Summary
After the surrender of Canada in 1760, the war was effectively over in
North America. Nonetheless, fighting continued in other parts of the world for
the next two years and small skirmishes--especially Indian raids--occasionally
broke out in the colonies and along the Canadian border.
Despite this, the French and Indian War ended French political influence
on the North American continent, a fact underscored by the Treaty of Paris,
signed at the end of the Seven Year's War, in February 1763. As part of the
negotiations for this treaty, France regained its wealthy sugar-producing
islands in the Caribbean that had been lost to the British during the
fighting--Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Lucia. With the exception of New
Orleans, France surrendered all of its North American possessions east of the
Mississippi to the British. All possessions west of the Mississippi were
given to the Spanish.
Although the British won the war with the French, the British still faced
pressing colonial problems that the Treaty of Paris only aggravated. The
Indians in particular were angered by the provisions of peace that left little
room for their concerns. One of the reasons they agreed to fight--on either
side of the war--was to ensure that they would retain the sole rights to their
land. Instead, the exhausted Indians were faced with the immediate encroachment
of British speculators, traders, and settlers.
Disaffected and impoverished, a host of Indian nations organized in April 1763
under the leadership of an Ottawa chief named Pontiac. The forces included
Ottawas, Chippewas, Potawatomis, Hurons, Shawnees, and Delawares. On May 9,
1763, the allies laid siege to Fort Detroit. That summer, they proceeded to
destroy forts at Venango, LeBoeuf, and Presque Isle. They also attacked forts
at Niagara and Pittsburgh.
The British reacted immediately and brutally. Their tactics included both
ruthless bloodshed (Commander-in-chief of the British forces, Jeffrey Amherst,
encouraged soldiers to "Put to death all that fall into your hands") and
deception (the soldiers at Fort Pitt spread smallpox among the Delawares by
presenting them with a "gift"--infected blankets from the hospital nearby).
Their tactics weakened the Indians and forced Pontiac to capitulate Fort Detroit
on October 31, 1763.
With the end of Pontiac's war, the fight for control over the North
American empire east of the Mississippi was officially over, though small
battles with the Indians continued for years. Their fear of "foreigners", both
French and Indian, subsided, the British turned their attention to the colonies.
Having spent so much time, money, men to keep the colonies, England was now
determined to keep the colonies in line and make them as profitable as possible.
To ensure that they attained these goals, the British gave up their longstanding
policy of salutary neglect, and instituted
harsh policies and high taxes for the colonials. England's harsh treatment of
the colony's after 1763 had precisely the opposite of its desired result:
instead of making the colony's profitable, it made them increasingly angry, and
eventually ed to another uprising--the ##Revolutionary War#
{history/american/revolution}#, which exploded just thirteen years later.
Commentary
What really won the French and Indian War? On the surface, it seems
that the British won out bulk rather than skill. It is certainly true that the
French were more clever strategists and better at recruiting the Indians to
their cause. But the British outnumbered them, and the British had greater
material resources to devote to the war. In the end, what won the war was not
the guerrilla warfare that dominated as the chief strategy of battle. It was
the large battles--Louisbourg, Fort Duquesne, Quebec--that made all the
difference. Even when the British lost major battles to the French, as they did
at Ticonderoga and the first battle at Fort Duquesne, they killed French
soldiers that were not easy to replace. By overwhelming the French with sheer
numbers, the British weakened their overall fitness for war and managed to
eventually exhaust French resources.
The Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War but not the issues that
caused it: specifically, land encroachment. The only difference was the enemy
that remained after the war ended. After the French had been removed from the
North American continent, the British turned their attention to fighting the
Indians for their lands. Like the French, the Indians fought back, but faced
almost certain defeat because of their limited supplies, manpower, and the
general lack of cohesion between Indian tribes.
The French and Indian War failed to solve another important problem: the growing
estrangement between England and its colonies on the Atlantic. It was the hope
of many that fighting a common enemy would pull England and its colonies
together. But it did just the opposite. Living in close quarters with the
British, subjected to constant humiliation and orders from British authorities,
the colonials became even more aggravated at British arrogance and flagrant
greed. After the war, the heavy taxes Britain levied on the colonies to pay for
the war only made the colonials angrier.
And so the French and Indian War led to more wars, one with the Indians and one
with the colonials. But it brought an imperialist conflict between France and
Britain to an end and decided which country would have control over the North
American continent, both in history and in cultural impact.
