TheDruel'for North/rmerica

----O,i7f- 1608--1763

A roHcn LIGHTED IN T}{E FORESTS OF AMERICA SET ALL EURoPE IN GONFLAGRATION. VoutetRE.c, 1756

A s the seventeenthcentury neared its sunset,a titanic flstruggte was shaping up for mastery of the Norrth American continent. The contest involved three Old Frcrnce Finds cr Foothold in Cqnqdtr World nations-England,* France, and Sparin-and it Holland, Francewas a latecor4erin unavoidablyswept up NativeAmerican peoprlesas well. Like England and NewWorld real estate,and for basically From 1688to 1763,four bitter wars convulsedEurope. the scramblefor It was conlrrlsedduring the 15Q0sby AII four of those conflicts were world wars. They the samereasons. foreign wars and domestic strife,including the frightful amountedto a death strugglefor domination in Europe between Roman Catholics and Protqstant aswell as in the NewWorld,and they wereforught on the clashes Huguenots.On St. Bartholomew'sDay, 1572,ovQr ten watersand soil of two hemispheres,Counting these first thousand Huguenots-men, women, and childien- four clashes,nine world wars have been n'aged since werebutchered in coldblood. 1688.The American people, whether as British subjects A new eradawned in I598when the Edictof Nantes, or as American citizens,proved unable to sl,ayout of a issued by the crown, granted limited toleration to single one of them. And one of those wars---knownas French Protestants.Religious wars ceased,and itrrthe the SevenYears' War in Europe and sometirnesas the new centuryFrance blossomed into the miShtiestand French and Indian War in America-set the stage for most fearednation in Europe,Ied by a seriesof brilliant America'sindependence. ministers and by the vainglorious King Louis XJV Enthronedas a flve-year-oldboy, he reignedfor np less years (1643-1715),surrounded by a *Afterthe union of Englandand Scotlandin 1707,the nation'sofficial than sevenfy-two namebecame "Great Britain." glitteringcourt and schemingministers and mistresses.

106 French Beginnings in NorthAmerica 107

Fatefully for North America, Lou XIV also took a deep times ravaging French settlements and frequently rung interestin overseascolonies. as allies of the British in the prolonged e for After rocky beginnings, finally rewarded the supremacyon the continent. exertions of France in the New rld. In 1608,the vear The government of () after the founding of Jamestown, permanent begin- fell under the direct control of the king after nings of a vast empire were ished at Quebec,a commercial companies had faltered or failed. royal granite sentinel commanding the . LawrenceRiver. The regime was almost completely autocratic. The leading figure was Samuel de lamplain, an intrepid electedno representativeassemblies, nor did enjoy soldier and explorer whose and leadership fairly the right to trial by jury, as in the English eamed him the title "Fatherof France." The population of Catholic New France ata Champlainentered into fri relations-a fateful listlesspace. As late as 1750,only sixty or so kiendship-with the nearby H Indian tribes. At whites inhabited New France.landowning peas- their request,he joined them in tttle againsttheir foes, ants, unlike the dispossessedEnglish tenant the federatedlroquois tribes of th upper NewYorkarea. who embarked for the British colonies, little Two volleys from the "lightning sticks" of the whites economic motive to move. Protestant who routed the tenified , who left behind three dead might have had a religious motive to migrate, were and one wounded.France, to its rrow thus earned the a refuge in this raw colony. The French many lasting enmity of the Iroquois ibes. They thereafter case,favored its Caribbeanisland colonies,rich sugar hamperedFrench penetration of he Ohio Vallev some- and rum, overthe snow-cloakedwildemess of

NEWFOUNDLANO

\7i.4\jtlc ()aIl4\

a i. :f,'{"9" ^*:*P'' I EngIsh I Frerrch Quebec Scene, by lecrn-Bcrptiste-Louis E Soanish c. 1699(detcril) The metal cooking pot ond the Lrpxplored Indians'clothing and blcrnkets show the Ncti Americcrns' growing reliqnce on Europecn Froce's Anericcrn EmPire crt GreqteEt Extent, 1700 goods. r08 Cnqpren6 The Duel for North Ameri,ca,1608-1763i

