Defending the Empire

1. Salutary Neglect (1714-1760)

   1. Representational government improves

      1. Colonists have greater control over finances and taxes

      2. Franchise broadened - most white male property owners could now vote

      3. But still had to be upper class to hold office

   2. Direct supervision of colonies relaxed

2. French-Algonquin Wars

   1. Series of wars rooted in European rivalries, played out as frontier wars in America

   2. French relationship with Amerindians based mostly on trade, exchange of gifts

      1. Generally, French have better relationship with Amerindians

      2. More willing to intermarry

      3. Often live in Amerindian villages

      4. Since most French colonists were not farmers, didn't want to take their land (English colonists outnumber French 20 to 1)

      5. English deal with them much more harshly

      6. 9 out of 10 Indian groups will ally with French in these wars

      7. Iroquois side with English in order to attack old enemies 

   3. These wars will be mostly guerilla warfare

   4. King Williams War (1689-97)

      1. Also known as War of the League of Augsberg  

      2. Started in Europe over control of Netherlands

      3. Largely a frontier war in America

      4. French and Algonquians battle British colonists and Iroquois in upstate NY

      5. Colonists fail in attack on French Quebec

      6. Mostly an exchange of raids - taste of things to come

      7. Savage on both sides

   5. Queen Anne's War (1702-1714)

      1. Also known as the War of Spanish Succession

      2.  Beginning of expulsion of French from North America

      3. Again, British colonists fail to take Quebec

      4. But French will lose control of Hudson Bay trade networks

      5. Colonists feel they are being drawn into a European conflict

      6. Peace treaty (Treaty of Utrecht) gives Britain gains in Europe, not much in colonies

      7. French begin to push down Mississippi

   6. King George's War (1740-1748)

      1. Also known as War of Austrian Succession

      2. Colonists and British win major battle over French in Quebec

      3. But in peace treaty (Treaty of Aix-le-Chapelle) British exchange gains against French in North America for concessions in Europe

      4. French push into Ohio valley after war

      5. Colonists increasingly feel these wars don't do them a lot of good

3. Seven Year's War  - also known as the French and Indian War - (1754-1763)

   1. This war starts in colonies, not in Europe

      1. Went for two years in colonies before starting in Europe 

      2. 21-year-old George Washington sent to western Pennsylvania to oust French (1753)

      3. Fails, but establishes outpost in west PA (Fort Necessity)

   2. Albany Congress (1754)

      1. Representatives from seven colonies met, trying to coordinate their efforts and improve relations with Iroquois

      2. Unable to develop unity because of mistrust between colonies

      3. Despite gifts, Iroquois will not back the British in the war until victories against the French in 1758 prove British strength

   3. England hires German mercenaries to fight French in Europe, uses Navy to cut them off from colonies (Prime Minister William Pitt)

   4. Pitt raises 30,000 colonial troops (colonists not eager to pay for this)

   5. A total defeat for France in North America

      1. British take control of Lake Ontario in 1758

         1. Cuts French off from their Algonquin allies and trade partners

         2. Thus that alliance collapses

      2. British able to reinvigorate old alliance with Iroquois, helping to insure control of upstate NY, eastern Great Lakes region

      3. British take Quebec (thus Canada is now a bilingual nation)

      4. Peace treaty (Treaty of Paris, 1763) will give British control of all French territory east of the Mississippi except New Orleans

      5. In a way, too great to victory - French want revenge, setting up 100 years of conflict

      6. French will be eager to exact revenge in War of Independence

4. Aftermath

   1. Both cements bond between England and colonies and creates tensions

   2. Increases anti-Catholic sentiment throughout colonies

   3. Largely bad news for Amerindians

      1. Most fought on losing side

      2. And winners were the English - who wanted farmland

      3. United, they could have kicked out British and French

      4. But chose to use Europeans as weapons against each other

   4. England wants to turn its empire of theory into empire of fact

      1. Wars were expensive, but colonies were theoretically supposed to pay for themselves

      2. Some colonists had supported the French

      3. England's deficit had doubled - felt colonists weren't doing their part.