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The Fight for Fort Duquesne
While tensions rose between Britain and France over the Ohio River Valley, France made the first move by building Fort Duquesne. In 1754 British Governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie sent the colonial army to evict the French from the fort under command of George Washington. Washington and his army struck first and quickly defeated the small French force, but when the French counter attacked, Washington and his troops surrendered. This conflict led to the French and Indian War. -
The British Struggle/ British Success
From 1754- 1757 the French, and the Native Americans on their side, were dominating the French and Indian War against Britain. From 1756 -1757 the French destroyed British forts along Lake Ontario and Lake George. Meanwhile, France's Native American allies raided British settlements in Pennsylvania and Virginia. IN 1758 the war shifted over to the British side as they started cutting off French shipping to America and many Native Americans then switched over to the better supplied British side. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 set a boundary between the English settlers and the Native Americans. The boundary was set along the Appalachian Mountains in hopes of trying to keep the settlers to the the East of the Appalachian Mountains. However, many English settlers decided to move westward anyways and Britain did very little to prevent it. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the fighting of the French and Indian War in America with Britain being the victorious side. The Treaty off Paris (1763) gave Britain Canada, the Great Lakes region, the Ohio River valley, and Florida. The British had almost completely driven out the French from North America. -
The Sugar, Quartering, and Stamp Acts
In 1764 the new prime minister of Britain, George Grenville proposed that Britain could raise more money by adding new acts or taxes. This included the Sugar Act (taxes on molasses), the quartering acts which forced English colonists to provide housing and supplies for British soldiers, and the Stamp act which taxed any printed products. -
The First Continental Congress
In 1774 delegates from every colony except for Georgia came together to meet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the First Continental Congress. The Continental Congress was caused by a majority of peoples issues with all of the taxes from Britain and the fact that they were having less and less of a say in the British government and in their own ones in America.