Fur-Trcding Posts llo serve the needs ol Iiuropecrn Icrshion, fur-traders pursued the beqver for more thqn two centuries over the entire continent ol North Americo. T'hey brought mony Indio::s for the first time ir:Ltoconto:ct r.r'ith white culture' -.ffidF# Singing, paddle-swinging French uoyagettrsalscr recruitedInclians into the fttr business.The Indian fur flotilla arriving in Montreal iin 1693 numbered four lFrcrnce Fcrns Oull New hundredcanoes. But the fur tradehad somedisastrous New France did cc,ntainone valuable resourcc:the drawbacks.Indians recruited into the fur businesswere beaver.European Iashion-settersvalued beaver-pe'lt decirnatedby the white rnan'sdiseases and debauchecl hatsfor theirwarmth and opulent appearalnce.To adorn by his alcohol.Slaughtering beaver by the boatloadalsrr the heads of Europreans,French fur-trappersranged violated many Indians' religious beliefs and sadl'i wittt over the woods and waterways of North America ln clemonstratedthe shatteringeffect that contact pursuit of beaver.These colorful coLffeLffsde bois("run- Europeansrvreaked on traditionallndian rvays of life' into ners of the woods") were also runnell'sof risks-- Pursuingthe sharp-ttlothedbeaver ever deeper their tlvo-fisted drinkers, free spenders,freu livers and the heartof the continent,the ltrrenchtrappers and and Iovers.They littered the land with scores of place Indian partners liiked, rode, snowshoed,sailed, in a names,including Baton Rouge(red stick), Terre Haute paddled acrossamazing distances. They trekkecl (high land), Des lvloines (some monks), and t3rand hug" u.. across thre Great Lakes, into present-day of the Teton(big breast). Saskatchewanand Manitoba;along the valleys Trappers,Explorers, and Indiansin NewFrance 109

Platte, the Arkansas,and the lr{issouri; west to the to find the Mississippidelta, landed in Spanish Rockies;and south to the border pf SpanishTexas (see and in 1687was murdered by his mutinousmen. map at left).In the processthey all but extinguishedthe Undismayed, French ofhcials persisted in their beaverpopulation in many areas,inflicting incalculable effortsto block Spain on the Gulf of Mexico.They nted ecologicaldamage. several fortifled posts in what is now Missi and French Catholic missionarieslnotably the Jesuits, Louisiana,the most important of which wasNew laboredzealously to savethe India{rsfor Christ and from (17IB).Commanding the mouth of the MississippiRiver, the fur-trappers.Some of the Jesriitmissionaries, their this strategicsemitropical outpost also tapped fur n- efforts scorned, suffered unspea$abletortures at the trade of the huge interior valley.The fertile Illinois posts hands of the Indians.But though they made few perma- try-where the French establishedforts and tradin gar- nent converts,the Iesuitsplayed a vital role as explorers at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes-became and geographers. den of France'sNorth American empire' sing Other explorerssought neithpr souls nor fur, but amounts of grain were floated down the M for empire.To thwart Englishsettlers pushing into the Ohio transshipmentto theWestIndies and to Europe' Vall-ey,Antoine Cadillac founded Detroit, "the City of Straits,"in 170I. To check Spanishpenetration into the regionof the Gulf of Mexico,ambitlous Robert de La Salle floateddown the Mississippiin 1682to the point whereit The Clcsh ol Empires mingleswith the Gulf. He named tfre greatinterior basin for "Louisiana,"in honor of his sovereign,Louis XfV Dream- The earliest contests among the European of North America,known to the British co ing of empire,he returned to the Gulf three yearslater control 'sWar (1689-f697) and with a colonizingexpedition of fopr ships' But he failed asKingWilliam'sWar Queen

Cqtlin, Chie1 ol the TcrensqIndicrns Receiving Lcr Sclle, March 20, L682,by George. {or Frqnce' Lcr tg{Z-tgeg (detcril) Driven by the drecm oI q vast North Americcn empire oI the Illinois qnd Scrlle spent years exploring the Qrecrt Lckes region ancl_thevcrlleys imcrgina- f"i="i."ippi ili.r"r". Tti" ol his encounter with qn lndion chieltcin was "clne tively re-ciected by the nineteenlh-century ortist Geor5le Cotlin' I l0 Cuemrn6 TheDuel for America,1608-1763

