Proclamation of 1763

PROCLAMATION OF 1763. 7 October 1763. To reduce Indian unrest stemming from land frauds and westward expansion, the imperial government and several colonies had taken largely ineffective steps before 1763 to limit the migration of white settlers into lands claimed or controlled by Native Americans. The end of the French and Indian War opened the gates for a flood of settlers into western lands, putting further pressure on tribes trying to resist the creeping tide of white settlement. Moreover, the expulsion of the French from Canada eliminated the possibility that the tribes might strike a balance between competing European powers and thus negotiate a better deal for themselves.

Aware of the problem, Lord Shelburne, the president of the Board of Trade, drafted a plan that was put in final form by his successor, the earl of Hillsborough, and rushed to King George III for his signature on 7 October 1763. The Proclamation of 1763 was intended to provide a comprehensive solution to a wide range of issues raised by the expansion of the empire. Territories recently won from France were organized into four distinct and separate governments: the provinces of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada, the latter actually comprising the island of Grenada, the Grenadines, Dominica, St. Vincent, and Tobago, all in the West Indies. The boundary of Georgia was extended south from the Altamaha River to the St. Mary's River, the northern boundary of East Florida. The new province of Quebec (encompassing only the eastern portion of the former New France, from the St. Lawrence valley northwards) was put under English law, a provision that alarmed the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, formerly French, inhabitants. The colonies reacted most strongly to the provision of the proclamation that established, for an indefinite period, a line along the watershed of the Allegheny Mountains as the western limit of British settlement and, in a modification of Shelburne's draft, ordered the withdrawal of colonists already west of this line, which meant those in the upper OhioValley. A vast territory west of Quebec and the Alleghenies was reserved for the indigenous Native Americans, who were nominally placed under the government of the British army, which was to garrison forts in the region to keep the peace and especially to regulate trade with the natives. The act specifically mentioned colonial land frauds and other offenses against the Indians and went into great detail about how these were to be prevented in the future.

The colonists strongly opposed the proclamation, which withdrew lands promised to veterans of the French and Indian War, restricted trade with the Indians, and curtailed the claims of the so-called Three-Sided colonies. Land speculators and frontiersmen objected to the restrictions on western migration. Canadians resented the imposition of English law, fearing it would be anti-Catholic and would call into question legal precedents established under the French regime. The colonists also recognized that the proclamation confined them to the seaboard, where they could be more easily controlled by the mother country; eliminated the chance for debtors to avoid prosecution by escaping over the Alleghenies; and curtailed the economic opportunities that seemed to shimmer just over the crest of the mountains.

SEE ALSO Pontiac's War; Three-Sided States.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Douglas, David C. English Historical Documents. Vol. 9: American Colonial Documents to 1776. Edited by Merrill Jensen. New York: Oxford University Press, 1955.

Knollenberg, Bernhard. Growth of the American Revolution, 1766–1775. Edited by Bernard W. Sheehan. Indianapolis, Ind.: Liberty Fund, 2002.

Thomas, Peter D. G. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763–1767. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.

                            revised by Harold E. Selesky