Author: Clarence Monroe Burton

Publisher: General Books

Published: 2012-01

Total Pages: 678

ISBN-13: 9781458913210

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XXXV FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR EARLY EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICA SPANISH CLAIMS ENGLISH CLAIMS FRENCH CLAIMS LA SALLE FRENCH AND ENGLISH RIVALRY WASHINGTON'S MISSION? FRANCE DECLARES WAR SHADDOCK'S DEFEAT WILLIAM PITT'S POLICY ENGLISH VICTORIES DETROIT IN THE WAR BELESTRE SURRENDERS END OF THE WAR. The causes of the conflict between France and England about the middle of the Eighteenth Century date back to the first explorations and settlements made in America by European nations. In the East the struggle took the name of the French and Indian War, for the reason that the tribes of that section were supplied with arms and ammunition by the French and incited to attack the English settlers. The British retaliated by arming the Iroquois and their allied tribes and inducing them to make war on the French. Upon the restoration of peace, the western people referred to the conflict as the Seven Years' War, but historians generally have adopted the eastern name. SPANISH CLAIMS In 1493, the year following the first voyage of Columbus to the New World, the pope granted to the king and queen of Spain all countries inhabited by infidels. At that time the extent of the American Continent was unknown, but as the native inhabitants were regarded as infidels, this papal grant included, in a vague way, all the present State of Michigan. The grant of the pope was strengthened by the expedition of Hernando de Soto (1540-42) into the interior and the discovery of the Mississippi River, by which Spain laid claim to all the lands bordering on the great river and the Gulf of Mexico. ENGLISH CLAIMS Henry VII, King of England, in 1496 granted to John Cabot and his sons a patent of discovery, possession and trade to all lands they may discover and lay claim to in th...