(I7 02-17I3), mostly pitted British Ionists againstthe French coureursde bois,with both recruitingwhat- everIndian allies they could.Neith Francenor Britain at this stageconsidered Americawo the commitment of large detachmentsof regular t ps, so the combat- ants wageda kind of primitive warfare.Indian allies of the French ravaged with t and tomahawk the British colonial frontiers,visiti g especiallybloody violenceon the villagesof Schene y, NewYork, and Deerfield,Massachusetts (see the mapon p, 112). Spain, eventually allied with Fran probedfrom its Florida baseat outlying South na settlements.For their part the British colonistsfai miserablyin sallies againstQuebec and Montrealbut red a signalvictory when they temPorarilYseized t stronghold of Port Royalin (present-day Nova ). Peaceterms, signed at Utrecht i 1713.revealed how badly Franceand its SpanishallY beenbeaten. Britain was rewardedwith French-PoPula Acadia (which the British renamedNova Scotia,or Scotlancl)and the wintry wastesof Newfoundland Hudson Bay.These immensetracts Pinched the St. ce settlementsof France,foreshadowing their ulti doom.A generation of peaceensued, duringwhich Br n provideditsAmeri- can colonieswith decadesof "sa.l neglect"-fertile soil for the rootsofindePendence. Bythe treatyof I713,the British won limited trad- l7l3 ing rights in SpanishAmerica, bu these later involved British TerritoryAfter Two Wcrrs, much friction over smuggling. Ill ing flaredup when the British captainlenkins, Spanishrevenue authorities,had one ear slicedoff a sword.The Spanish the CaribbeanSea and to the commander reportedly sneered, this home to the It was confined to of Georgia,where philanth pist- King,your master,whom, if he were . I wouid serve buffetedbuffer colony fought his Spanish toa in like fashion." The victim, with tale of woe on his soldier Iames Oglethorpe tongue and a shriveled ear in his arousedfurious standstill. scufflewith Spainin Ameri soon resentmentwhen he returned ho to Britain. This small-scale the large-scaleWar of Austrian Suc' n The War of lenkins's Ear, c Iy but aptly named, mergedwith came to be called King George's tn broke out in I739 betweenthe Brit and the Spaniards. in Europe,and

Later English Monarchs"

Name, Reign to America KingWilliam'sWar William lII, 1689-1702 Iapseof Dominion of ; Anne,1702-1714 Anne'sWar, 1702--1713 ("salutaryneglect") Georgel, 17L4-I727 avigationLaws laxly enforced Years'War GeorgelI, 1727-1760 a.founded; King George's War; Seven GeorgeIII, 1760-1820 rican Revolution,lil75-1783

*Seepp. 29 and 53 for earliermonarchs' WorldWars Rock Anlerica

returned this louro, I?45 When thel lincrl Pedce settlement mcrsters' l""io"i"t" felt betrcryed by their British

When the peacetreaty of 1748handed France ied itself with SPairL. America. Once again, Frenchfoe, the victoriousNew for of New Englanders back to their ,Md once again, a rustic glory of their arms-never ibly fleet and were outraged.The New France.With help a British by the of invaded lustrous in iny event-seemed tarnished of good luck' raw and sometim€rs with a great deal diplomats' Worse, Louisbourg w stiU a the impregnable Old World drunken recruits captured pointed at the heart of the Ameri n con- which was on CaPe cocked pistol French fortress of Louisbou unappeased'still to tbLe tinent. France,powerftrl and Island and comm the aPProachesto Breton its vastholdings in NorthAmerica' Sr larwence River (seethe toP onp.112). fhe hEneWorldWars

King William's War, 1689- 697 of the Leagueof AuLgsburg 1688-1697 QueenAnne'sWar' 1702- 7r3 SpanishSuccession t?ol-1713 of King George'sWar' 1744- 748 Austrian Succession t;sl-r748 War of French and IndianWar, 1 -r763 L-.$-1763 SevenYears'War 5-1783 of the American Revolution t;8-1783 War Undeclared FrenchWar' 1800 of the French Revolution r;9-1802 Wars War of 1812,181?-1814 #i-1815 NapoleonicWars WorldWarI, l9i?-1918 I a$4-r918 WorldWar WorldWar II, 1941-1945 II EE[t-|945 WorldWar Il2 Crnpren6 The Duel for North America' 1608-1763

Scenes oI the French Wars The indiccrte French-Indicrn crttqcks. Sche: roid 1690. ./ t_ CapeBreton was burned to the ground in the lslard / -i- site oI one of the New lqnd | At Deerfield, I z?9 Lor'toou'g frontier's bloodiest confrontqtions, i rs (caplured1 745) .->iz\' killed fitty inhobitcrnts crnd sent over hundred others fleeing for their lives to the winter wilderness' The Indicn crlso took over one hundred Deerfield resi captive, including the child Titus Ki .He "CcPtivitY is qn qwful s for \ Iqter wrote, children, when we see how quick t will wcrys.Nothing 7041' I foll in with the Indicrn iio{nioJnv'{""*'.Borton ir\'r1' In six hs' ('l ! to be more toking lcppecling]. ll-?1:3i\,r\ fother qnd mother, "L)''. time they forscrke their own lcrnd,reluse to speak their tongue, crnd seeminglY be whollY up with the Indicns."

