France had dominated the balance of power on the European continent since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. But a small battle in the Ohio Valley would realign the dominant hegemony to Great Britain by 1763.
As the new world was settled by Spain, France, and Britain, their territories began to close in on each other’s claims. In particular, the Ohio Valley, which comprises of modern-day Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Western Virginia and Western Pennsylvania, became a main strategic concern for both France and Britain.
Map of North America 1754
The political layout of North America consisted of three European powers. The English dominated the east coast of North America from Maine to Georgia while France controlled Canada and the areas along the Mississippi River. Spain also had claims on the continent, but they focused their interests in the southwestern territories as well as modern-day Florida.
The French and British had two different models for dominating the North American continent. The French established a system on trade with the indigenous people and did not colonize the continent the way the British did. The British encouraged colonization by its subjects throughout the thirteen colonies. As the British colonists began to push farther west in search of new lands, concerns about the French became a priority for the crown and colonial Governors. As the British moved into the Ohio Valley, the French were also moving in to establish forts. The forts controlled the waterways which connected Canada to their trading posts along the Mississippi River down to New Orleans.
The French Must Leave
Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia was ordered to remove the French who had arrived in the Ohio Valley in 1753. The French captured a small British fort they called Fort Duquesne at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. Fort Duquesne was located in present-day Pittsburgh. The French outpost was a direct threat to British claims, and the Dinwiddie took a stand. In December of 1753, the governor wrote a letter and gave it to a young militia officer named George Washington. Washington made the journey and delivered Dinwiddie’s message to the French. Washington returned to Virginia with a report to Dinwiddie, the French did not intend to leave
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