There are several occurrences throughout American history which helped define this country. One of those memorable events was the battle between the English and French for primary supremacy over the North American continent, also known as the French and Indian War. This war was a tussle which eventually led to a successful endeavor by the British to achieve a central position in America and almost completely stripped the French of their claims in North America, the West Indies, and parts of India. The impact of this war greatly changed the American colonies in several meticulous areas.
Britain and France, prior to the war, had always been rivals of one another and fought in century-long battles against each other. The French and Indian War erupted from conflicts over the control of the valuable fur trade, and the rich sugar production located in the West Indies. Throughout the war, both countries relied on military assistance from their colonists, and their Native American allies.
The three major conflicts which triggered the French and Indian war were King William's War (1689 1697), Queen Anne's War (1702 1713) and King George's War (1744 1748). Following these series of wars, the last conflict between Britain and France for dominance over North America was known as the French and Indian War (1689 1763). It started as a struggle for control over the "middle ground" territory of the Ohio Valley. This "middle ground" between the French and English colonies in North America was subjugated by the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Ohio Company, which gradually encouraged British expeditions to conquer the Ohio Valley, had received a grant from the King ordering traders and settlers into this 500,000 acre territory. In 1753, a leading member of the Ohio Valley and the Governor of Virginia provided George Washington with his first military mission. He carried with him a message to the French warning them abandon the vicinity. The French saw this as a threat to the profits of the fur trade and also their territorial claims of the vast Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. When George Washington defeated a small French force and built a parapet which became known as Fort Necessity, the French commanded a larger military, seized the fort and forced Washington into surrender. This was the beginnings of the French and Indian War.
After a British victory in the war, the treaty of Paris was signed and reflected British military success heavily. Britain acquired over half of the North American continent including French Canada, French territorial claims East of the Mississippi River, and Spanish Florida. The French and Indian War struck the French Empire from being a once-dominant presence in North America to controlling a few sugar plantations in the West Indies.
One major outcome of the war was a large financial debt brewing in Great Britain which ultimately changed the relationship between the British and its colonies. Prior the war, Great Britain did not view its colonies closely or handled their affairs, but regarded them as subordinate bodies. Following the war, Britain decided to punish its colonies for their neutrality and passiveness throughout the war as an excuse to tax them profoundly without "representation" to pay off their staggering war debt. The British began by passing the Proclamation of 1763 which restricted western settlement and allowed the British to control colonization. Subsequently, the British passed a handful of acts which included the sugar, currency, stamp, mutiny, declaratory, townshend, tea, and finally the coercive acts. All of these acts quickly angered the colonists in many different ways and began a constitutional quarrel between the mother nation and its colonies. After the passing of the coercive (intolerable) acts, the First Continental Congress was assembled stating that the intolerable acts menaced the liberties of every colony. After the Continental Congress approved preparations for a defensive war, General Thomas Gage received orders from England to arrest rebel leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock. When Gage heard that the minutemen (men preparing to fight on a minutes notice) had stored large supplies of gunpowder in Concord, he decided to retrieve it without any carnage. However, when he arrived, two horsemen by the name of William Dawes and Paul Revere shouted "the British are coming, the British are coming" and shots were ultimately fired. This was the institutional battle that triggered the beginnings of the American Revolution and the end of British dominance over the American colonies.