Political and economic effect of mercantilism

political and economic effect of mercantilism. The French and Indian war is a series of conflicts that took place between 1754 and 1763 in Northern America. The war pitted British colonies against New France colonies that had large support from the American Indians. At the time of the war, North America was largely in the control of British and French colonialists where Britain had about 2 million settlers against the French’s 60,000.[1] Britain and France were constantly in competition for control of the seas and North America as this would be a definitive step in boosting trade between the Americas and their mother nations.

political and economic effect

One of the main causes of the French and Indian war was a dispute over control of the land to the west of the Appalachian Mountains. The disputed area was at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers referred to as the Forks of Ohio. England claimed that the region as part of Virginia while the French considered it a part of New France. The British colonists had begun expanding into the disputed area and this angered the French who responded by building forts from the Ohio River to Lake Erie in 1753.[2] In response, the British sent George Washington, who was 21 years at the time, to lead a mission that would deliver a warning letter to French colonists and demand them to leave. The French did not leave and this prompted an attack later on when George Washington and militiamen from Virginia invaded a French patrol. Following the attack on the French patrol, France responded with reinforcements and this officially became the beginning of the war. 

[1] Clodfelter Michael, Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.). (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2016), 122

[2] Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), 275.