ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

French and Indian War 36232 Views


Share It!


Description:

We'll let you guess who was fighting in the French and Indian War.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:07

French and Indian War, a la Shmoop. My land is not your land.

00:11

Almost a quarter-century before the Revolutionary War...

00:15

...England and France disagreed over who owned most of Ohio,

00:18

as well as parts of what is now Canada.

00:20

What's that a-boot, eh?

00:23

Of course, Native Americans had already been in the area for a very, very long time...

00:28

...a fact that was almost universally ignored by Europeans and colonists alike.

00:35

Back in those days, there was a pretty big race to claim land in the "new world"

00:39

for European powers.

00:41

Since the Native Americans saw themselves as sharing land, and had therefore not formed

00:45

actual boundaries... ...the English, French, Spanish, Russians

00:50

and Dutch... ... decided this land was basically up for grabs.

00:54

So, what gives any nation or group of people a true claim to land?

00:59

Is it mostly just about who gets there first and settles the area?

01:02

In other words: "Finders keepers, losers weepers."

01:05

Or should different groups of people work together to live in harmony and co-govern...

01:10

...without fighting over who has more of a "right" to the land?

01:14

Or does might simply make right?

01:16

Do you think that whoever conquers an area deserves to rule it?

01:20

A scary thought, but plenty of people throughout the course of history have lived by the latter philosophy.

01:37

International disputes about land ownership can be difficult to resolve... and by "difficult to resolve" we mean

01:43

like trying to solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded. With your feet.

01:47

Unfortunately, military conflict, and the resulting loss of lives, is not an uncommon development.

01:53

So, how would you address a disagreement over

01:56

land ownership between different nations or groups of people?

02:00

Is there a way to be fair to everybody involved and make sure you keep the peace?

02:04

Or are violent conflicts over land sadly unavoidable?

02:11

Shmoop amongst yourselves.

Up Next

Why Does the Constitution Still Work for Us?
5721 Views

Ever heard of a "living document"? They eat and breathe just like the rest of us! They even walk around on their own two legs. Okay, fine—maybe t...

Related Videos

The Puritans and the Division of Church and State
1280 Views

If the Puritans had gotten their way, religion would play a much larger role in lawmaking these days. Want to know more? Watch the video for all th...

Shays' Rebellion
6345 Views

What happened between the creation of the Articles of Confederation and the ratification of the current U.S. Constitution? This video analyzes the...

There's More Than One Way to Crack a Modernist Egg
539 Views

The Modernists thought the world had a lot of problems, and they were intent on fixing them—or at least talking about fixing them. Unfortunately,...

Federalism
2532 Views

This video explains Federalism and the quest for a fair balance between state and national power. It covers the progression and compromises of Fede...