Paul Jones

American Pageant Chapter 6

1. William Pitt
General Sir William Augustus Pitt, KB was a long serving if undistinguished senior
officer of the British Army whose sixty years of service covered several major wars and
numerous postings as garrison and regiment commanders. He also dabbled in politics and
served as MP between 1754 and 1761. He came from a notable political family: his father
was also an MP and his elder brother became Baron Rivers.
2. Edward Braddock
General Edward Braddock (January 1695 –13 July 1755) was a British soldier and
commander-in-chief for North America during the actions at the start of the French and
Indian War (1754–1763). He is generally best remembered for his command of a
disastrous expedition against French Canada in 1755, in which he lost his life.
3. Chief Pontiac
Pontiac or Obwandiyag (c. 1720 – April 20, 1769), was the Ottawa tribe leader who
became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1766), an American Indian
struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the
British and Iroquois victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about
Pontiac's importance in the war that bears his name. Nineteenth century accounts
portrayed him as the mastermind and leader of the revolt, while some subsequent
interpretations have depicted him as a local leader with limited overall influence.
4. Louis XIV
Louis XIV (5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), popularly known as the Sun King
(French: le Roi Soleil), was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his
death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the
longest documented reign of any European monarch.
Louis began personally governing France after the death in 1661 of his prime
minister (premier ministre), the Italian Cardinal Jules Mazarin. An adherent of the theory
of the Divine Right of Kings, which advocates the divine origin and lack of temporal
restraint of monarchical rule, Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a
centralized state governed from the capital. He sought to eliminate the remnants of
feudalism persisting in parts of France and, by compelling the noble elite to inhabit his
lavish Palace of Versailles, succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many members of
which had participated in the Fronde rebellion during Louis' minority.
For much of Louis's reign, France stood as the leading European power, engaging in
three major wars—the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the
War of the Spanish Succession—and two minor conflicts—the War of Devolution and
the War of the Reunions. He encouraged and benefited from the work of prominent
political, military and cultural figures such as Mazarin, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Turenne
and Vauban, as well as Molière, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Lully, Le Brun, Rigaud,
Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin Mansart, Claude Perrault and Le Nôtre.
5. Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the Founding
Fathers of the United States of America. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author
and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist,
statesman, soldier, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the
Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding
electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage
odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He formed both the first public lending library in
America and first fire department in Pennsylvania. He was an early proponent of colonial
unity, and as a political writer and activist he supported the idea of an American nation.
As a diplomat during the American Revolution he secured the French alliance that helped
to make independence of the United States possible.
6. George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the commander of
the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and served as the
first President of the United States of America (1789–1797). For his central role in the
formation of the United States, he is often referred to as the father of his country.
7. Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III
following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of
the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. The purpose of the proclamation was to
organize Great Britain's new North American empire and to stabilize relations with
Native North Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases on
the western frontier. The Royal Proclamation ceased to be law in the United States
following the American Revolution[citation needed], but it continues to be of legal
importance to First Nations in Canada. Some historians[who?] believe it could be
considered as having also applied to Australia (see Mabo v Queensland).
8. Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes (sometimes spelled Edict of Nantz) was issued on April 13, 1589
by Henry IV of France to grant the Calvinist Protestants of France (also known as
Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. The main
concern was civil unity, and the Edict separated civil from religious unity, treated some
Protestants for the first time as more than mere schismatics and heretics, and opened a
path for secularism and tolerance. In offering general freedom of conscience to
individuals, the edict offered many specific concessions to the Protestants, such as
amnesty and the reinstatement of their civil rights, including the right to work in any field
or for the State and to bring grievances directly to the king. It marks the end of the
religious wars that tore apart the population of France during the second half of the 16th
century.
9. Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War)
The French and Indian War, also known as the War of the Conquest or referred as part of
the larger conflict known as the Seven Years' War, was a war fought in North America
between 1754 and 1763. The name French and Indian War refers to the two main
enemies of the British: the royal French forces and the various Native American forces
allied with them. The conflict, the fourth such colonial war between the nations of France
and Great Britain, resulted in the British conquest of Canada. The outcome was one of
the most significant developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict. To compensate
its ally, Spain, for its loss of Florida to the British, France ceded its control of French
Louisiana west of the Mississippi.