Page 130 - American Stories, A History of the United States

Although France and Britain had not officially declared war, British officials
advised the governor of Virginia to “repell force by force.” The Virginians needed lit- 4.1
tle encouragement. They were eager to make good their claim to the Ohio Valley. In
1754, militia companies under a promising young officer, George Washington, con-
structed Fort Necessity not far from Fort Duquesne. The plan failed. The French and 4.2
their Indian allies overran the exposed outpost (July 3, 1754). The humiliating setback
revealed that a single colony could not defeat the French.
Benjamin Franklin, for one, appreciated the need for intercolonial cooperation. 4.3
When British officials invited representatives from Virginia, Maryland, and the north-
ern colonies to Albany (June 1754) to discuss relations with the Iroquois, Franklin used
the occasion to present a blueprint for colonial union. His Albany Plan envisioned the albany plan Plan of intercolonial 4.4
formation of a Grand Council, made up of elected delegates from the colonies, to over- cooperation proposed by
see matters of common defense, western expansion, and Indian affairs. A President prominent colonists including
General appointed by the king would preside. benjamin Franklin at a conference
in Albany, New york, in 1754. the
First reaction to the Albany Plan was enthusiastic. To take effect, however, it plan called for a Grand council 4.5
required the support of the separate colonial assemblies and Parliament. It received of elected delegates from the
neither. The assemblies were jealous of their fiscal authority, and the British thought colonies that would have powers
the scheme undermined the crown’s power over American affairs. to tax and provide for the common
In 1755, the Ohio Valley again became the scene of fierce fighting. Even though there defense. Although rejected by the
was still no formal declaration of war, the British resolved to destroy Fort Duquesne, colonial and british governments, it
was a prototype for colonial union.
and to that end, they dispatched units of the regular army to America. In command was
Major General Edward Braddock, an obese, humorless veteran who inspired neither fear
nor respect. One colonist described Braddock as “very indolent, Slave to his passions,
women & wine, as great an Epicure as could be in his eating, tho a brave man.”
On July 9, Braddock led 2500 British redcoats and colonists to humiliating
defeat. The French and Indians opened fire as Braddock’s army waded across the
Monongahela River, about eight miles from Fort Duquesne. Along a narrow road con-
gested with wagons and confused men, Braddock ordered a counterattack, described
by one of his officers as “without any form or order but that of a parcell of school
boys coming out of s[c]hool.” Nearly 70 percent of Braddock’s troops were killed or Quick Check
wounded. The general himself died in battle. The French, who suffered only light casu- Why did Benjamin Franklin’s Albany
alties, remained in firm control of the Ohio Valley. Plan receive so little support?

Read the Document Albany Plan of Union (1754)

THE alBaNy plaN the first political cartoon to appear in an American newspaper was created by benjamin
Franklin in 1754 to emphasize the importance of the Albany Plan.
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