the war. England received all of the land east of the Mississippi. Some colonists didn�t like the ideas, but many were content with going back to life before the war.

  "For the Indians of the Ohio Valley, the third major party in the French and Indian War, the British victory was disastrous. Those tribes that had allied themselves with the French had earned the enmity of the victorious English. The Iroquois Confederacy, which had allied themselves with Britain, fared only slightly better. The alliance quickly unraveled and the Confederacy began to crumble from within. The Iroquois continued to contest the English for control of the Ohio Valley for another fifty years; but they were never again in a position to deal with their white rivals on terms of military or political equality.�
  (Webpage: French and Indian Wars url: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/E/7yearswar/fiw03.htm Desc: 3 pages summarizing the F&I war�the third page is on the effect of the war.)

• The French and Indian War had greatly expanded England�s territory in the Americas, but it also resulted in England acquiring a large national debt. There was also a good amount of resentment among the English leaders towards the colonists. They were not satisfied with the financial and military help (or lack thereof) that they�d received from the colonists. The growing debt and the resentment eventually results in the passing of many policies that earn the colonists� anger.
• England stationed troops in the colonies to guard them, although with Pontiac�s Rebellion they proved ineffective. England then issued the Proclamation of 1763 that prevented settlers from venturing beyond the Appalachians.
• The colonists largely ignored the Proclamation, showing that the British did not have much power in enforcement
• George Grenville took the place of the Earl of Bute in 1763, ended up passing many acts such as the Molasses Act (1733), the Currency Act (1764), the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act, and the Quartering Act. These aroused much opposition among the colonists.
• After the Stamp Act failed, Grenville was dismissed and the Marquis of Rockingham took his place. The Marquis had the Stamp Act repealed, and the Declatory Act was issued, which reinforced England�s taxing by stating that England had the right to tax the colonies.
• The Marquis is later removed also, and then the power passed to William Pitt, then to Charles Townshend. Townshend passed many other acts. These acts placed duties on many commonly used items, and invoked much colonial resentment.
• In 1767 Parliament declared all acts of the New York assembly to be void until the colony furnished full supplies for the troops quartered there.
• In 1770, the Boston Massacre took place. Ten British soldiers opened fire on a group of colonists who were jeering at them. This conflict was later used as encouragement to get more colonists to be active in the cause for independence.
• After Townshend died, Lord North took his place. North had many of the acts except for the one on tea repealed.
• This tax on tea further agitated the colonists and opposition sprung up everywhere. This poem is an example of the colonists� sentiments.

  Revolutionary Tea
  There was an old lady lived over the sea
  And she was an island queen.
  Her daughter lived off in a new country
  With an ocean of water between.
  The old lady�s pockets were full of gold
  But never contented was she,
  So she called on her daughter to pay her a tax
  Of three pence a pound on her tea,
  Of three pence a pound on her tea.

  �Now, mother, dear mother,� the daughter replied,
  �I shan�t do the thing you ax.
  I�m willing to pay a fair price for the tea,
  But never the three-penny tax.�
  �You shall,� quoth the mother, and reddened with rage,
  �For you�re my own daughter, you see,
  And sure �tis quite proper the daughter should pay
  Her mother a tax on her tea,
  Her mother a tax on her tea.�

  And so the old lady her servant called up
  And packed off a budget of tea;
  And eager for three pence a pound, she put in
  Enough for a large family.
  She ordered her servant to bring home the tax,
  Declaring her child should obey,
  Or old as she was, and almost full grown,
  She�d half whip her life away,
  She�d half whip her life away.

  The tea was conveyed to the daughter�s door,
  All down by the ocean�s side,

  And the bouncing girl poured out every pound
  In the dark and boiling tide;
  And then she called out to the island queen,
  �Oh, mother, dear mother,� quoth she,
  �Your tea you may have when �tis steeped quite enough
  But never a tax from me,
  But never a tax from me.�
  ( Webpage:DiscoverySchool.com url: http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/revwar1/ Desc: Part of a lesson plan library, the page incorporates the poem, Revolutionary Tea, into the curriculum of students by providing a procedure for an activity.)

• Boston Tea Party � 3 companies of 50 men each, dressed as Indians, threw all the tea chests from a ship into the harbor. News of this spread around to other colonies and soon other towns had similar "tea parties". When the colonists did not meet the demands of the English to pay for the destroyed property, the Coercive Acts were passed.
• The Coercive Acts (dubbed the �Intolerable Acts�) sparked even more colonial resistance. The first Continental Congress met, it proposed to England to have the same supervisory role that it had before 1763. The British refused. It also adopted �The Association� a non-trade agreement with Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies.
• 1775 � troops from England were sent to Concord to seize their supply of arms. The Battle of Bunker Hill showed that British that the colonists would resist and shouldn�t be underestimated
• The Second Continental Congress met. They did not want independence at first, and attempted to send a petition to England. However, England just sent more troops to America.
• The Declaration of Independence was then written. It declared that a government needs the consent of its governed people, and that the people had a duty to throw off a corrupt government that failed to fulfill its obligations.