sent Ohio Virginians' claims, Washington was .to 150 Cointrv asa Iieutenantcolonel in commandof of Virginii militiamen' Encountering a small detac ment Wcrshington Inctugurctes I m Fort George Freirch troops in the forest about forry miles tl e globe- Wcrr with Frqnce Duquesne,tireVirginians fired the first shotsof *ur.1he French leader was killed and his intensified in the New World' the Ohio litJii"g ,r"* As the dogflght Washington wrote' I heard contentionbetween the il".r r"tt"uted. An exultant V"UIVU"t"# the chief bone of is st ething area the bullets whistle, and believe me, there pr"rr.tt and British' The Ohio Countrywas ttre critical would charmingin the sound'"It soonlost its charm' into which the westward-pushingBritish colonists the key to tlhe- i".tioUfy penetrate.For irance it was also particutarlyif contineni that the French had to retain' lholdings wiLth I753-1754 ;; ;;t. going to link their Canadian The Ohio Country, the mid-l7Otcs' tftor. of th; lo;r MississippiValley' By basictrutlns' NEWYORK the Britishcolonists, painfuily aware of th€rsie of empire' *.t. no fo"ger so reluctantto bearthe burdens fur-trade ,^,f*-"0 byirench land-grabbingand cutrtlrroat determined to .otnp.,itiJ" in the Ohio"Valley'they were thLtlsupremacl' of fight for their economic security and for th.it*uY-'-- of life in North America' Ohio Valley **i,.t for the lush lands of the upper P E NN SYCV-ANIA In 1749a group brought tensionsto the snappingp-oint' Virgini- of Britishcolonial speculatoii' chieflyinftuential had securedshaky ar.i, in.tuaing theWashingtonfamily' region'In the leeal"rights" to some500:000 acres in this were in the r;il';itptt.o *ita"tttess, the FrenchL the pio..r, of erecting a chain of forts commanding was Irort itrut.gi. Ohio River' Especially.formirlable Monongahela n.rquEt". at the pivotal point where ther later andAllegheny Riversjoin to form the Ohio-the site of Pittsburgh. In 1754 the governor of Virginia ushered George Washington,a twenty-one-year-oldsurveyor and fellow Virginiin, onto the stage of history' To secure the TlrcFrenth-Erzglish Showdoutn I tg

TheFrench promptly returned with rein[orcements, who surroundedWashington in his hastily r;onstructed breast\^/orks,Fort Necessiry'After a ten-hour siege,he was forced to surrenrler his entire cofiIlllarld in Iuly 17S4-ironicallythe fourth of Iuly.But he waspermirtted to march his men awavwith the full htlnors '0fwar' With the shooting alreadystarted and in dangerr-rf spreading,the Britishauthorities in NovaScotia took vig- orous action.Understandably fearing a stab in the back from the FrenchAcadiarrs, whom Britain had conquerecl in 1713,the British brutally uprooted somr:four thou- sand of them in 1755.Ihese unhappyFrenrh deportees were scatteredas far south as Louisiana, where the of the French-speakingAcadians are now clescendants Fcrmous Ccrrtoon by Benicrmin Frcnklin nearlya million' called"Cajuns" and number Deloware ond Georgis were omitted'

Wcrr crnd Global enjoyingthe safetyof remoteness.Even the Indianshad Colonitrl DisunitY taugiredat the inability of the coloniststo pull together' with musketballsalready splitting the air irnOhio' The first three Anglo-Frenchcolonial vvarshad aII Noi', the crisisdemanded concerted action' started in Europe, bul the tables were now rlversed' Tht: In 1754 the British governmentsummoned an fourth struggle, sometimes known as the F-rench and intercolonial congressto Albany, New York, near the lndian War, began in America' Touched olT by George Indian country.Travel-weary-delegates from inlhe wilds of the Ohio Vall:'y in 1754' it lroquois Washington of the ttrirteen colonies showed up' The on an undeclared basis for t'wo years and only seven rocked along vvasto keep the scalpingknives of far-flung conflict the worll immediate purpose then wideneh into the most spreading not the Iroquoii tribes loyal to the British in the had yet seen-the Seven Years' War' It was fought war. The chiefs were harangued at length anld then only in America but in Europe, in the West Indies' in the presentedwith thirty r,vagonloadsof gifts,including guns' Phiiippines, in Africa, and on the ocean' The Seven The longer-rangepurpose at Albanywas to achieve Years'Warwas a seven-seaswar' 'were greater colonial unity and thus bolster the common ln Europe the principal adversaries Britain Iefense against France.A month before the congress and Prussia on one side, arrayed against llrance, Spairr' assembled-,ingenious Benjamin Franklin published in \ustria, and Russiaon the other' The bloodiest th{eater hisPennsyluoiio Go"nttnthe most famouscartoon of the ltas in Germany, where Frederick the Gre:atdeservedJy colonialera. Showing the separatecolonies as parts of a rson the title of "Great" by repelling French, Austrian' disjointedsnake, it broadcastthe slogan"Ioin' or Die"' and Russian armies, often with the opprosing lbrces 'Ihe Franklin himself, a wise and witty counselor'was outnumbering his own three to one' London the leading spirit of the Albany Congress'His out- government, unable to send him effectirrr: troop rein- standingcontribution was a well-devisedbut prpmature iorcements, Iiberalll' subsidized him withLgold' Luckily scheme for colonial home ru-le'The Albany delegates for the British colonists, the French walsted so much unanimously adopted the plan, but the individual Eilength in this European bloodbath thiat they were colonies spurned it, as did the London regime'To the unable to throw an adequate force into the NewWorld' i1 did not seemto giveenough independence; --\merica was conquered in Germany," declared colonists, to the British offrcials,it seemedto give too mtlch' The Britain's great statesman William Pitt' disappointing result confirmed one of Franklin's sage tn pievious colonial clashes, the Arnericans had observations:all people agreedon the need fqr union' revealed an astonishing lack of unity' Colonists who but their "weak noddles" were "perfectly di$tracted" niere nearest the shooting had responderd much more when they attemptedto agreeon details' g:enerously with volunteers and mon€:J/ than those l14 Crnsren6 The Duel for America, 1608-1763

