How Did The French And Indian War Change Relations Between The Colonists And Britain

The French and Indian War

The French and Indian War was fought between the colonies of Swell Britain and New France, supported by American Indian allies on both sides.

Learning Objectives

Draw the political and economic impact of the French and Indian War on the colonies

Fundamental Takeaways

Central Points

• The French and Indian War (1754–1763) is the name for the North American theater of the Seven Years' State of war.
• The war was primarily fought over contested claims betwixt the British and French over the land of the Ohio Country. The effect of the war was ane of the about meaning developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict, with United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland gaining command over Canada and Florida.
• American Indian tribes supporting France included the Wabanaki Confederacy, Algonquin, Caughnawaga Mohawk, Lenape, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Shawnee, and Wyandot.
• American Indian tribes supporting the British included the Iroquois Confederacy, Catawba, and the Cherokee prior to 1758.

Key Terms

• Treaty of Paris: A peace agreement signed in 1763 that ended the Seven Years' War, or the French and Indian State of war; too the name for a peace agreement signed in 1783 that ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the United States' independence.
• Seven Years' War: A global military war between 1756 and 1763 involving nigh of the slap-up powers of the fourth dimension and affecting Europe, Due north America, Fundamental America, the Due west African coast, India, and the Philippines.
• New French republic: France's quondam possessions and colonies in North America, including Quebec, Acadia, and Louisiana, before 1763.

The Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' State of war was a global armed services war between 1756 and 1763, involving nigh of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, Northward America, Central America, the Due west African coast, India, and the Philippines. In some countries, the war is alternatively named later on combats in the respective theatres: the French and Indian State of war (N America, 1754–63), Pomeranian War (Sweden and Prussia, 1757–62), Tertiary Carnatic State of war (Indian subcontinent, 1757–63), and Third Silesian State of war (Prussia and Austria, 1756–63).

The French and Indian State of war (1754–1763) is the proper noun for the Northward American theatre of the Seven Years' War. The state of war was fought primarily betwixt the colonies of Bully Uk and New France, with both sides supported past forces from Europe as well every bit American Indian allies. In 1756, the war erupted into a worldwide conflict between Britain and French republic. The primary targets of the British colonists were the royal French forces and the diverse American Indian forces centrolineal with them.

Background to the War

The Ohio Country

The war was fought primarily along the frontiers separating New France from the British colonies from Virginia to Nova Scotia. The Ohio Country (sometimes called the Ohio Territory or Ohio Valley by the French) was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America westward of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie. The territory encompassed roughly the nowadays-mean solar day states of Ohio, eastern Indiana, western Pennsylvania, and northwestern West Virginia. The issue of settlement in the region is considered to have been a primary crusade of the French and Indian War and a subsequently contributing gene to the American Revolutionary State of war.

In the 17th century, the area north of the Ohio River had been occupied by the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee. Around 1660, during a conflict known equally the Beaver Wars, the Iroquois seized command of the Ohio Land, driving out the Shawnee and conquering and absorbing the Erie tribe. The Ohio Country remained largely uninhabited for decades and was used primarily for hunting by the Iroquois.

In the 1720s, a number of American Indian groups began to migrate to the Ohio Country. By 1724, Delaware Indians had established the village of Kittanning on the Allegheny River in present-day western Pennsylvania. The Delawares were migrating because of the expansion of European colonial settlement in eastern Pennsylvania. With them came those Shawnee who had settled in the eastward. Other bands of the scattered Shawnee tribe also began to return to the Ohio Country in the decades that followed. A number of Senecas and other Iroquois also migrated to the Ohio State, moving away from the French and British imperial rivalries south of Lake Ontario.

Territorial Dispute

With the invasion of the Europeans, the region was claimed by Slap-up Britain and French republic, both of which sent merchants into the surface area to trade with the Ohio Country Indians. The area was considered primal to both countries' ambitions of further expansion and development in Northward America. At the same time, the Iroquois claimed the region by correct of conquest. The rivalry between the two European nations, the Iroquois, and the Ohio natives for command of the region played an important part of the outbreak of the French and Indian War in the 1750s.

