Highlands Ranch High School - Mr. Sedivy
Highlands Ranch, Colorado

- World History -
Colonial America and
The American Revolution

Problems and War in Colonial America
All 13 colonies were a part of England.

Parliament Restricted Colonial Trade

King George III took the throne in 1760.

George III was determined to rule actively, as a "patriot king," but he proved unable to steer the country in one direction politically. His reign produced five prime ministers in its first ten years. King George III could neither understand the American colonies, nor grasp the need to try, but he was determined to keep them subject to Britain.

French and Indian War

French and Indian War (British vs. the French and Indians) were fought over control of North America. To pay off the war, the English taxed the Colonists.

Left: Benjamin Franklin. Right: Benjamin Franklin produced this famous placard in 1754, calling for unity among the British colonies during the French and Indian War. It was later used in the American Revolution as a nationalistic symbol of the colonies' need to unite against Great Britain.

During the French and Indian War, the British planned four campaigns, toward and against Niagara, the Lake Erie settlements, Ticonderoga, and Quebec. But, they began badly with the defeat of Braddock's expedition at the crossing of the Monongahela, also known as the Battle of the Wilderness. The capture of this settlement by the French in 1754 had been one of the incidents that caused Anglo-French rivalry in this region to increase.

Lieutenant-Colonel George Wahington of the Virginia Militia
raises his hat to the British flag over Fort Duquesne on the Ohio River in November 1758.

Fort Duquesne was part of French defenses during the French and Indian War that stretched from Quebec City on the St. Lawrence River to New Orleans on the Mississippi River. The French were determined to contain British colonization to the east. The British were repelled from Fort Duquesne in 1755, but they attacked again in 1758. The Brits gained the fort, renamed it for British prime minister William Pitt, and broke the French chain of defense almost exactly in half.

Camp George, 1775. Click the art to view the entire camp.

Camp George was hurriedly constructed on New York's Lake George during the summer of 1755 by an American-Iroquois force advancing on French-Algonquin positions farther north. The French made a surpirse attack on Camp George on September 8, 1775. The American leader's (William Johnson) cannon opened fire, obliterating the French regiment and scattering Algonquin troops.

With the French surrender of Quebec in 1759, the strategic picture chanded, and the British emerged as winners. To pay off the war, the English taxed the Colonists.