poured a murderous fire into the ranks of the ts. In the ensuingdebate, George Washington, an ergetic and fearlessaide to Braddock,had two horses from Brsddock's under him and four bullets piercedhis coat, Brad- cnd lts dock himself was mortally wounded' The enti British The opening clashesof the Fre and Indian War wernt force was routed after appalling losses. lndians badly for the British colonists. and bullheaded Inflamed by this easyvictory the warpath. The whole frontier from Pen lvania to GeneralBraddock, a sixtY-Year offrcerexperienced in wider ts naked by European warfare, was sent Virginia with a strong North Carolina, Ieft virtually forays rred detachmentof British regulars. ter foraging scantysup- bloody defeat, felt their fury. Scalping and in lon plies from the reluctant . he set out in 1755with within eighty miles of Philadelphia, for I scalps: some two thousand men to Fort Duquesne.A the local authorities offeredbounties warrion's. Wash- considerablepart of his force nsistedof ill- disciplinLed $50for a woman'sand $130for a hundred men, tried tely colonial militiamen (" "), whose behind-the- ington, with only three frontier. tree methods of fighting "Bulldog" Braddock's to defendthe scorched invasion Canada professionalcontempt. The British launcheda ftrll-scale war in Ame had at Braddock's expedition' fagging heavy in 1756,now that the undeclared conflict.But they ytried moved slowly.Arsnen laborio 1lyhacked a path through last mergedinto aworld wildemess simulta- the denseforest, thus oPening road that waslater to be to attacka number of exposed of throwing all their st[ength Quebec an important artery to the . A few miles from Fort neously instead these strongholdshad , all the Duquesne, Braddock encou a much smaller and Montreal. If west would have withered r lack of French and Indian armY. At the enemy force rvas outposts to the supplies.But the British ignored sound repulsed,but it quicklY mel into the thickets and riverborne

to Britcin during the Seven Detroit,1794 A keYFrench from I70I to 1760,Detroit Iell Independence' Years'Wqr.The British remq qt Detroit even qfter the American Wcrrol (seepp. 175-176)' exciting bitter resentmentin inlcrntAmericqn Rr:public TheFrench and IndianWar u5

I

Point j\tr'' €plur€,d759)

