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British and France Clash
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Britain and France
They were both two of the strongest powers in Europe. They competed for wealth and empire in different parts of the world. This rivalry caused bitter feelings between British and French colonists in North America. -
The Six Nations
The Confederacy initially included-the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida. Other groups of native americans later joined and were conquered by the Iroquois. After theTuscarora joined in 1722, the English referred to the confederacy as the Six Nations. -
Iroquois Under Pressure
By the mid 1700's however the Iroquois came under greater pressure as their little mind games had no longer affected the British as they went deeper into the Ohio valley. Eventually the leaders of the confederacygave certain trading rights to the British and reluctantly become allies. -
Both Countries Become Hostile
Hostility between the two forces grew. British fur traders built a fort at a place called Pickawillany, acting quickly, the French attacked Pickawillany and drove the British traders out of Ohio. French troops also began raiding towns in Maine and New York. In response, some New Englanders captured the important French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton island, north of Nova Scotia. Much to be disgust of the New Englanders, Britain returned Louisbourg to France. -
French Rejects Great Britain
A group of Virginians had plans for settling in the Ohio valley. In the fall of 1753, Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia sent a surveyor named George Washington into the Ohio country, Washington was 21 years old. His mission was to tell the French that they were trespassing on land that Great Britain claimed. He was to demand that they leave. Washington delivered the message, but it did no good. "The French told me," Washington said later, "that it was their absolute design, or plan, to take -
Discovery of Fort Dusquesne
In the spring of 1754, Dinwiddie made Washington a Lieutenant Colonel. He then sent Washington back to Ohio country with a miltia- a group of civillians trained to fight in emergencies-of 150 men. The miltia had instructions to build a fort where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River-the site of present-day Pittsburgh. Washington and his troops arrived to find the French already building Fort Duquesne on that spot. -
Benjamin Franklin's Albany Plan of Union
All of the representatives from several colonies met in Albany, New York, in June 1754 to discuss the threat of a war. They wanted to find a way so that they could be protected from the French and supported by the Iroquois people. The representatives adopted Benjamin Franklin's Albany Plan of Union for a united colonial government. Franklin's plan called for "one general government" for eleven of the american colonies. Not a single colonial assembly, however, approved the plan.
