Proclamation of 1763

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PROCLAMATION OF 1763

The conclusion of the French and Indian War in 1763 brought vast new territories and complex problems to the British Empire. To establish governments for the new territories and to address the complex state of the trans-Appalachian west, King George III issued a royal proclamation on 7 October 1763. The proclamation placed the territories won from France and Spain under four distinct governments: much of French Canada was placed within the province of Quebec, the former Spanish colony of Florida was divided into East and West Florida, and the Caribbean conquests were combined into the province of Grenada. Because the Crown was unprepared to extend representative government to populations that had been hostile to British power for over a century, the proclamation provided only for the appointment of governors and councils, with the promise of assemblies at a later date.

More controversial were the provisions governing Indian policy and western expansion. The expulsion of the French from the Ohio Valley left the British government solely responsible for organizing a region that was already the object of bitter dispute among colonial governments, high-powered speculators, unscrupulous Indian traders, and a host of prospective settlers. Yet much of this land remained, by treaty, under the control of Native American tribes. Angry over the penetration of their lands and the shady activities of some of the traders, tribes allied under Pontiac began a series of attacks leading to Pontiac's War. These attacks made the Crown see the need for a conciliatory approach toward Native Americans, an approach manifested in the Indian policy of the proclamation.

While no definitive line was drawn, the proclamation prohibited all settlement on trans-Appalachian Native American lands, to the extent of ordering that all present settlement be abandoned. To protect the Native Americans from future fraud, the proclamation authorized only the colonial governors and the commander-in-chief to purchase Native American lands. Finally, the Indian trade was to be regulated and conducted under licenses assigned by the governors.

The proclamation was a temporary expedient designed to give the Crown time to pacify the Native Americans and obtain the fair and orderly transfer of their lands. Meanwhile, the conflicting claims of colonial governments and private speculators could be investigated and adjudicated. Americans, however, viewed the proclamation in a different light. Unconcerned with Indians' rights, the American assemblies, speculators, and settlers joined in protesting the closure of the lands that had been the objective and, in their minds, the just prize of the late war. A growing number of Americans resented the closure of the trans-Appalachian west as evidence that London officials were determined to expand their power and authority at the expense of colonists' rights. That parliamentary taxes were imposed to support the implementation of the proclamation solidified this view in the minds of many Americans.

The Proclamation of 1763 achieved mixed results. The policies concerning Canada and the Floridas proved successful, as these populations remained peaceful during the revolution developing in the seaboard colonies. The provisions concerning the trans-Appalachian west failed, however, as the British were unable to enforce them and the British western policy served largely to provoke and sustain resistance to British rule.