Royal Proclamation of 1763#Proclamation line

{{Main|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War|The French and Indian War}}

The Seven Years' War and its North American theater, the French and Indian War, ended with the 1763 Treaty of Paris. Under the treaty, all French colonial territory west of the Mississippi River was ceded to Spain. In contrast, all French colonial territory east of the Mississippi River and south of Rupert's Land (save Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which France kept) was ceded to Great Britain. Both Spain and Britain received some French islands in the Caribbean, while France kept Haiti and Guadeloupe.{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Fred|title=Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFO2clqJCqMC&pg=PP1|year=2007|publisher=Knopf Doubleday|isbn=978-0-307-42539-3}}{{cite book|last=Gibson|first=Carrie|title=Empire's Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3UXRAwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2014|publisher=Open Road + Grove/Atlantic|isbn=978-0-8021-9235-6|chapter=Chapter 6: A Nation At War}}

File:NorthAmerica-WaterDivides.png

The Proclamation of 1763 dealt with managing former French territories in North America that Britain acquired following its victory over France in the French and Indian War and regulating colonial settlers' expansion. It established new governments for several areas: the province of Quebec, the new colonies of West Florida and East Florida,{{cite book |last1=Gannon |first1=Michael |title=The History of Florida |date=2013 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville |isbn=978-0-8130-6401-7 |pages=144–147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V7satQEACAAJ&pg=PA144}} and a group of Caribbean islands, Grenada, Tobago, Saint Vincent, and Dominica, collectively referred to as the British Ceded Islands.{{cite journal |last1=Niddrie |first1=D. |title=Eighteenth-Century Settlement in the British Caribbean |journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers |date=December 1966 |volume=40 |issue=40 |pages=67–80 |doi=10.2307/621569 |jstor=621569}}

File:NorthAmerica1762-83.png

At the outset, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 defined the jurisdictional limits of the British territories of North America, limiting British colonial expansion on the continent. What remained of the Royal Province of New France east of the Great Lakes and the Ottawa River, and south of Rupert's Land, was reorganised under the name "Quebec." The territory northeast of the St. John River on the Labrador coast was reassigned to the Newfoundland Colony.{{cite book|last=Eccles|first=W.J.|author-link=William J. Eccles|title=France in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bhyTAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA220|year=1972|publisher=Harper & Row|page=220|isbn=9780060111526}} The lands west of Quebec and west of a line running along the crest of the Allegheny Mountains became (British) Indian Territory, barred to settlement from colonies east of the line.{{cite book|last=Sosin|first=Jack M.|title=Whitehall and the wilderness: the Middle West in British colonial policy, 1760–1775|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aaMzwgEACAAJ&pg=PA146|year=1961|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|page=146}}

The proclamation line was not intended to be a permanent boundary between the colonists and Native American lands but rather a temporary boundary that could be extended further west in an orderly, lawful manner.{{cite book|last=Markowitz|first=Harvey|title=American Indians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMuI_8J-ugAC&pg=PA633|year=1995|publisher=Salem Press|isbn=978-0-89356-757-6|page=633}}{{cite book|last=Vorsey|first=Louis De|title=The Indian Boundary in the Southern Colonies, 1763–1775|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mQwSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA39|year=1966|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|page=39|isbn=9780598365712}} It was also not designed as an uncrossable boundary; people could cross the line, but not settle past it.{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Alan|title=American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750–1804|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMtQMQAACAAJ&pg=PA61|year=2017|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-35476-8|page=61}} Its contour was defined by the headwaters that formed the watershed along the Appalachians. All land with rivers that flowed into the Atlantic was designated for the colonial entities. In contrast, all the land with rivers that flowed into the Mississippi was reserved for the Native American populations. The proclamation outlawed the private purchase of Native American land, which had often created problems. Instead, all future land purchases were to be made by Crown officials "at some public Meeting or Assembly of the said Indians". British colonials were forbidden to settle on native lands, and colonial officials were forbidden to grant ground or lands without royal approval. Organized land companies asked for land grants, but were denied by King George III.{{cite journal |last1=Del Papa |first1=Eugene M. |title=The Royal Proclamation of 1763: Its Effects Upon Virginia Land Companies |journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |year=1975 |volume=83 |issue=4 |pages=406–411 |jstor=4247979 }}

