French and Indian War
As the colonies grew, settlers began to dream of moving across the Appalachian Mountains and into the Ohio Valley—the region between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Both Britain and France claimed this territory. In 1754, the French made good on their claim by building a fort where the city of Pittsburgh stands today. They called it Fort Duquesne.
News of the fort alarmed the governor of Virginia. He ordered a small force of Virginia militia to drive the French out of the Ohio Valley. To head the militia, the governor chose a 22-year-old volunteer named George Washington.
Today, Americans remember George Washington as a great Patriot, military hero, and first president of the United States. In 1754, he was just an ambitious young man with no land or money. Washington believed that his best chance of getting ahead was to become an officer in the British army. There was only one problem—most British soldiers believed that colonists made lousy soldiers.
The expedition into the Ohio Valley gave Washington a chance to prove them wrong. Near Fort Duquesne, he came across a French scouting party that was camped in the woods. Washington ordered his men to open fire. It was an easy victory. “I heard the bullets whistle,” he wrote afterward, “and believe me, there is something charming in that sound.
Washington’s whistling bullets were the first shots in a conflict known as the French and Indian War. This war was part of a long struggle between France and Britain for territory and power. The two countries had been fighting in Europe for years, and both wanted to keep their territory in America safe. Because many Native Americans fought in both armies, the war became known as the French and Indian War.
The war raged on for seven long years. The turning point came in 1759, when British troops captured Canada. In 1763, Britain and France signed a peace treaty ending the war. In the treaty, France gave up its territory in North America.
The French and Indian War drained the British Empire of money and resources. After the war, Britain began to increase control over the colonies they had spent so much time and money protecting. First, the King issued the Proclamation of 1763, which stated that no colonists could move west of the Appalachian Mountains. This decision angered many colonists because they wanted to settle in the new land.
In addition to restricting the movement of settlers, the British King and Parliament decided to raise taxes on colonists to pay back the cost of the war. The Townshend Act placed taxes on everyday items (tea, glass, paper, paint). A few years later, Britain issued the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on all official documents issued in the colonies. These new taxes angered many colonists, and stirred Revolutionary sentiment.