The Outbreak of War

The state of war began in May 1754 because of these competing claims between U.k. and French republic. Twenty-two-year-old George Washington, a Virginian surveyor whose family unit helped to institute the Ohio Company, gave the command to fire on French soldiers near present-day Uniontown, Pennsylvania. This incident on the Pennsylvania frontier proved to be a decisive event that led to imperial state of war. For the side by side decade, fighting took place along the frontier of New France and British America from Virginia to Maine. The war also spread to Europe every bit France and Britain looked to gain supremacy in the Atlantic World.

After initially remaining neutral, the Ohio Country Indians and most of the northern tribes largely sided with the French, who were their chief trading partner and supplier of arms. The British fared poorly in the offset years of the war. In 1754, the French and their American Indian native allies forced Washington to surrender at Fort Necessity, a hastily built fort constructed afterwards Washington's attack on the French. In 1755, United kingdom dispatched Full general Edward Braddock to the colonies to take Fort Duquesne. The French, aided by the Potawotomis, Ottawas, Shawnees, and Delawares, ambushed the ane,500 British soldiers and Virginia militia who marched to the fort. The attack sent panic through the British forcefulness, and hundreds of British soldiers and militiamen died, including General Braddock. The campaign of 1755 proved to exist a disaster for the British. In fact, the simply British victory that year was the capture of Nova Scotia. In 1756 and 1757, Britain suffered further defeats with the fall of Fort Oswego and Fort William Henry.

The war began to plough in favor of the British in 1758, due in large part to the efforts of William Pitt, a very popular member of Parliament. Pitt pledged huge sums of money and resources to defeating the hated Catholic French, and Great Uk spent part of the coin on bounties paid to new young recruits in the colonies, helping invigorate the British forces. In 1758, the Iroquois, Delaware, and Shawnee signed the Treaty of Easton, aligning themselves with the British in return for some contested land around Pennsylvania and Virginia. Betwixt 1758 and 1760, the British armed forces successfully penetrated the heartland of New France, with Quebec falling in 1759 and Montreal finally falling in September 1760. The French empire in Northward America began to crumble.

Conference between the French and American Indian leaders effectually a ceremonial fire by Vernier: This is a scene from the French and Indian War (1754–1763), depicting the alliance of French and American Indian forces.

Treaty of Paris

Most of the fighting between France and U.k. in continental North America concluded in 1760; however, the fighting in Europe continued. The war in North America officially concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763, and war in the European theatre of the Seven Years' War was settled by the Treaty of Hubertusburg on February xv, 1763. France ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to its ally Kingdom of spain, in compensation for Kingdom of spain'southward loss of Florida to U.k. (which Spain had given to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana, Republic of cuba). France's colonial presence n of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position as the dominant colonial power in the eastern half of North America.

United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland gained command of French Canada and Acadia, colonies containing approximately 80,000 primarily French-speaking Roman Cosmic residents. The British resettled many Acadians throughout its Due north American provinces, merely many went to French republic, and some went to New Orleans, which they had expected to remain French.

Following the peace treaty, King George Iii issued the Imperial Proclamation of 1763 outlining the division and administration of the newly conquered territory. To some extent, this annunciation continues to govern relations between the authorities of modern Canada and the Showtime Nations. In his announcement, George III placed Ohio Country in the vast Indian Reserve stretching from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River and from Florida to Newfoundland. Existing European settlers (generally French) were ordered to leave or go special permission to stay. Despite its acquisition by Neat United kingdom, the surface area remained officially closed to white settlement—at to the lowest degree for the fourth dimension being—by the Annunciation of 1763, which arose from the British desire to regain peaceful relations with the Shawnee and other tribes in the region.

A New Dynamic

For France, the war machine defeat and the financial burden of the war weakened the monarchy and contributed to the advent of the French Revolution in 1789. For many American Indian populations, the elimination of French ability in North America meant the disappearance of a potent ally and counterweight to British expansion, which over the following decades would atomic number 82 to their ultimate dispossession. Although the Spanish takeover of the Louisiana territory (which was not completed until 1769) had just modest repercussions, the British takeover of Spanish Florida resulted in the w migration of tribes that did not want to practise business with the British and a rise in tensions betwixt the Choctaw and the Creek, historic enemies whose divisions the British at times exploited. The modify of control in Florida also prompted most of its Spanish Catholic population to get out.

Map of the French and Indian War.

The Albany Congress and the Intercolonial Defence force

The Albany Congress brought together colonial representatives to talk over relations with American Indian tribes and common defense against the French.

