Seven Years' War & Taxation

1. A. Both France and Britain built competing fortifications because the Ohio Company's royal land grant gave Virginia a legal claim that overrode any French presence, prompting France to fortify a valley it had no prior economic interest in.
2. B. France built the forts first as an unprovoked land grab, and only afterward did British colonists begin moving into the region in response.
3. C. The forts were a response to the Albany Plan of Union, which France interpreted as preparation for a coordinated British invasion of Canada.
4. D. British population growth pushed settlement into the Ohio Valley, threatening French fur-trade networks with Ohio Indian nations; France responded by building forts, including Fort Duquesne, to block further British encroachment. ✓

Correct answer: D. This matches the actual sequence: growing British population and westward pressure threatened France's trade network first, and the forts were France's defensive response to that pressure.

1. A. Washington's militia joined Braddock's regulars for a joint assault that ended in the disastrous 1755 defeat.
2. B. Washington captured Fort Duquesne outright before Braddock's expedition arrived to reinforce the garrison.
3. C. Washington won a small victory at Jumonville Glen, then was forced to surrender at Fort Necessity on July 3, 1754. ✓
4. D. Washington surrendered at Fort Necessity first, then avenged the loss with a victory at Jumonville Glen.

Correct answer: C. This is the actual sequence: a small early victory followed by a surrender that became the spark of the war.

1. A. British forces are permanently incapable of winning any engagement in North America, regardless of leadership or strategy.
2. B. France's fur-trade alliances with Indian nations were no longer militarily useful after 1755.
3. C. Colonial militias are more reliable battlefield partners for Britain than British regulars.
4. D. Massed European-style linear formations struggle against forces using wooded terrain for cover and mobility, so wilderness tactics can defeat a larger, better-supplied force. ✓

Correct answer: D. This is exactly why Braddock's more than 2,000 regulars and colonial troops were routed by a smaller French and Indian force suited to the terrain.

1. A. Even though colonial assemblies rejected it because they refused to surrender their own power to tax, it set a precedent for later intercolonial cooperation. ✓
2. B. It succeeded in creating a temporary intercolonial government that lasted until the Peace of Paris in 1763.
3. C. It was Britain's first attempt to formally strip colonial assemblies of their taxing power.
4. D. Britain rejected it because Parliament feared a unified colonial government could challenge royal authority directly.

Correct answer: A. The plan's importance lies in its precedent for colonial unity, not in any success it had at the time.

1. A. Colonies were fundamentally opposed to any form of intercolonial cooperation until the Stamp Act Congress broke that pattern for the first time.
2. B. Franklin's plan failed because colonial assemblies were controlled by royal governors who vetoed it before it reached a vote.
3. C. The plan's failure shows the colonies were already unified in outright opposition to British rule by 1754.
4. D. Colonies were consistently more willing to unite against a shared external threat than to surrender their own power to tax and govern themselves – a pattern echoed when the Continental Congress avoided centralizing taxation power even after 1774. ✓

Correct answer: D. The same jealous guarding of local taxing authority that sank the Albany Plan reappears in how colonies structured unity efforts against Britain itself.