Lesson 2: Britain in North America
In this lesson you will learn how Britain gained Canada, sowed the seeds for its own loss of the American colonies, gained ground through its successes in wars in Europe and profited enormously through the slave trade.
Further Successes
In North America, the French built Fort Duquesne; in Europe, they occupied Hanover. Then William Pitt took over, the person described by Frederick the Great as having been "a man brought forth by England's labor." Under his direction of Parliament, Britain’s armed forces began a string of victories that made them seem invincible.
In l747 James Lind had reported on the success of citrus juice in combating scurvy, and ten years later The Royal Navy received the new sextant created by John Campell. In North America, British troops captured Fort Duquesne and renamed it Fort Pitt (later Pittsburgh); other victories occurred at Senegal, the center of the French West African slave trade, and at Guadalupe in the West Indies.
In Canada, General Wolfe captured Louisburg, and then defeated Montcalm in September l759, to seize Quebec. This great victory was followed by others under the leadership of General Amherst in which the control of Canada passed from France to Britain.
At the time of the death of King George II in l760, England was growing rich from profits made in sugar, tobacco, sea-island cotton and other products produced by slave labor Britain's prosperity had come about despite the favoring of Hanover by King George; it reflects the growing influence of the mercantile classes in Parliament.
When peace negotiations began with France, Pitt refused to desert Prussia. France then turned to Spain for an alliance to help her regain her North American possessions. Despite his former prestige and influence, Pitt's urging of war with Spain met with fierce resistance in the Commons; the great politician was forced to resign. His successor in Parliament, Lord Bute, had nothing of Pitt's political acumen, wide-ranging vision, or experience.
In the event, only months after Pitt's resignation, England was forced to declare war on Spain. Despite a series of overwhelming victories, including those by Admiral Rodney in the Caribbean that made Britain mistress of the world and master of the seas, Lord Bute did not wish to further antagonize a severely weakened France and Spain.
At the Treaty of Paris of l763, Britain gained Canada, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and the right to navigate the Mississippi; the West Indian Islands of Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago; Florida (from Spain); Senegal in Africa; and the preservation in India of the East India Company's monopoly; and in Europe, she took Minorca. She seemed ready for world dominance.