File:1768 Boundary Line Map Treaty of Ft Stanwix.jpg

British colonists and land speculators objected to the proclamation boundary since the British government had already assigned land grants to them. Including the wealthy owners of the Ohio company, who protested the line to the governor of Virginia, as they had plans to settle the land to grow the business.{{Cite journal|last=Papa|first=Eugene M. Del|date=1975|title=The Royal Proclamation of 1763: Its Effect upon Virginia Land Companies|journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|volume=83|issue=4|pages=406–411|jstor=4247979|issn=0042-6636}} Many settlements already existed beyond the proclamation line,{{cite book|last=Wood|first=Gordon S.|title=The American Revolution: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=62pyqvDuDMUC&pg=PA22|year=2002|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-58836-158-5|page=22}} some of which had been temporarily evacuated during Pontiac's War, and there were many already granted land claims yet to be settled. For example, George Washington and his Virginia soldiers had been granted lands past the boundary. Prominent American colonials joined with the land speculators in Britain to lobby the government to move the line further west.{{sfnp|Holton|1999|pages=3–38|loc=[https://archive.org/details/forcedfoundersin00holt/page/3]}}For information about Pontiac's War, see {{cite book|last=Middleton|first=Richard|title=Pontiac's War: Its Causes, Course and Consequences|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JpH7QyQ1V_YC&pg=PP1|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-86416-3}}

The colonists' demands were met and the boundary line was adjusted in a series of treaties with the Native Americans.{{sfnp|Calloway|2007|page=100}} The first two of these treaties were completed in 1768; the Treaty of Fort Stanwix adjusted the border with the Iroquois Confederacy in the Ohio Country and the Treaty of Hard Labour adjusted the border with the Cherokee in the Carolinas.{{cite web |title=Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) |url=https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Treaty_of_Fort_Stanwix_(1768) |website=Ohio History Central |publisher=Ohio Historical Society |access-date=6 December 2019}}{{cite web |title=Treaty of Hard Labor with Cherokees |url=http://jeffersonswest.unl.edu/archive/view_doc.php?id=jef.00089 |website=Envisaging The West |publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln |access-date=6 December 2019}} The Treaty of Hard Labour was followed by the Treaty of Lochaber in 1770, adjusting the border between Virginia and the Cherokee.{{cite web |title=Treaty of Lochaber 1770 |url=http://jeffersonswest.unl.edu/archive/view_doc.php?id=jef.00091 |website=Envisaging The West |publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln |access-date=6 December 2019}} These agreements opened much of what is now Kentucky and West Virginia to British settlement.{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=William J|title=Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5_ACAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2012|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-4710-9}} The land granted by the Virginian and North Carolinian government heavily favored the land companies, seeing as they had more wealthy backers than the poorer settlers who wanted to settle west in hopes of gaining a fortune.{{Cite journal|last=Friend|first=Craig Thompson|date=2005|title=Liberty Is Pioneering: An American Birthright|journal=OAH Magazine of History|volume=19|issue=3|pages=16–20|doi=10.1093/maghis/19.3.16|jstor=25161942|issn=0882-228X}}

Many colonists disregarded the proclamation line and settled west, which created tension between them and the Native Americans.{{cite web |title=Proclamation Line of 1763, Quebec Act of 1774 and Westward Expansion |url=https://www.history.state.gov/milestones/1751-1775/proclamation-line-1763 |website=Office of the Historian |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=5 March 2020}} Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1766) was a war involving Native American tribes, primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country and the Ohio Country, who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the Great Lakes region after the end of the Seven Years' War. They were able to take over a large number of the forts which commanded the waterways involved in trade within the region and export to Great Britain.{{cite book|last=McDonnell|first=Michael|title=Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzepCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA209|year=2015|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0-374-71418-5|pages=209–238}} The proclamation line had been conceived before the onset of Pontiac's Rebellion, but the outbreak of this conflict hastened the process of making it law.

