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[[File:Nouvelle-France1750.png|thumbnail|left|275px|Map of North American in 1750]]__NOTOC__
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060761857/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0060761857&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=a91b60ca9671dfc7e9f4670493d43c19 The French and Indian War ] was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375706364/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0375706364&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=c9905deca9b71f6591a40aad858247bf the Seven Years’ War]. The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war’s expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution. In the terms of the treaty, France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, effectively ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there.
The French and Indian War resulted from ongoing frontier tensions in North America as both French and British imperial officials and colonists sought to extend each country’s sphere of influence in frontier regions. In North America, the war pitted France, French colonists, and their Native allies against Great Britain, the Anglo-American colonists, and the Iroquois Confederacy, which controlled most of upstate New York and parts of northern Pennsylvania. In 1753, prior to the outbreak of hostilities, Great Britain controlled the 13 colonies up to the Appalachian Mountains, but beyond lay New France, a very large, sparsely settled colony that stretched from Louisiana through the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes to Canada. (See Incidents Leading up to the French and Indian War and Albany Plan)
The war did not begin well for the British. The British Government sent [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199845328/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0199845328&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=2ad7b476f8a23747bd3854f3a9e46716 General Edward Braddock] to the colonies as commander in chief of British North American forces, but he alienated potential Indian allies and colonial leaders failed to cooperate with him. On July 13, 1755, Braddock died after being mortally wounded in an ambush on a failed expedition to capture Fort Duquesne in present-day Pittsburgh. The war in North America settled into a stalemate for the next several years, while in Europe the French scored an important naval victory and captured the British possession of Minorca in the Mediterranean in 1756. However, after 1757 the war began to turn in favor of Great Britain. British forces defeated French forces in India, and in 1759 British armies invaded and conquered Canada.
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====France's faces Defeat====
====Negotiating the Treaty of Paris====
News had reached Europe of the British capture of Havana, and with it the Spanish colony of Cuba. Spanish King Charles III refused to agree to a treaty that would require Spain to cede Cuba, but the British Parliament would never ratify a treaty that did not reflect British territorial gains made during the war.
Facing this dilemma, French negotiator Choiseul proposed a solution that redistributed American territory between France, Spain and Great Britain. Under Choiseul’s plan, Britain would gain all French territory east of the Mississippi, while Spain would retain Cuba in exchange for handing Florida over to Great Britain. French territories west of the Mississippi would become Spanish, along with the port of New Orleans. In return for these cessionsareas, along with the territory in India, Africa, and the Mediterranean island of Minorca, France would regain the Caribbean islands that British forces had captured during the war. The British Government also promised to allow French Canadians to freely practice Catholicism and provided for French fishing rights off Newfoundland.
Choiseul preferred to keep the small Caribbean islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Lucia rather than hold on to the vast territory stretching from Louisiana to Canada. This decision was motivated by the fact that the islands’ sugar industry was enormously profitable. In contrast, Canada had been a drain on the French treasury. The loss of Canada, while lamentable to French officials, made sense from a mercantile perspective.
