What effects did the French and Indian War have on the British?

French and Indian War, American phase of a worldwide nine years’ war (1754–63) fought between France and Great Britain. (The more-complex European phase was the Seven Years’ War [1756–63].) It determined control of the vast colonial territory of North America. Three earlier phases of this extended contest for overseas mastery included King William’s War (1689–97), Queen Anne’s War (1702–13), and King George’s War (1744–48).

The French and Indian War began over the specific issue of whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British Empire, and therefore open for trade and settlement by Virginians and Pennsylvanians, or part of the French Empire. Behind this issue loomed an infinitely larger one, however: which national culture was to dominate the heart of North America. Settlers of English extraction were in a preponderance in the coveted area, but French exploration, trade, and alliances with Native Americans predominated.

1750–1775: Diplomatic Struggles in the Colonial Period

Incidents leading up to the French and Indian War, 1753–54

French and Indian War/Seven Years’ War, 1754–63

Albany Plan of Union, 1754

Treaty of Paris, 1763

Parliamentary taxation of colonies, international trade, and the American Revolution, 1763–1775

Proclamation Line of 1763, Quebec Act of 1774 and Westward Expansion

it further strained relations between the north and the south and convinced

it proved indian land claims were unjustified.