Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was a significant declaration issued by King George III of Great Britain aimed at regulating colonial expansion into newly acquired territories following the French and Indian War. It sought to establish a boundary line along the Appalachian Mountains, prohibiting colonial settlers from encroaching on lands reserved for Native Americans. The decision arose from mounting tensions between colonial settlers and indigenous tribes, particularly in light of conflicts such as Pontiac's Resistance, which highlighted the urgent need for effective governance and peaceful relations with Native American populations.
The proclamation attempted to mitigate land disputes by asserting that land west of the Appalachian crest should remain under indigenous control until further notice from the Crown. It also aimed to consolidate British authority over trade with Native Americans, establishing a regulated trading system while requiring traders to obtain licenses. However, the proclamation ultimately faced significant opposition from settlers eager for land, leading to continued encroachments despite the established boundaries.
Despite its intentions, the Proclamation of 1763 struggled to maintain order, as many settlers ignored its terms, and British military presence in the region proved inadequate. By 1768, the British government began to retreat from its original policies, allowing greater colonial access to the contested areas, signifying a shift in focus and the complexities of colonial relations with Native Americans. The long-term implications of this proclamation played a critical role in the evolving dynamics between Britain, its colonies, and indigenous peoples in North America.
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Proclamation of 1763
Date October 7, 1763
In an effort to avoid further conflict over territorial sovereignty, the British parliament issued the Proclamation of 1763, drawing a frontier line between the American colonies and Native American lands.
Locale London, England
Key Figures
Lord Amherst (Jeffrey Amherst; 1717-1797), British commander in chief in North America, 1759-1763, governor general of British North America, 1760-1763, and later Baron Amherst, 1776-1797First Earl of Hillsborough (Wills Hill; 1718-1793), British president of the Board of Trade, 1763-1765, 1766, 1768-1772Second Earl of Shelburne (William Petty-Fitzmaurice; 1737-1805), British president of the Board of Trade, 1763, secretary of state, 1766-1768, and prime minister, 1782-1783Second Earl of Egremont (Charles Wyndham; 1710-1763), British secretary of state, 1761-1763William Johnson (1715-1774), Irish-born colonial American superintendent of Indian affairs, 1755-1774Thomas Gage (1721-1787), British commander in chief in North America, 1763-1773
Summary of Event
In 1763, in the wake of its North American victory over France in the French and Indian War, Great Britain was faced with the question of how to control the vast domain between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. The answer to that question interested not only Native Americans, French Canadians, and British colonial administrators but also American fur traders, merchants, and land speculators. The trans-Appalachian West had increasingly occupied the attention of British and colonial officials since the Albany Congress of 1754.
During the war, the Crown had appointed superintendents to coordinate Native American affairs, but exigencies of the moment made the new arrangement inadequate. In the eyes of Whitehall officials, the old policy of leaving control of the frontier to the individual colonies had been chaotic and ruinous. The line of Euro-American agricultural settlement had steadily edged westward, with scant regard for Native American land claims or indigenous culture. Royal governors, superintendents for Native American affairs, and British military men repeatedly had complained that the colonists disregarded Native American treaties and made fraudulent land purchases, and that Euro-American traders mistreated the tribal peoples.
The necessity of reaching an accord with the Native Americans seemed even more urgent with Pontiac’s Resistance, which had begun in the spring of 1763. The indigenous population, already uneasy over the defeat of their French allies, encountered repeated insults from the British commander in chief, General Jeffrey Amherst, who refused to present them with guns, ammunition, and other gifts, as had been the French custom. They responded with violence.
Striking first in the remoter sections of the West, such as at Fort Michilimackinac, and later on the Pennsylvania frontier, roving parties of Ottawas, Chippewas, Lenni Lenapes (Delawares), and Senecas overran one British-occupied post after another; by the end of June, only Forts Detroit, Pitt, and Niagara still held out against the warriors. Amherst, near recall from the home government, dispatched relief expeditions to his remaining garrisons, and several colonies raised troops to repel the indigenous combatants. The prospect of fire and sword, the diplomatic skills of William Johnson, Pontiac’s calling off the sieges, and the breakup of the coalition of tribes—which never was united on ultimate objectives—explain the demise of the rebellion and restoration of peace in 1764.
Eager to bring an end to hostilities and avoid another outbreak, the British exacted little retribution from the western tribes. During the uprising, the government announced its new policy for the West, one that had evolved from British experience in the French and Indian War. It was the work of no single minister or subminister, although the second earl of Egremont, the second earl of Shelburne, and the first earl of Hillsborough were keenly interested in the matter.
