France and Britain were battling through the second "
Hundred Years' War", when the French and Indian War (
Seven Years' War) began. French Canadians call this "
La Guerre de la Conquête".
In the early 1750s, France was expanding into the Ohio River valley, building a fort called Duquesne where three rivers meet (now Pittsburgh). From 1754-55, they won repeatedly against British attacks, led by
George Washington. Afraid that the French settlers in
Acadia (NS) would side with France,
Massachusetts Governor Shirley expelled them in 1755. In
1756 Britain declared war, and France increasingly succeeded in winning the support of the indigenous peoples (Brits were supported at various times by Iroquois, Catawba, and Cherokee nations; French by Abenaki, Mi'kmaq, Algonquin, Lenape, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Shawnee, and Wyandot nations.)
Britain's prime minister,
William Pitt turns the tide in 1757, seeing the colonial conflicts as the key to building the British Empire. He borrowed from British and Dutch investors, and paid Prussia to fight in Europe, and raised additional troops by reimbursing the colonies in North America.
The first victory for Britain was at
Louisbourg in July 1758. Next was
Fort Frontenac (Kingston); then
Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) was destroyed, and Fort Pitt was built on the site. In September 1759, Britain won the
Battle of Quebec, but lost
Commander James Wolfe in the conflict on the Plains of Abraham (France loses
Commander Marquis de Montcalm in the same battle). When France loses Montreal in September 1760, they lose their last foothold in Canada. Spain joined France against Britain, and the worldwide battle continues until 1763.
The Seven year war ends
1763 with
Treaty of Paris (
Britain, Prussia, Hanover vs
France, Austria, Sweden, Saxony, Russia, and
Spain). France loses much North American ground, including Quebec, Cape Breton (Ile Royale), Great Lakes basin, and the east bank of the Mississippi. Spain gives up Florida to Britain. France keeps Saint Pierre and Miquelon, fishing rights in Newfoundland and Gulf of St Lawrence.
Following the Seven Year War, Britain is in debt, and increasingly taxes American colonists. There were taxes on printed paper, from playing cards to newspapers, and then went as far as taxing paint, glass, lead and tea. The 13 colonies complained that this was "
taxation without representation".
The
Boston massacre began as a street brawl on March 5, 1770, with a group of colonists throwing snowballs at a British sentinel guarding the Boston Customs house and ending with 5 deaths and 6 others wounded by open fire.
Eventually, Britain repealed the taxes, except for tea. This resulted in a boycott of the British East India company, and smuggling in Dutch tea. Prominent tea smugglers were
John Hancock and
Samuel Adams.
The "
Sons of Liberty" were against taxation, and included
Benedict Arnold,
Paul Revere, Adams, and Hancock. On the night of the "
Boston Tea Party" in December 1773, a group of these men, some bearing tomahawks, and dressed in native American garb, threw 342 chest of tea into the water, splitting them to maximize the effects of the water. It would have been worth over a million dollars today, and George Washington, sympathized with he cause, but
Benjamin Franklin disagreed with the destruction of private property, and offered to reimburse the British East India Company for the lost tea.
King George III retaliated, but the colonies rallied to Massachusetts' aid, and similar tea-dumping demonstrations happened in Maryland, NY, and South Carolina, as well as a second one in Boston in March 1774.
Paul Revere was made famous for his "
midnight ride", made April 1775, warning colonists in
Lexington and
Concord of a British attack; specifically Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington whose arrests were being planned by the British. His father was a French Huguenot Bostonian silversmith. He signalled with lanterns from the Old North Church steeple "
one if by land, two if by sea". His folk hero status was greatly aided by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem called "
Paul Revere's Ride". The British regulars were expecting only to present a show of force, but discovered the town's militia waiting for them. These were the famous "Minutemen", so called because they were"ready in a minute". They were selected as a small elite force who were highly mobile, and able to assemble quickly. They were loyal to their town, but combined forces quickly. The first volleys were fired between the militia and the British light infantry, and the
American War of Independence began
April 19, 1775.
The War ended with another Treaty of Paris, signed in
1783, in favour fo the American colonists, with Britain retaining control of Canada, New York, Savannah, and Charleston.
