Irish-American History

Lesson 3: 100 Years that changed the world

The French in North America

‘Champlain , the first Governor of New France, made a decision in 1610 to open up the interior of North America by using adventurous young men , who made friends with the Native Tribes , learning their language and culture , vigorously pursing the Fur Trade , often times carrying a 400 pound pack and paddling canoe for up to 18 hours a day. ’ (2)

Such were the ‘voyageurs ’, who claimed huge tracts of territory on behalf of the French Government and created allies among the Native tribes who would assist the French cause in the struggle with Britain for control of the continent.

While the British had been filling the Atlantic coastal area with their farms , plantations and towns , the ‘voyageurs’ pushed down through the St. Lawrence and into the Mississippi . Building a line of forts and trading posts , they marked out a crescent –shaped empire stretching from Quebec in the North East to New Orleans in the South. In this way they pinned the British settlers into the narrow belt East of the Appalachian Mountains. As early as 1613 , there had been clashes between French and English colonists , but during the 1750s the conflict came to a final phase . In 1748 the French had tightened their hold on the Mississippi Valley while English colonists had started to push across the Alleghenies.

An armed clash between Virginia militiamen , under the command of George Washington and a band of French regulars in 1754 , helped bring the conflict to a head. The French and Indian War was set to determine the supremacy of the French or English in North America once and for all. While the English and their Indian allies fought against the French and their Indian allies, the colonies did not recognise the conflict as being anything other than an imperial struggle between France and England.

Consequently , even though France could block the westward expansion of the British colonists into and beyond the Mississippi , they did not see any reason for supporting the war . In spite of this lack of support and several early defeats , England’s superior strategic position and her more competent leadership ,finally saw them successful. After 8 years of conflict , French forces in Canada and the Mississippi Valley were finally defeated and French settlers in Quebec and Loiusiana assimilated under British control.

The disgruntled French would be ready in the future to support other Nations in their conflicts with England. This they did throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries

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