Eventsof 175$-1760

strategy,and defeat after defeat tarnishecltheir arms, Though slight and sickly,Wolfe combined a re of both in Americaand in Europe. dash with painstaking attention to detail. The ish attackerswere making woeftrl progresswhen ,ln a daring night move, sent a detachment up a poorly guardedpart of the rocky eminenceprotecting bec. This vanguard sceiledthe cliff, pulling itself by Pitt's Palms oI Victory the bushes and showing the way for the o In the In the hour of crisis,Britain brought forth, asit repeatedl'1 morning the two armies facedeach other on th Plains has,a superlativeleader-William Pitt' A tall and impos- of Abrahamon the outskirtsof Quebec,the Briti under ing figure, whose flashing eyes were set in a hawklikr: Wolfe and the French under the Marquis de tcalm. face,he waspopularly known as the "GreatCommoner.'' Both commanders fell fatarllywounded, but the nch Pitt drewmuch of his strengthfrom the conlmon peopler, were defeatedand the city surrendered(see rs of rvhoadmired him so greatlythat on occasionthey kissed America:The French," pp. 116-ll7). his horses.A splendid orator endowedwith a majestir: The Battle of Quebec in 1759ranks as on of the voice, he believed passionatelyin his cause, in his most significantengagements in British and ncan country and in himself. history.When Montreal fell in 1760,the French had ln 1757 Pitt became a foremost leader in thrl flutteredin Canadafor the last time. By the settle- paris Iondon government.Throwing himself headlong into ment at (1763),French power was th com- his task,he soon earnedthe title "Organizerof Victory." pletely off the continent of North America, ving He wisely decidedto soft-pedalassaults on the French behind a fertile French population that is to th day a \t'est Indies, which had been bleeding away much strong minority in Canada.This bitter pill was sweet- British strength, and to concentrate on the vitals of enedsomewhat when the Frenchwere allowedt retain in West Canada-the Quebec-Montrealarea. He also picked severalsmall but valuable sugar islands young and energeticleaders, thus bypassingincom- Indies,and two never-to-be-fortifiedislets in t Gulfof petent and cautiousold generals. St. Lawrence for fishing stations. A final came Pitt fust dispatcheda powerful expedition in l75B when the French, to compensate their luckless ish for its losses,ceded to Spain all trans-M ssrppl 4ainst Louisbourg.The frowning fortress, though iit ally had been greatly strengthened,fell after a blistering Louisiana,plus the outlet of New Orleans.Spai for its siqge.Wild rejoicingswept Britain, for this was the firs;t part, turned Florida over to Britain in return Cuba, significant British victory of the entire war' where Havana had fallen to British arms' thus emerged as the domin power Quebec was next on Pitt's list. For this crucial Great Britain place as the mg eryedidon, he chose the thirty-two'year-old James in North America, while taking its lilolfe. who had been an officer sincethe ageof fourteen' naval power of the world. The French leave Canada were the AcadiaLns, t the height of his reign in the late seventeenth cen- The first French to turv, Louis XIV France's "Sun King," turned his the settlers of the seaboard rergionthat now comprises Edward Island, and covetouseyes westward to the NewWorld. He envisioned Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince cededthis terri- there a bountiful New France,settled by civilizirrg French part of Maine. In 1713the French crown the Acadians pioneers,in the maritime provincesofAcadia and the icy tory to the British, who demanded that swear allegiance to Britinin or withdraw to French expansesof Quebec. Bul his dreams flickerecl out like either neither, thel'managed to escape candles before the British juggernaut in the elighteentJh territory. At first doing Derangem:ent ("the Great Dis- century and his former NewWorld subjectshad to sufferr reprisals until le Grand placement") in 1755, whLen the British expelled thLem foreign govemance in tthe aftermath of the French 'l bayonet point, he Acadians fled far defeatsin 1713and 1763i.Over the courseof lvro cenL- irom the region at the French colony of Louisiana, where they turies, many chafed under the British yoke and eventu- south to the sleepy bayous, planted sugar cane ally found their way to the United States. settled among

il

116 Modern'DcrYQuebec A bit of the Old Wor'ld in the New.

building spree enginereredby Govemor HugV I-r ttt" isotition of theie bayou communitiesbroken In 1763,as the French settlersof Qu9bec under British rule, a second group of French people gan to IeaveCanada. By l840twhat had been an south- ward trickle of Quebecois swelled to a lsteady depositing most of the migrating French CE New England. These nineteenth-centtqy were not goaded bybY bayonetsbaYonets but driven 1lvay W lean harvests yielded by Quebec's short growlng sea and scarcity of arable land. lhey frequently ther bordei to visit their old homes, availing sof jin the train routes opened the 1840sbetween ]Quebec and . Most hoped someday to return to]Qanada forgood. , _ fney emigrated mostly to work-in-New Iumberyards and textile mills, gradually permanentsettlements in the northel lyoodl' : the icadians, these later migrants from Quebec preservedtheir Ronan Catholicism.l+dP"$ q?T' snarea a passionate love of their French believing ii to be the cermentthat bound the[n, their religion,"andtheir culturertogether. As one FrenqhCana- dia-i explained, "Let us worship in peace'and in oq1.o1vn tottgu". Alt elsemay disappearbut this mustreipain our badie." Yet today almost all Cajuns and New England FrenchCanadians sPeak English. North of the border,' in the land that thesieimmi- grants left behind, LouirsXIV's dream of implanting a F.ench civilization i.n the NeruWorld lingers on in the Canadian province of Qrug6sg'Centuries have passed

117 I l8 Csepren6 The Duel for North America, l6tl8-1763

View of the Tcking ol Quebec, 1759 On the night ol SepternLber13, British forces scoled the rocky clif{s of Quebec cnd defeqted the French crmy delending the city' The following yeqr, Montreql, Frqnce's lqst bcstion in North Americq, surrendered. Fighting continued in the Cqribbeon, Europe, qnd the Philippines for two more yeqrs, until the Treclty ol Poris wos signed in 1763,eliminat!,ng Frqnce os q colonial power in North Americq.

