US History

U.S. History Study Guide

©2018 of 194 named George Washington, took a mission to deliver a message demanding that French troops withdraw from the Ohio River territory. The demand was rejected and in 1754, Washington received authorization to build a fort near the present site of Pittsburgh. Washington's troops met with French forces and a small skirmish ensued, Washington lost and had to surrender the fort he built, Fort Necessity. The incident set off a series of battles. The French and the English formally declared war in May 1756. For the first three years of the war, the French dominated the war. Eventually the British were able to turn the course of the war. Outnumbered and outgunned by the British, the French collapsed with a massive defeat at Quebec in September 1759. Under the Treaty of Parris 1763, France was forced to surrender all of her North American possessions to the British and the Spanish. The results of the war ended the French in North America. England gained massive amounts of land and vastly strengthened its hold on the continent. Although a British victory, the effects after the French and Indian War would play a significant role in breaking ties between England and its colonies, the costs to finance the war would result in taxes that eventually led into the Revolutionary War. 4.18 Pontiac's Rebellion Pontiac’s Rebellion was fought between a loose confederations of Native tribes against the British in 1763. The war was named after Pontiac, the most prominent leader among the natives. The groups of natives were unhappy with British policies following the British victory of the French and IndianWar. Native Americans began a series of attacks on British properties starting in May 1763 and the two sides fought for almost three years in the Great Lakes area. The tactics waged were gruesome; the killing of prisoners, war on civilians, and other forms of atrocities. An important event in history would occur at Fort Pitt. British officers attempted to win this battle by infecting the Native Americans with smallpox. They used blankets covered with the virus. This was a symbol of the ruthlessness that would embody the relationship between the colonists and Native tribes through the rest of history. To stop the fighting, the British enacted the Royal Proclamation of 1763. It created boundaries between both colonists and the Native tribes. It was extremely unpopular with the colonists who were very motivated to explore and settle the new lands acquired from the French and Indian War. 4.19 The Colonial Landscape On the surface everything seemed to be stable with the British colonies. They had ousted the French, their biggest threat, and became the most dominant force in North America. The Spanish were not a Achieve Page 52