Learning Objectives

Place the Albany Congress

Key Takeaways

Fundamental Points

• In 1754, the British government asked colonial representatives to meet in Albany, New York, to develop a treaty with American Indians and program the defense of the colonies confronting France.The Albany Congress was a meeting of representatives from seven of the 13 British Due north American colonies: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
• Representatives met daily in Albany, New York, from June 19 to July 11 to discuss improve relations with the American Indian tribes and mutual defensive measures against the French during the French and Indian State of war.
• Exceeding their limited objectives, the assembly adopted a plan developed by Benjamin Franklin for government of the colonies by a central executive and a council of delegates.
• Although rejected by England and the colonies, the Albany Programme became a useful guide in the years leading upwardly to the Revolutionary War.

Key Terms

• Albany Plan: A measure proposed by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress in 1754 in Albany, New York.

Overview

In 1754, the British authorities asked colonial representatives to encounter in Albany, New York, to develop a treaty with American Indians and plan the defense of the colonies against France. Exceeding these limited objectives, the assembly adopted a program developed by Benjamin Franklin for government of the colonies past a central executive and a council of delegates. Although rejected by England and the colonies, the Albany Plan became a useful guide in the years leading upwardly to the Revolutionary State of war.

The Albany Congress

The Albany Congress was a coming together of representatives from seven of the 13 British N American colonies in 1754: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Isle. Representatives met daily in Albany, New York, from June 19 to July 11 to discuss better relations with the American Indian tribes and common defensive measures against the French during the French and Indian War. Delegates did non view themselves as builders of an American nation; rather, they were colonists with the more limited mission of pursuing a treaty with the Mohawks. The episode has achieved iconic status as presaging the formation of the The states of America in 1776, and is ofttimes illustrated with Franklin's famous snake drawing, "Join, or Die."

"Join, or Die" by Benjamin Franklin: "Join, or Die" by Benjamin Franklin is a woodcut showing a snake cut into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initials of one of the American colonies or regions. The cartoon was used in the French and Indian State of war to symbolize that the colonies needed to join together with Great United kingdom to defeat the French and Indians. It later became a symbol of colonial freedom during the American Revolutionary State of war.

Franklin's Plan of Matrimony

Benjamin Franklin proposed a programme for uniting the vii colonies that greatly exceeded the scope of the congress. The Albany delegates spent most of their fourth dimension debating Franklin'southward Albany Plan of Matrimony, which would have created a unified colonial entity. The original plan was heavily debated by all who attended the briefing, and numerous modifications were proposed until the programme proceeded to be passed unanimously.

The delegates voted approval of a plan that chosen for a union of 12 colonies. The Union Plan included all of the British colonies in N America, except Delaware and Georgia. The plan called for a unmarried executive, known as a president general, to be appointed and supported by the Crown; the president general would be responsible for American Indian relations, war machine preparedness, and execution of laws regulating various trade and financial activities. The Union Plan as well called for a grand council to be selected by the colonial legislatures, where the number of delegates (anywhere from 2 to 7) would be based on the taxes paid by each colony.

The plan was submitted as a recommendation past the Albany Congress, but it was rejected by the legislatures of the individual seven colonies, as it would remove some of their existing powers. The programme was also rejected past the Colonial Office. Many in the British regime, already wary of some of the strong-willed colonial assemblies, disliked the idea of consolidating additional ability into the easily of the colonists. Instead, they preferred that the colonists' focus remain on the forthcoming armed services campaign against the French and their American Indian allies.

Even though it was rejected, some features of this programme were later adopted in the Articles of Confederation and the United states of america Constitution. Franklin himself afterwards speculated that had the 1754 plan been adopted, the colonial separation from England might non have happened so soon.

The Albany Congress: The mural depicts some of the delegates (from left to correct): William Franklin and his begetter, Benjamin (Pennsylvania); Governor Thomas Hutchinson (Massachusetts); Governor William Delancey (New York); Sir William Johnson (Massachusetts); and Colonel Benjamin Tasker (Maryland).

The War and Its Consequences

The 7 Years' War changed relations between the European powers, their colonies and colonists, and the American Indians in North America.

