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In the decades prior to the Revolutionary War, tensions arose between the two largest global powers: BRITAIN, led by King George II, and FRANCE, led by King Louis XV. Because of their alliances with other nations, fighting escalated into the first global war -- the Seven Years War, or as it was called in America, the French and Indian War. The conflict included every major power in Europe as well as their colonies from the Caribbean, to India, to the Philippines, and to Africa. Over a million died. It was sparked by the ambush in 1754 of a French detachment...

JUMONVILLE, Pennsylvania -- What happened here 266 years ago had repercussions so profound they changed the course of world history abruptly and irreversibly. A disputed moment occurred that led to the French and Indian War, the first true world war that would drag on for seven years, draw blood on five continents and have costs that would directly lead to a colonial uprising. It was the first domino in a line of events that ultimately led to the formation of the United States. Sometimes you have to go back to where it all began to figure out where we are...

The French and Indian War ended in 1763 with the French losing Canada and all their land east of the Mississippi River. King George III decided to leave troops in the American colonies in case of future French incursions or native uprisings. British troops were to be paid with taxes collected from the colonies: the Sugar Tax of 1764 the Stamp Tax of 1765 the Townshend Acts of 1767, taxing glass, paint and paper As the Colonies had no representative in Parliament, the cry arose, “No taxation without representation.” The king imposed Writs of Assistance in 1765 allowing British authorities...

Today is Memorial Day, once also known as Decoration Day, hallowed to honor our military dead. Started to honor our Civil War dead, it has been expanded to honor all of our military dead of the United States from the Revolutionary War on (1775 to present). Yet in doing so, we still leave some out unless we become more expansive yet and include the 10,000+[1] of an even earlier conflict. I request those who read this, cast their minds back to a war that too many have forgotten but that forged an unbreakable mold upon our continent, "The French and...

(Image: Everett Collection/Rex Features) A document has just gone on display at Mount Vernon, Virginia - the museum in the former home of George Washington, first US President. It is an order dated 1777 and signed by Washington himself to send troops that had not been vaccinated for smallpox - or survived it - to Philadelphia to be vaccinated. These troops were then to join up with the main army, where the disease was raging. It sounds like amazing foresight for its day. "Washington's careful handling of the smallpox epidemic at the beginning of the war was a significant...

A callow youngster's thirst for honor triggered the Seven Years' War. Unlike many of his fellow Founding Fathers, George Washington never wrote an autobiography...His sole effort at memoir emerged from notes he wrote clarifying points for a proposed biography by a former aide and trusted friend, David Humphreys. These "Remarks" were written in 1787-88, when Washington was in his mid-50s and pondering the daunting prospect of becoming the first president....Washington chose to reminisce about the five years when he had labored as a loyal subject of the British Empire to thwart French designs on the Ohio Valley. In late 1753,...

The American Colonist's Library A TREASURY OF PRIMARY DOCUMENTS Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American HistoryAn invaluable collection of historical works which contributed to the formation of American politics, culture, and ideals  The following is a massive collection of the literature and documents which were most relevant to the colonists' lives in America. If it isn't here, it probably is not available online anywhere. ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCE (500 B.C.-1800 A.D.)  (Use Your Browser's FIND Function to Search this Library)  Given the Supreme Court's impending decision, the ultimate historic origins of the national motto, "In God We Trust" and...

July 01, 2005, George W's Quagmire Different war, same old complaints. By Michael Graham PHILADELPHIA, THE AMERICAN COLONIES, JULY 4, 1776 — Leaders of the self-described "American patriots" movement gathered in this Pennsylvania city today to sign an official declaration of their political intentions, despite widespread criticism of a failing war policy and complaints that their military action was launched under false pretenses. "Here it is, July of 1776, and George W. and his lackeys are just now getting around to declaring what this war is supposedly all about?" complained Loyalist playwright Michael LeMoore. "Washington and his neo-congressionalists rushed us...

According to an email received by McCabe from the office of U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), the Marion monument project has already received the blessings of U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), as well as Congressmen Henry Brown (R–S.C.), Gresham Barrett (R–S.C.), Bob Inglis (R–S.C.), John Spratt (D–S.C.), James Clyburn (D–S.C.), and Wilson. The next step is the actual bill, which McCabe believes, will be introduced in Congress over the coming weeks.

Misguided motives for politically correct education have cut a deadly swath through public school textbooks, resulting in less and less information about the Founders. The heroism and virtuous character of Washington, in particular, are seldom discussed. Children start developing personal heroes at age five and six. Our kindergarten and first grade students study George Washington for most of the month of February, with gratifying results. Temporarily at least, we persuade them to give up Spiderman and Superman and adopt George as their role model and hero of the month. (Even though George didn’t fly, he did have a cape.) They...