On October 7, 1763, King George III signed the edict now known as the Proclamation of 1763. By its terms, the recently acquired territories of Canada and East and West Florida became Crown colonies, and their inhabitants became entitled to the same rights as the English at home. The proclamation nullified all colonial claims to territories west of the crest of the Appalachians and set those lands aside for Native Americans “for the present, and until our further Pleasure be known.” Wishing to monopolize the substantial and lucrative fur trade of the area, Whitehall hardly wanted colonial farmers crowding out the furbearers’ habitat and local traders competing for the business. The trade with the tribal peoples would be “free and open,” although traders would have to obtain a license and obey any pertinent regulations.
As the Proclamation of 1763 contained no provision for law enforcement in the area beyond provincial boundaries, an ad hoc system of confining trade to a few forts under superintendent and military supervision developed. The Crown expected that the colonials would obey the edict out of allegiance to England. Moreover, the royal government hoped that restless colonists would move northward into the thinly settled districts of Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick to offset the Catholic French Canadian population there and in Quebec, or relocate southward into Georgia to bolster that buffer province against the Spaniards.
Native Americans in the region heard about the Proclamation Line and watched some of the actual surveying with distrust and bemusement. The document promised that
the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who live under Our Protection should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to, or purchased by Us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds.
British general Thomas Gage rushed copies westward, because he imagined that “these Arrangements must be very satisfactory to the Indians.” The tribes, however, had witnessed earlier attempts at boundary treaties, such as at Easton and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1758 and 1760 respectively, and in South Carolina in 1761, crumble as squatters leapfrogged the line.
Significance
In the long run, Great Britain’s “western policy” failed. Land-hungry settlers spilled over into the trans-Appalachia area in defiance of the Proclamation of 1763. British troops could not guard every mountain gap, nor could they and royal superintendents force traders to patronize specific posts. Several ambitious Virginia speculators, some of whom later joined the patriot cause in the revolution, had claims across the divide. Faced with the prospect of worthless holdings, they pressed for repeal of the order. The maintenance of western garrisons was expensive, especially when American revenues for the army’s upkeep failed to materialize, and when the troops did not accomplish their mission.
In 1768, the British government, beset with these problems and colonial rebelliousness in the eastern regions, adopted a policy of retrenchment in the West. Control of the trade with Native Americans reverted to the individual colonies, and British troops received orders to abandon all the interior posts except Niagara, Detroit, and Michilimackinac. Almost simultaneously, the government bowed to pressure to push the Native American boundary westward. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) with the Iroquois Confederacy and the Treaties of Hard Labor (1768) and Lochaber (1770) with the Cherokee signified this change. No longer did the trans-Appalachian West loom uppermost in British imperial policy.
Bibliography
Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. New York: Vintage Books, 2001. This massive, meticulously detailed account of the French and Indian War includes information about the Proclamation of 1763. With illustrations from the William L. Clements Library.
Jennings, Francis. Empire of Fortune: Crowns, Colonies, and Tribes in the Seven Years’ War in America. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988. Contains a short discussion of the Proclamation of 1763 and the Native American response.
Martin, James Kirby. In the Course of Human Events: An Interpretive Exploration of the American Revolution. Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1979. Links the Proclamation of 1763 with other British decisions to control the colonies, such as stationing ships in American waters.
Nester, William R. Haughty Conquerors: Amherst and the Great Indian Uprising of 1763. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. This account of the Native American revolt against the British includes information about the Proclamation of 1763.
“Proclamation of 1763: Governor Henry Ellis’ Plan, May 5, 1763.” In The American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Bicentennial Collection, edited by Richard B. Morris. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1970. Demonstrates the thinking by one colonial official that prompted the Proclamation of 1763.
Sosin, Jack M. Whitehall and the Wilderness: The Middle West in British Colonial Policy, 1760-1775. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961. Detailed examination of royal decisions leading to the Proclamation of 1763.
Stagg, Jack. Anglo-Indian Relations in North America to 1763 and an Analysis of the Royal Proclamation of 7 October, 1763. Ottawa, Ont.: Research Branch, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1981. Provides a detailed interpretation of the text of the Proclamation of 1763 and the Crown’s motives.
Steele, Ian K. Warpaths: Invasions of North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Places the decisions for the Proclamation of 1763 within the context of the military actions of the recent war and earlier treaties.