Learning Objectives

Analyze the results of the Vii Years' War

Key Takeaways

Fundamental Points

• The French and Indian War took identify in the American theatre of the global Seven Years' State of war; the Treaty of Paris marked the end of the 7 Years' War in 1763.
• The Treaty of Paris resulted in France'due south loss of all its Northward American possessions e of the Mississippi except for 2 small islands off of Newfoundland, marking the outset of an era of British dominance in North America.
• Following the treaty, King George III signed the Royal Annunciation of 1763 which temporarily blocked colonists' westward expansion and reserved western country for American Indian use.
• The proclamation was less about respecting or preserving the American Indians' rights to their land; rather, it gave the British Crown a monopoly on all time to come state purchases from American Indians.
• Though Britain gained the territory of New French republic and French Canada, French republic and Britain both suffered financially because of the war, with significant long-term consequences.
• The war most doubled Britain's national debt, which it chose to pay off by imposing new taxes on its colonies; resistance to these taxes from the colonists would somewhen culminate in the American Revolutionary War.

Central Terms

• Treaty of Paris: Signed in 1763, a peace understanding that ended the French and Indian War in N America; too the name for the peace agreement that ended the American Revolutionary War in 1783.
• Royal Announcement of 1763: An act issued past King George III post-obit Dandy U.k.'south acquisition of French territory in Due north America subsequently the end of the French and Indian State of war; it established limits to colonization west of the Appalachian mountains.
• speculators: A person who engages in commercial or financial purchasing of a skilful (or country) with the hope that it will get more valuable at a future date.

The Catastrophe of the War

The Treaties of Paris and Hubertusburg

Most of the North American fighting of the French and Indian War (the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War) ended on September 8, 1760, when the Marquis de Vaudreuil surrendered Montreal—and finer all of Canada—to the British. Withal, the war did not officially end until the signing of the Treaty of Paris on Feb 10, 1763. The treaty resulted in French republic's loss of all its Northward American possessions east of the Mississippi except for Saint Pierre and Miquelon, two pocket-size islands off of Newfoundland, mark the first of an era of British dominance in North America.

Britain also gained control of French Canada, a colony containing approximately 65,000 French-speaking, Roman Catholic residents. Early in the war in 1755, the British had expelled French settlers from Acadia, some of whom eventually fled to Louisiana. At present at peace and eager to secure control of its hard-won colony, Slap-up Britain institute itself obliged to brand concessions to its newly conquered subjects. The European theatre of the war was settled by the Treaty of Hubertusburg on Feb xv, 1763.

Treaty of Hubertusburg: An image of the 1763 peace settlement reached at the Treaty of Hubertusburg catastrophe the Seven Years' State of war in key Europe.

Consequences of the War

The war changed economic, political, governmental, and social relations betwixt Britain, France, and Spain; their colonies and colonists; and the American Indians that inhabited the territories they claimed. France and Great britain both suffered financially because of the war, with significant long-term consequences.

The Purple Proclamation of 1763

Following the peace treaty, Male monarch George III issued the Imperial Proclamation of 1763 on October vii. The proclamation outlined the division and administration of the newly conquered territory. Included in its provisions was the reservation of lands west of the Appalachian Mountains to its original American Indian population, a demarcation that was at best a temporary impediment to a rising tide of westward-leap British invaders. Ane of the biggest bug confronting the British Empire in 1763 was controlling land speculators whose activities often led to borderland conflicts in both Europe and the British colonies. Many American Indian peoples—primarily in the Great Lakes region—had a long and close human relationship with French republic and were dismayed to discover that they were now under British sovereignty.

The annunciation created a purlieus line (often called the proclamation line) betwixt the British colonies on the Atlantic coast and American Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. The proclamation line was not intended to exist a permanent purlieus between white and indigenous lands but rather a temporary boundary which could be extended further west in an orderly, "lawful" (co-ordinate to the British) manner. The proclamation outlawed private buy of American Indian land, which had oft created problems in the past; instead, all future land purchases were to exist fabricated by Crown officials "at some public Coming together or Associates of the said Indians." Furthermore, British colonists were forbidden to move across the line and settle on indigenous lands, and colonial officials were forbidden to grant grounds or lands without majestic approval. The declaration was less about respecting or preserving the American Indians' rights to their land; rather, it gave the British Crown a monopoly on all future state purchases from American Indians.

