The conflict began because both Britain and France claimed the upper O River V territory. Governor Dinwiddie of the V colony ordered a young colonel of militia, G , to take a detachment of troops and expel the French unit that was building fortifications along the colony’s western border. In June 1954, Benjamin Franklin proposed the A Plan of Union The plan was based on the idea that the British colonies would benefit from greater unity, just as the Iroquois nation had strengthened itself by forming the Iroquois League. The colonists rejected Franklin’s plan, but it later provided a model for the United States government.