"boors."Displaying the contempt of the professi ral soldierfor amateurs,the Britishrefused to recognize ny American commission above the rank of captain-a demotion humiliating to "Colonel"G Britain's colonists, baptized by fire, emerged with Washington.They alsoshowed the usualcondescen rOld toward increasedconfidence in their military strenS;th.They of snobs from the civilized Country fleeing to he had borne the brunt of battle at first; they hacl fought "scum" who had confessedfailure by Wolfe refe to bravely alongsidethe crack British regulars;iand they "outhousesof civilization." Gieneral "in general he had gainedvaluable experience, officers and men alike. the colonialmilitia, with exaggeration,as dogsthat you In the closing days of the conflict, some twenty thou- dirtiest,most contemptible,cowardly 'r'vorkingAmerican sandAmericanrecruits were under arms. conceive."Energetic utt6 631fl cutting The Frenchand IndianWar, while bolstering colonial in contrast,believed themseh'es to be the they deserved self-esteem,simultaneously shattered the myth of British of British civilization.They felt that their lives to invincibility. On Braddocks bloody field, the "tluckskiri' rather than contempt for risking militia had seenthe demoralizedregulars huddling help- NewWorld empire. by the lesslytogether or fleeing their unseen enemy. British officialswere further distressed Ominously,friction had developedduring the war tance of the colonists to support the common using fraudu between arrogantBritish ofFcers and the rar'l'colonial wholeheartedly.American shrippers, Impact of the GIobaIStruggle I19

Alter 1783(crfter French losses) North Americc Belore 1754 North Americc

of intercolonial disunity' present early papers,developed a goldentrafflc with the enemyports The curse continued throughout the recent es.It bf ine Spanishand FrenchWest trndies' This treasonable davs,had caused mainlY bY enormous s; by trade in foodstuffs actually kept some of the hostile had been barriers like rivers; by conflicting t islands from starving at the very time when the Britislh geographical to by varied nationaliti from navy was trylng to subdue them. In the final year of the from Catholic Quaker; Irish; by differing types of colonial *ur, th" British authorities,forced to resort to drastic German to many boundary disputes; and by resent- measures,forbade the export of all supplies from Neur ments; by the crude backcountry settlers the Englandand the middle colonies. ment of Other colonists, self-centered and alienated by aristocraticbigwigs. receivedsome encouragementdu distancefrom the war, refused to provide troops and Yet unity Indian War. When soldiers and n money for the conflict' They detrnandedthe rights and French and colonies met around mon privileges of Englishmen, without the duties and from widely separated and council tables, they were often i"rponiibilities of Englishmen. Not until Pitt had campfires by what they found. Despite- dt -seated offered to reimburse the colonies for a substantial part surpiised jealbusy and suspicion, they discoveredthat of their expenditures-some 1900,000-did they move Americans who generally spoke SAINE with some enthusiasm. If the Americans had to tre all fellow shared common ideals' Ba of dis- bribed to defend themselvesagainst a relentlessand language and to melt, although a long and road savagefoe, would they ever uniite to strike the mother unity began a coherent nation would country? lay ahead before r20 Cmprrn 6 TherDuel for North Americrer,1608-11763

MAINE (Partot4ltl '' TheReuerend' Andrew Burnaby,an obsieruant Mass1 l Church of Englnnd clergyman who uis:ited l the coloniesin the closing rnonths of ti\e Portsmoutn lr SeuenYears'Watiscoffed et any possibi:lity it of unification G!760): il ir ". . . for fire Gnd wqter crrenot mels' het- erogeneoustlhcrn the diflerent colonies li in North Americq. Nothing cqn e>lceed ir they the iealousy rrnd emulation which possess in regcrrdto each other' ' ' ' In ittott . . . were they left to themserlves there would soon be a civil wqr lrom one end of the continent to the olher, while the Indlicrnscnd Negros would ' ' ' of imputiently rrqtch the opportunit'y ->-- ; exterminctinrg them crll together'" l--- Wilmington