About immediately, many British colonists and land speculators objected to the proclamation boundary, since there were already many settlements beyond the line and many existing land claims yet to be settled. Indeed, the Royal Proclamation itself chosen for lands to exist granted to British soldiers who had served in the Seven Years' War. Prominent American colonists joined with country speculators in Britain to lobby the authorities to move the line further due west. Every bit a effect, the boundary line was adjusted in a series of treaties with American Indians. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the Treaty of Hard Labor, both signed 1768, and the Treaty of Lochaber of 1770, opened much of what is now West Virginia and Kentucky to British settlement.

Economic Consequences

In addition to vastly increasing U.k.'s land in North America, the Seven Years' State of war inverse economic, political, and social relations between Great britain and its colonies. It plunged Great britain into debt, nearly doubling the national debt. The Crown, seeking sources of acquirement to pay off the debt, chose to impose new taxes on its colonies. These taxes were met with increasingly stiff resistance, until troops were called in to ensure that representatives of the Crown could safely perform their duties of collecting taxes. Over the years, dissatisfaction over the high taxes would steadily rise amid the colonists until somewhen culminating in the American Revolutionary War.

France returned to the N American stage in 1778 to back up American colonists against Swell Britain in the Revolutionary War. For France, the military defeat and the fiscal burden of the Vii Years' War weakened the monarchy and eventually contributed to the advent of the French Revolution in 1789.

Pontiac's Insurgence

British expansion into American Indian country later the French and Indian State of war led to resistance in the form of Pontiac'southward Rebellion in 1763.

Learning Objectives

Identify Pontiac's Rebellion

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Pontiac 's Rebellion (1763–1766) was an insurgence of a coalition of American Indian tribes who sought to preclude Great U.k. from expanding further into western lands.
• Post-obit the British victory in the French and Indian War, British postwar policies in the Smashing Lakes region profoundly disregarded American Indian rights to their land.
• Involved in the rebellion were the numerous tribes of the Great Lakes region and the eastern Illinois State, both of which had been allied with the French; the tribes of the Ohio State, allied with neither, were also involved.
• The state of war began at Fort Detroit nether the leadership of Ottawa war chief Pontiac and quickly spread throughout the region as word of Pontiac's deportment inspired other discontented American Indians to join the defection.
• Relations betwixt British colonists and American Indians deteriorated farther during and afterwards Pontiac'southward Rebellion, contributing to deep racial hatred among colonists confronting all American Indians.
• For American Indians, Pontiac'south War demonstrated the possibilities of pan-tribal cooperation in resisting Anglo-American colonial expansion.

Primal Terms

• General Amherst: An 18th century officer in the British Army and commander-in-main of the forces.
• Pontiac: An Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in the American Indian uprising of 1763, in which a pan-tribal coalition of American Indians resisted British military machine occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War.
• pays d'en haut: A vast territory west of Montreal covering the whole of the Smashing Lakes north and south and stretching as far into the North American continent as the French had explored.

Changing Dynamics

After the Seven Years' State of war, British troops proceeded to occupy the various forts in the Ohio Country and Not bad Lakes region that had been previously garrisoned by the French. Fifty-fifty before the war officially ended, the British Crown began to implement changes in order to administrate its vastly expanded Due north American territory. While the French had long cultivated alliances among sure of the American Indian tribes, the British post-war arroyo was to subordinate the tribes, and tensions quickly rose between the American Indians and the British. The most organized resistance, Pontiac'due south Rebellion, highlighted tensions the settler-invaders increasingly interpreted in racial terms.

Pontiac's Rebellion

Tribes Involved

American Indians involved in Pontiac's Rebellion lived in a vaguely defined region of New France known as the pays d'en haut, "the upper country," which was claimed by French republic until the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The tribes of the pays d'en haut consisted of three basic groups. The first group included the tribes of the Great Lakes region: the Ottawas, Ojibwas, Potawatomis, and Hurons. The second group was made up of the tribes of the eastern Illinois State, which included the Miamis, Weas, Kickapoos, Mascoutens, and Piankashaws. Both groups had a long-continuing peace agreement with the French. The members of the tertiary group were the tribes of the Ohio Land: the Delawares (Lenape), Shawnees, Wyandots, and Mingos. These people had migrated to the Ohio valley earlier in the century in order to escape British, French, and Iroquois domination elsewhere and did non have strong relations with the British or French.

