The Proclamation of 1763 – Issues and Reaction
King George’s Attempt to Deal With New Lands and Help the Indians
Jul 2, 2009
The Seven Years War (also called the French and Indian War) ended in early 1763. The Privy Council of the king recognized they had a problem. Indian nations in the lands ceded by France at the Treaty of Paris were friendly toward France and hostile to England and their many colonists. Also, England had no government in the new territories.
Issues Leading to the Proclamation of 1763
The Indians were hostile to England and the colonists because of the constant migration westward. Already by 1763 settlements extended to eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, on the west side if the Appalachian divide, and land speculators were making moves in the Ohio region. As more colonists crossed the ocean the pressure to occupy Indian lands would only increase. Preventing the colonists from moving west and from buying land from the native peoples was a possibility.
While the Privy Council was debating how to govern the new territories, what is now known as Pontiac’s Rebellion broke out in May 1763. The initial fighting was intense, with the Indian confederation taking eight English forts. The English knew they needed to issue orders to establish control of the frontier and regions beyond. This rebellion caused the king to move faster and perhaps farther than he otherwise would have.
Provisions of the Proclamation of 1763
So on October 7, 1763, King George III issued a proclamation. The goals of the Proclamation were to establish territorial government, placate the Indians, and reward those who fought in the recent war. This was accomplished by the following key provisions.
- Establish four new territories and governments: Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada. The latter covered territories in Caribbean islands. These territories were open to European settlement.
- Establish an Indian reserve outside of the four new colonies and the original colonies, under English control.
- Prohibit colonists from moving west of the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.
- Order white colonists already in the restricted territories to move east of the proclamation line, and to give up any land not properly purchased from the Indians.
- Prohibit colonists from purchasing land from the Indians. Only the crown could purchase native land, and only if approached by the Indian nations.
- Allow trade with the Indians, but only by those who were licensed by the colonial government to do so.
- Provide land grants for officers, soldiers, and sailors who served in the recent war with France.
The king and his council did not intend for the proclamation line, beyond which were the restrictions on settlement and land purchase, to be a permanent line. The intention was to establish government and demonstrate to the native peoples that English intentions were not hostile. Keeping the restless colonists away for a time seemed a valid approach. Indeed, treaties between England and Indian tribes in 1768 and 1770 moved the line further westward. This allowed settlement of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee.
Reaction to the Proclamation of 1763
There was much dissatisfaction to the Proclamation, both in America and in England. The colonists did not like this restriction on where they could move and from whom they could buy land. The limits on trade were also distasteful. At this point in their history the colonies had begun to look upon control of their affairs by the king and Parliament as an infringement of their rights.
In England, land speculators did not like the inability to purchase land from the Indians or stake a claim, divide the land, and sell it to the colonists. A storm of protests occurred in both America and England over this aspect of the proclamation. It was seen as a backwards attempt by the crown to establish a monopoly on land purchase and distribution. It is no surprise that the king and his council had to make changes to the order and move the line westward. The land reserved for the Indian nations shrank with each alteration.
While the Proclamation failed to halt the relentless expansion of the colonists into the territories reserved for the Indians, it did have the effect of recognizing claims of the Indians to lands they had inhabited for generations. The Proclamation has been referenced in the adjudication of various native land claims for over two hundred years.
Source:
The Annals of America, Vol. 2, page 84-87; Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 1968.
