French and Indian War Reading

Name
The French and Indian War

By Sharon Fabian
In 1754, George Washington was a young Virginian, and the
United States was not yet a country. In that year, Washington was
sent west by the governor of Virginia to take care of a problem there.
The problem was located in the Ohio Valley, the area between the
Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. English settlers
from Virginia, who were beginning to think about occupying more
land, had formed the Ohio Company and made plans to expand
westward. At the same time, the French were also expanding into
the Ohio Valley area. Native Americans had occupied the area all
along. The problem was that all three groups had claims to the same
land.
George Washington, a 22 year-old major in the Virginia militia,
had a mission. His mission was to tell the French to go away.
The French settlers didn't go away. They built a fort, Fort
Duquesne.
Next, George Washington and his men built a fort nearby. Fort
Necessity, as it was called, was small - only 53 feet in diameter. Its
wooden palisades were built of split logs. Surrounding the fort itself
were earth trenches from which the men tried to defend the fort.
The battles around Fort Necessity were the first battles of the
French and Indian War, even though neither side, the British or the
French, had declared war yet.
Even though war had not been declared, the battles between the
French and the British were getting a lot of publicity. Newspapers
published news reports of French troops marching down from
Canada. They published reports of a French plan to take over the
whole area. A Maryland newspaper published accounts of the
battles taken from George Washington's own journal.
The newspapers began to call for the colonies to unite to defend
themselves against the French and the Indians. The Pennsylvania
Gazette published a picture of a snake cut into parts. Each part

represented one of the thirteen colonies, and the caption said "JOIN
or DIE."
In 1756, the war became official. From 1756 through 1763, the
French and the British fought over land in America. Each side was
supported by several Indian tribes at various times. At first, the
French seemed to be winning, but after the first two years, the
British began to gain the upper hand. They captured French
territories in what is now the United States and Canada.
In 1763 the French and Indian War ended in America. The Seven
Years War, which was the name of the same war in Europe, was
finished too. The Treaty of Paris, signed at the end of the war, gave
all of North America east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, to
Britain. France had lost much of its hold on North America. Many
of the Native Americans in the area accepted treaties with the British
or moved further west.
The British colonists entered into a new phase of their life in
America. The years of the French and Indian War had transformed
the original thirteen colonies and the westward settlements. They
were no longer only separate colonies and British subjects. The
colonists were starting to think of themselves as Americans. They
were becoming a large and united group of people that could look
out for itself. The French and Indian War had begun to shape a
future United States.
The French and Indian War
Questions
1. The two opposing sides in the French and Indian War were the
______ and the ______.
A. French, Americans
B. Indians, British
C. French, Indians
D. French, British
Name
2. Which side did the Indians support?

A. the French
B. the British
C. both
D. neither
3. Which side did the settlers of the original 13 colonies support?
A. neither
B. the French
C. the British
D. both
4. The ______ was the treaty that ended the war.
A. French and Indian Treaty
B. Seven Years Treaty
C. Treaty of Paris
D. none of the above
5. The Pennsylvania Gazette published a drawing that
encouraged the colonists to ______.
A. protest
B. unite
C. work
D. fight
6. A Maryland newspaper stirred up interest in the war by
publishing ______ journals.
A. children's
B. Indian
C. French
D. George Washington's
7. ______ won the war.
A. Great Britain
B. Europe
C. the Indians
D. France
8. A gazette is a ______.
A. book
B. book of rules
C. newspaper
D. journal
Newspapers in the American colonies published reports of attacks by

the French during the years leading up to the French and Indian
War. What do you think a news report in a British or French paper
might have said?
Name
Write a journal entry that you think could have appeared in a

Maryland newspaper from George Washington's journal.

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Name

The French and Indian War

Gazette published a picture of a snake cut into parts. Each part

2. Which side did the Indians support?

Newspapers in the American colonies published reports of attacks by

Write a journal entry that you think could have appeared in a

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