Amherst's Policies Toward American Indians

Full general Amherst, the British commander-in-chief in Northward America, was in charge of administering policy toward American Indians, which involved both military matters and regulation of the fur merchandise. He believed American Indians were militarily weak and thereby subordinate to the British government. One of his policies was to prohibit gift commutation between the American Indians and the British. Once a tradition with the French, souvenir giving was a symbol of peaceful relations, and the prohibition of such exchanges was interpreted by many American Indians as an insult. Amherst also restricted the American Indians' gun supply, which generated resentment; American Indian men used gunpowder and ammunition to gain food for their families and fur for trade, and by closing off the supply, Amherst imposed hardships on tribal families.

Additional Conflicts

Land was also a motivating factor in the coming of the insurgence. While the French population had been depression, there seemed to be no end of incoming settler-invaders from England. Shawnees and Delawares in the Ohio Country, especially, had been displaced past British colonists in the east, motivating their resistance along with food shortages and epidemic disease.

The Outbreak of State of war

Despite previous rumors of state of war, Pontiac'south Rebellion began in 1763. Senecas of the Ohio State (Mingos) circulated messages calling for the tribes to class a confederacy and drive away the British. The Mingos, led by Guyasuta and Tahaiadoris, were concerned about existence surrounded past British-occupied forts. While the rebellion was decentralized at first, this fear of being surrounded helped the rebellion to grow.

The war began at Fort Detroit under the leadership of Ottawa state of war chief Pontiac and quickly spread throughout the region. Eight British forts were taken. Scholars believe that rather than beingness planned in advance, the insurgence spread as give-and-take of Pontiac's actions at Fort Detroit traveled throughout the pays d'en haut, inspiring already discontented American Indians to join the revolt.

The total loss of life resulting from Pontiac's Rebellion is unknown. About 400 British soldiers were killed in action and maybe 50 were captured and killed; virtually two,000 settler-invaders were killed or captured too. The war compelled approximately iv,000 Pennsylvanian and Virginian settler-invaders to flee their homes. American Indian losses went mostly unrecorded, though it has been estimated that at least 200 warriors were killed in battle.

Foreshadowing of Future Hostilities

Relations betwixt British colonists and American Indians deteriorated further during Pontiac's Rebellion, and the British authorities concluded that colonists and American Indians must be kept apart. On October 7, 1763, the Crown issued the Purple Proclamation of 1763, an endeavour to reorganize British N America afterwards the Treaty of Paris. Officials drew a boundary line between the British colonies along the seaboard and American Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, creating a vast (and temporary) "Indian Reserve" that stretched from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River and from Florida to Quebec. This boundary was never intended to be permanent, but was rather created every bit a way to continued British expansion westward in a more than organized fashion.

For American Indians, Pontiac's War demonstrated the possibilities of pan-tribal cooperation in resisting Anglo-American colonial expansion. Although the conflict divided tribes and villages, the war as well saw the first extensive multi-tribal resistance to European colonization in North America and was the commencement war between Europeans and American Indians that did not stop in complete defeat for the American Indians.

Pontiac'south Rebellion: In a famous council on April 27, 1763, depicted in this 19th century engraving past Alfred Bobbet, Pontiac urged listeners rise up confronting the British.

The Western Lands

Following the French and Indian War, the colonial desire to expand westward was met with resistance from American Indians.

Learning Objectives

Analyze the British policy regarding due west expansion

Key Takeaways

Fundamental Points

• The French and Indian War of the 1760s resulted in a complete victory for the British, who took over the lands west to the Mississippi River that had previously been claimed by the French, but was largely inhabited past American Indians.
• Following the acquisition of new territory, colonists pushed westward into the frontier lands. Past the early 1770s, British colonists were moving across the Appalachians into western Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio.
• The Royal Declaration of 1763 prohibited the North American colonists from establishing or maintaining settlements w of a line running down the crest of the Appalachian Mountains.
• This policy had picayune to practise with respect for tribal rights and was more motivated by the high expense of conflicts with American Indians and lack of British soldiers on the continent.
• The reaction of colonial country speculators and frontiersmen to this announcement was highly negative. From their perspective, they had risked their lives in the recent war but to be denied the lands they coveted.
• The attack on a local tribe of Conestoga Indians by a grouping of Scots-Irish settlers from Paxton, Pennsylvania, in December of 1763, illustrates the deadly situation on the borderland.

Key Terms

• fur trade: A worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal pelts.