t I + PontiacsuPrising, 1763 - plegl3rn3fronline of 1763

) r- Areaof settlementwlthln Wcrr's f'crtelul Attermath I the Britishcolonies

TheremovaloftheFlenchmenaceinCanaclaprofc,undly Wcrr' 1763 had British Colonies crt Eind ol the Seven Yecrrs' American altitudes.V\hile the French haurk be{ore affected ittir *"p, showing the colonies thirteen yeors in the North and West,the colonialchicks why beenhovering th.b;;Ilt"tion of-Irrdependence, helps to explcrin closeto the wingsof their lBritirsh ol{spring' had beenforclea to cling ihe British would be unoble to conquer their was killed' they could bcck- mother hen. Now thaithe hawk The colonists were s;precrdingropidly into the not rangefar afieldwith a nervspirit of indepenrlence' .ot.ttry, where the prowerfulBritish novy could the ihe French,hurniliated by the Britishand sadden'ed flush tiiem out' During the Re'volutionoryWar' with one the leoding by the fate of Canatda,consoled themselves British ot one time or Ln'cther coptured lNew'lbrk' Philqdelphic' o:nd #shful thought. Perhaps the loss of tlheir American .ofo"i"f cities-'Boston, its Amer- the mo:rerenlote interior rem':ined empirewould one dayresult in Britain's.lossof Cft"if."to"-but States for rebells' ican empire.In a sensethe historyof the United o sonctuory the infirnt il;". with the fall of Quebecand Montreal; Reiublic- -'Th. was cradled on the Plainsof Abraham' Spanishand Indian menaceswere also now stlb- the newly precarious position of the lndian Spain was eliminated from Irlori'da' Sensing stantiallvreduced. cirief Pontiac in 1763 led several Louisianaand NerrvOrleans' and peoples, il;e Ottawa ilh""gh entrencherlin French traclers rvhcr of westernNorth iribes, aided by a handful of wassd:U securely in possessionof much to drive prest:nt-day remained in the region, in a'iriol'entcampaign America,including the vast territory from warriors itre Sritish out of the Crhio Country' Pontiac's; TeXaStoCalifornia.Asforthelndians,theTreatyofParis Detroit in the spring of 1763-and erventually the SevenYears'War dealt a hilrsh blow to the besieged that ended British posts west of the Appalachians' interior tribr:rs'The lipanLish ou"r.i, all but three Iroquois,Creeks, and other and settlers;' removal from killing some two thrlusand soldiers remoual from Florida and the French Waging T*he British retaliated sr'viftly and cruelly' deprived the Indians of their most poweful Canada version of biological warfare' one British ability to play oirf'therival Euro- a primitive diplomaticweapon-the blilnketsiinfected with srnallpox to In the fttturethe Indians comma.tder ordered po**r, againstone another' Such tactics crushed f.L British' be distributed among |he Inrlians' *oUa haveto negotiateexclusivelywith tlhe Chronology tzl

Americans,especially Iand . Ltld.- the uprisingand brought an uneasytruce to the frontier' But countless and angered'Was not land His bold plan frustrated, Pontiac himself perished in tors, were dismayed their birthright?Had they It, in 1769at the hands of a rival chieftain'As for the British, beyondthe mountains purchased it with their blood in the cent the bloody episodeconvinced them of the needto stabi- addition, of the proclamat they lize relationswith the westernIndians and to keepregu- war? In complete defiancr: trails. In 1765an estimatl one lar troopsstationed along the restlessfrontier, a measure cloggedthe westward through the torvn of Sal for which they soonasked the coloniststo fo'tltthe bill. thousandwagons rolled way "up west."This w Land-hungryAmerican colonistswere now free to North Carolina,on their boded ill for the ty of burst over the dam of the AppalachianMo'untains and flouting of royal authority flood out overthe verdant western lands.A tiny rivulet: Britishrule in America. Years'War also causedthe ts to of pioneerslike Daniel Boone had alreadytrickled into' The Seven vision of their destiny'With th path Tennesseeand Kentucky; other courageous settlersi develop a new conquest of a continent, wi their made their preparationsfor the long, dangeroustrek: cleared for the and their energyboundless, they nsed overthe mountains. birthrate high potent people on the march. they Then, out of a clear sky, the London government that they were a mood to be restrained' issuedits Proclamationof 1763.It flatly prohibited set- werein no Britons,whose suddenly swollen had dement in the areabeyond tJreAppalachians, pending Lordlv produce swollen heads,were in no for further adjustments.The truth is that this hastilydrawrt tended to Puffed up over their recent they documentwas not designedto oppressthe colonistsat back talk. annoyedwith their unruly colonial bjects. all, but to work out the Indian problem fairly and pre' were already wasset for a violent family quarrel' vent anotherbloody eruption like Pontiac'suprising' The stage

King George'sWar(Wal of Austrian t5s Edict of Nantes 17U- 1748 Succession) Champlain colonizes Quebec for xrt*Brffi,g@# t6m battles French on frontier France 1754 Washington AlbanY Congress Louis )ilV becorReskir4g of France d,d/'r_-€ iiS+f ,rei'sevenYearsltvlhr['French,andlndi:n TGffI Ia Salle explores Mississippi River to defeat the Gulf of Mexico 1755 Braddock's Pitt emerges as k:ader of British King Wiliiam's War (War of the League of 1757 r6F' government l€gt Augsburg) t'759 Battle of Quebec tTgz- Queen Anne'sWar (War of SPanis.h 1713 Succession) 1763 Peaceof Paris Pontiac's uPrising t7l8 French found New Orleans Proclamationof 1763 t7it3 War of le:nkins'sEar

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