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But not all was well for everyone in all the colonies during the Great Awakening.  [[South Carolina]] had grown heavily dependent on slavery to pick its crops and sustain its economy.  By the late 1730s South Carolina had twice as many slaves as white people.  In 1739 tensions between the slaves and their masters reached a boiling point in the Stono Rebellion in Charleston.  The insurgency by the slaves was brutally suppressed, and then South Carolina passed harsh laws (codes) to exercise even more control over the slaves.  More so than any other colony (and later, more than any other state), South Carolina was the state most determined to keep and use slavery.

But not all was well for everyone in all the colonies during the Great Awakening.  [[South Carolina]] had grown heavily dependent on slavery to pick its crops and sustain its economy.  By the late 1730s South Carolina had twice as many slaves as white people.  In 1739 tensions between the slaves and their masters reached a boiling point in the Stono Rebellion in Charleston.  The insurgency by the slaves was brutally suppressed, and then South Carolina passed harsh laws (codes) to exercise even more control over the slaves.  More so than any other colony (and later, more than any other state), South Carolina was the state most determined to keep and use slavery.

== Migration, and Conflict ==

== Migration and Conflict ==

As the population and confidence grew in the mid-1700s, colonists began to migrate to Ohio.  There they conflicted with French fur trade with Indians.  The French constructed forts in Ohio, and the governor of Virginia sent a 21-year-old named George Washington to check out what was going on in 1754.  In Western Pennsylvania, at Fort Necessity, French defeated and captured him and his troops.  They made him sign a statement in French (which George Washington did not understand) that his men had assassinated some Frenchmen.  Then they released George Washington.  He remembered that lesson and in the Revolutionary War made sure he had an aide who could understand French.  That aide would be Alexander Hamilton.

 

West of the Appalachian Mountains is the Ohio Valley.  This area was rich in animals necessary for the lucrative fur trade, and covered vast amounts of unsettled land.  The Ohio valley was occupied by Native American tribes, primarily those of the Iroquois League of Nations.  Both the British and the French traded with the Indians in this region.  As the population and confidence grew in the mid-1700s, colonists began to migrate to Ohio.  There they conflicted with French fur trade with Indians.  Because of this, conflict began to increase around 1740.

 

In 1754, 7 colonies met to confront these problems at the Albany Congress.  They adopted Ben Ben Franklin’s Albany Plan of Union based on the Iroquois League of Nations.  The Albany Plan of Union attempted to unite the colonies sufficiently to defend themselves against the French.

 

The Albany Congress sent sent a 21-year-old named George Washington to stop the French from building a fort in modern day Pennsylvania, and to protest French attacks.  In Western Pennsylvania, at Fort Necessity, French defeated and captured him and his troops.  They made him sign a statement in French (which George Washington did not understand) that his men had assassinated some Frenchmen.  Then they released George Washington.  He remembered that lesson and in the Revolutionary War made sure he had an aide who could understand French.  That aide would be Alexander Hamilton.

 

Seeing this weakness on the colonies' part, a few Native American tribes decided to fight with the French.  Nevertheless, Washington was treated as a hero when he returned to the colonies.  

George Washington is the most honored person in all of American history.  Why was he so great?  Was he so great?  He was not a brilliant man.  He was not a great military general.  In terms of military strategy, he was not particularly good.  He was inept during the French and Indian War, for example.  He did not write anything of value.  

George Washington is the most honored person in all of American history.  Why was he so great?  Was he so great?  He was not a brilliant man.  He was not a great military general.  In terms of military strategy, he was not particularly good.  He was inept during the French and Indian War, for example.  He did not write anything of value.