European Patterns of West Expansion

Prior to 1776, the land to the west of the British colonies was of loftier priority for settlers and politicians. In the earliest days of European settlement of the Atlantic declension, from near 1600 to 1680, the "borderland" was essentially any part of the forested interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing settlements forth the coast.

English, French, Spanish, and Dutch patterns of expansion and settlement differed widely. Merely a few thousand French migrated to Canada; these habitants settled in villages along the St. Lawrence river, building communities that remained stable for long stretches; they did not leapfrog west the way the British did. Although French fur traders ranged widely through the Keen Lakes region, they seldom settled down and instead maintained a nomadic lifestyle. The Dutch set up fur trading posts in the Hudson River valley, followed past large grants of state to rich landowning patroons who brought in tenant farmers to create compact, permanent villages. They did not push west.

In dissimilarity, the English colonies generally pursued a more than systematic policy of widespread settlement of the New World for cultivation and exploitation of the land, a practice that required the application of "legal" property rights to the new conditions. (These policies were legal according to British law simply largely disregarded or exploited the rights of American Indians.) The typical English language settlements were quite compact and small, typically under a square mile. Conflict with American Indians quickly arose as the British expanded further into their territory.

The French and Indian Wars of the 1760s resulted in a complete victory for the British, who took possession of the lands west to the Mississippi River, which had formerly been claimed by the French but were largely inhabited past American Indian tribes. By the early 1770s, British settler-invaders were moving across the Appalachians into western Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio.

American Indian Land

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 prohibited the North American colonists from establishing or maintaining settlements due west of a line running down the crest of the Appalachian Mountains. There were two motivations for this policy: first, the British wished to avert warfare with the American Indians. This aim had little to practice with respect for tribal rights and was more than motivated by the high expense of conflicts with American Indians and the lack of British soldiers on the continent. Some American Indians welcomed this policy, believing that the separation would allow them to resume their traditional ways of life; others realized that the declaration, at best, would only provide some animate room before the next onslaught of invaders.

The other intention of the declaration was to concentrate colonial settlements on the seaboard, where they could be agile participants in the British mercantile system. The beginning priority of British trade officials was to populate the recently secured areas of Canada and Florida, where colonists could reasonably be expected to trade with the female parent country; settlers living west of the Appalachians would be highly self-sufficient and have fiddling opportunity to trade with English merchants.

The reaction of colonial country speculators and frontiersmen to this declaration was highly negative. From their perspective, they had risked their lives in the recent state of war only to be denied the lands they coveted. About concluded that the declaration was simply a temporary measure; a number ignored it entirely and moved into the prohibited area anyway. Almost from its inception, the declaration was modified to suit the needs of influential British people with interests in the American west, including many high British officials as well as colonial leaders. Prominent American colonists joined with land speculators in United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland to lobby the government to move the line further west. As a result, the boundary line was adjusted in a series of treaties.

The British American colonies in 1763: This map shows the status of the American colonies in 1763, after the end of the French and Indian War. Although Great Uk won control of the territory due east of the Mississippi, the Proclamation Line of 1763 prohibited British colonists from settling due west of the Appalachian Mountains. (credit: modification of work by the National Atlas of the United States)

Conestoga Massacre

In December of 1763, post-obit the end of the French and Indian War and the signing of the annunciation, a vigilante group made up of Scots-Irish frontiersmen known equally the Paxton Boys attacked the local Conestoga, a Susquehannock tribe who lived on country negotiated past William Penn and their ancestors in the 1690s. In the backwash of the French and Indian War, the frontier of Pennsylvania remained unsettled. A new wave of Scots-Irish immigrants encroached on American Indian state in the back land. These settlers claimed that American Indians frequently raided their homes, killing men, women, and children.

Many Conestoga were Christian, and they had lived peacefully with their European neighbors for decades. Although there had been no American Indian attacks in the area, the Paxton Boys claimed that the Conestoga secretly provided aid and intelligence to the hostiles. On December 14, 1763, more than 50 Paxton Boys marched on the Conestoga homes nearly Conestoga Boondocks, Millersville, and murdered half dozen people and burned their cabins. The colonial authorities held an inquest and determined that the killings were murder. The new governor, John Penn, offered a advantage for their capture. The ruthlessness of these conflicts reflected a growing dissever between the British colonists and American Indians.

Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/the-seven-years-war-1754-1763/

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