The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

94 Chapter 3 America in the British Empire

Britain Victorious: The Peace of Paris

Peace was restored in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris.
Its terms were moderate considering the extent of
the British triumph. France abandoned all claim to
North America except for two small islands near
Newfoundland; Great Britain took over Canada and
the eastern half of the Mississippi Valley. Spain got
back both the Philippine Islands and Cuba, but in
exchange ceded East and West Florida to Great
Britain. In a separate treaty, Spain also got New
Orleans and the huge area of North America west of
the Mississippi River.
“Half the continent,” the historian Francis
Parkman wrote, “had changed hands at the scratch of
a pen.” From the point of view of the English
colonists in America, the victory was overwhelming.
All threat to their frontiers seemed to have been
swept away. Surely, they believed in the first happy

moments of victory, their peaceful and prosperous

expansion was ensured for countless generations.

No honest American could deny that the victory

had been won chiefly by British troops and with

British gold. Colonial militiamen fought well in

defense of their homes or when some highly prized

objective seemed ripe for the plucking; they lacked

discipline and determination when required to fight

far from home and under commanders they did not

know. As one American official admitted, it was diffi-

cult to get New Englanders to enlist “unless assur-

ances can be given that they shall not march to the

southward of certain limits.”

Colonials were delighted that scarlet-clad British

regulars had borne the brunt of the fighting and hap-

pier still that the Crown had shouldered most of the

financial burden of the long struggle. The local

assemblies contributed to the cost, but except for

Massachusetts and Virginia their outlays were trivial

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French fort
British fort
British advance
French advance
French withdrawal
Battle (British victory)
French settlements
British settlements
Raystown
Harry’s Ferry
New York
Boston
Portsmouth
Falmouth
Annapolis Royal Halifax
Grand Pré
Tadoussac
Trois Rivières
Québec
Montréal Saurel
Lachine
Albany
British Successes, 1758–1763In 1758, in western Pennsylvania, British General John Forbes seized Ft. Duquesne and renamed it Ft. Pitt, in
honor of William Pitt, who had orchestrated the military campaign in London. (In 1909 Forbes was posthumously honored when the Pittsburgh
Pirates named their new stadium after him.) In 1759 a multipronged British expedition seized northern and western New York while another
British army, commanded by James Wolfe, sailed down the St. Lawrence and captured Montréal in 1760.