The French Regime in Wisconsin ... 1634-1760: 1634-1727

Reuben Gold Thwaites

Jan 1902 · The Society

About this ebook

Vol. II (v. 17): This volume is the second of three volumes devoted to the era of French dominance of the fur trade region of the upper Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi (1634-1763), emphasizing the period between 1727 and 1748. During this period, Native Americans increasingly participated in economic and cultural transactions with the Europeans. Trading posts at Mackinac and Detroit were linked by trade and travel to subsidiary entrepôts such as Green Bay (La Baye) and Chequamegon (La Pointe). Many of the documents here provide evidence of Fox [Mesquakie] resistance to French dominance and their anti-French alliances with other Native Americans ranging from the Sioux further west to the Six Nations of the Iroquois in the east. Other peoples, such as the Detroit Hurons, the Ottawa, and the Potowatomi [Pottawatomie] are shown playing out localized hostilities in an international arena. After several crippling defeats by the French, tribes loosely confederated against the French revived and revolted during King George's War (1744-1748). The costs of curbing their unrest depleted France's colonial treasury, which the government attempted to restore by leasing posts to the highest bidder. The French government also used its monopoly of the Indian trade to increase prices for supplies sold to their Native-American trading partners. This provoked some of them (such as the Miamis) to develop closer ties with the English. The papers in this volume are arranged chronologically and consist chiefly of translations made from transcripts of papers in French archives, although some previously-published items also appear. They deal with diplomatic, military, and commercial activities, as well as the structures and operations of the French colonial administration. An index appears at the end of the volume.