We've deluded ourselves into believing in the myth of the noble and peaceful primitive Nicholas Wade's Before The Dawn is one of those books full of eye-catching details. For example, did you know the Inuit have the largest brains of any modern humans? Something to do with the cold climate. Presumably, if this global warming hooey ever takes off, their brains will be shrinking with the ice caps. But the passage that really stopped me short was this: "Both Keeley and LeBlanc believe that for a variety of reasons anthropologists and their fellow archaeologists have seriously underreported the prevalence of...

H A L I F A X - A 1755 letter recently acquired by the University of Louisiana provides rare evidence that British soldiers shot people during the Acadian expulsion from Grand Pré, N.S. The letter, by British Major-General John Winslow, describes how soldiers rounded up 1,510 inhabitants by force and put them on ships. "Have had no uncommon disturbance," Maj.-Gen. Winslow wrote to a friend described only as a doctor. Some of the young men in the settlement, however, tried to get away, he said. "Kil'd one & I believe one other as he has not been heard of ...

THE FUTURE OF THE PAST Thursday, 12 March 2009 from Maclean's When the metaphorical dust has settled on the Plains of Abraham – metaphorical dust being the only kind you’re allowed to kick up on the sacred sod a quarter-millennium on – the larger question remains: What’s the future of the past? That’s to say, the lesson of the last few weeks is that the latter depends on the former. In 1759, General Wolfe won a decisive victory that led to the end of French rule on this continent: that is what we used quaintly to call a “fact”. To...

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. - This history-rich Hudson River community has yielded a museum's worth of 18th-century military artifacts over the decades, from musket balls to human skeletons. But a colonial soldier's daily lot wasn't all fighting and bloodshed. They had their share of down time, and that's where the sutler came in, offering for sale two of the few diversions from frontier duty: alcohol and tobacco. A five-year-long archaeological project has unearthed the 250-year-old site of a merchant's establishment that sold wine, rum, tobacco and other goods to the thousands of soldiers who passed through this region during the French...

FT. MASSAC — This weekend one of the highlights of Southern Illinois will spotlight a portion of history as the Ft. Massac Encampment is held this weekend, Oct. 20 and 21. The festival begins at 10 a.m. Saturday with the ceremonial posting of the colors and runs through 5 p.m. with various activities. Sunday hours are from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Parking is free and is available at the old fairgrounds adjacent to the park. Tram service is provided and is wheelchair accessible. This re-creation of the lifestyles and atmosphere of the late 1700s attracts more than 80,000 people....

When reflecting upon the momentous battles that shaped America as a country, most go no further back than the Revolutionary War. The French and Indian War, or what British and Canadians refer to as the Seven Years' War, is often relegated to a smaller place in U.S. history. But an upcoming four-part dramatic documentary, Episodes 1 and 3 of which were written, produced and directed by Arlington resident and filmmaker Eric Stange, intends to change perceptions of the 1754 to 1763 struggle. Titled "The War That Made America," the documentary premiering on PBS Jan. 18 and 25 explores how the...

In the summer of 1755, soldiers faced heat, disease and enemies as they marched across a quarter of the American continent to do battle. That summer, some 2,400 French and Indian War troops under the command of British Gen. Edward Braddock walked from Virginia to stage what turned out to be a botched assault on the Point in Pittsburgh, the key to westward expansion and in the firm grip of the French and their Indian allies in the 1750s. "These were tough people," mused tourist Douglas Roach, as he rested on a bench next to Braddock's Grave along Route 40...

A trove of Benjamin Franklin letters has turned up in the British Library. Discovered by University of California, San Diego professor Alan Houston, the letters are copies of correspondence that hasn't been seen in more than 250 years. All dating from the spring and summer of 1755, the 47 letters by, to and about Franklin are in the hand of one Thomas Birch, a contemporary of Franklin's who was a prodigious – almost inveterate – compiler and transcriber of historical documents. They are being published for the first time in the April issue of the William and Mary Quarterly. The...

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. - A husband and wife team of amateur archaeologists have unearthed human skeletons, believed to be about 250 years old, at a burial site here on the Hudson River island that's considered the birthplace of today's U.S. Army Rangers. AP - Mon Jun 5, 1:18 PM ET JoAnne Fuller unearths a skeleton on Rogers Island at Fort Edward, N.Y., Thursday, June 1, 2006 . The Fullers, a husband and wife team of amateur archaeologists, have unearthed human skeletons on the Hudson River island that's considered the birthplace of today's U.S. Army Rangers. (AP Photo/ Jim McKnight) Richard...