{{further|topic=Canadian Aboriginal legacy|The Canadian Crown and Indigenous peoples}}

The Royal Proclamation continued to govern the cession of Indigenous land in British North America, especially Upper Canada and Rupert's Land. Upper Canada created a platform for treaty-making based on the Royal Proclamation. After loyalists moved into land after Britain's defeat in the American Revolution, the first impetus was created out of necessity.{{cite book|last=Miller|first=J.R.|title=Compact, Contract, Covenant: Aboriginal Treaty-making in Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9v3HZDKUlG4C&pg=PA10|year=2009|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-9741-5|page=10}}

According to historian Colin Calloway, "scholars disagree on whether the proclamation recognized or undermined tribal sovereignty".{{sfnp|Calloway|2007|page=93}}

Some see the Royal Proclamation of 1763 as a "fundamental document" for First Nations land claims and self-government.{{sfnp|Borrows|1997|p=155}} It is "the first legal recognition by the British Crown of Aboriginal rights"{{cite book |first1=Douglas R. |last1=Francis |first2=Richard |last2=Jones |first3=Donald B. |last3=Smith |title=Origins: Canadian History to Confederation |edition=6th |location=Toronto |publisher=Nelson Education |date=2009 |page=157}} and imposes a fiduciary duty of care on the Crown. The intent and promises made to the natives in the proclamation have been argued to be temporary, only meant to appease the Native peoples who were becoming increasingly resentful of "settler encroachments on their lands"{{sfnp|Francis|Jones|Smith|2009|p=156}} and were capable of becoming a serious threat to British colonial settlement.{{cite report |first=Jack |last=Stagg |title=Anglo-Indian Relations In North America to 1763 and An Analysis of the Royal Proclamation of 7 October 1763 |publisher=Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Research Branch |date=1981 |page=356}}{{sfnp|Borrows|1997|pp=158–159}} Advice given by a Sir William Johnson, superintendent of Indian Affairs in North America, to the Board of Trade on 30 August 1764, expressed that:

{{blockquote|text=The Indians all know we cannot be a Match for them in the midst of an extensive woody Country ... from whence I infer that if we are determined to possess Our Posts, Trade & ca securely, it cannot be done for a Century by any other means than that of purchasing the favour of the numerous Indian inhabitants.Quoted in {{cite book|last=Clark|first=Bruce|title=Native Liberty, Crown Sovereignty: The Existing Aboriginal Right of Self-Government in Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Or3K_lcesb0C&pg=PA81|year=1990|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=978-0-7735-0767-8|page=81}}}}

Anishinaabe jurist John Borrows has written that "the Proclamation illustrates the British government's attempt to exercise sovereignty over First Nations while simultaneously trying to convince First Nations that they would remain separate from European settlers and have their jurisdiction preserved."{{sfnp|Borrows|1997|p=160}} Borrows further writes that the Royal Proclamation along with the subsequent Treaty of Niagara, provide for an argument that "discredits the claims of the Crown to exercise sovereignty over First Nations"{{sfnp|Borrows|1997|p=164}} and affirms Aboriginal "powers of self-determination in, among other things, allocating lands".{{sfnp|Borrows|1997|p=165}}

The functional content of the proclamation was reintroduced into American law by the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Johnson v. McIntosh (1823).{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

In October 2013, the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation was celebrated in Ottawa with a meeting of Indigenous leaders and Governor-General David Johnston.{{cite news |first=Leslie |last=MacKinnon |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/royal-proclamation-of-1763-canada-s-indian-magna-carta-turns-250-1.1927667 |title=Royal Proclamation of 1763, Canada's 'Indian Magna Carta,' turns 250 |date=6 October 2013 |work=CBC News}} The Aboriginal movement Idle No More held birthday parties for the document at various locations across Canada.{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/royal-proclamations-250th-anniversary-has-first-nations-reflecting-on-their-rights/article14738038 |title=Royal Proclamation's 250th anniversary has First Nations reflecting on their rights |date=7 October 2013 |work=The Globe and Mail |first=Gloria |last=Galloway}}

File: USA Proclamation of 1763 Silver Medal 1970.jpg

The influence of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 on the coming of the American Revolution has been variously interpreted. Many historians argue that the proclamation ceased to be a significant source of tension after 1768 since the aforementioned later treaties opened up extensive lands for settlement. Others have argued that colonial resentment of the proclamation contributed to the growing divide between the colonies and the mother country. Some historians say that even though the boundary was pushed west in subsequent treaties, the British government refused to permit new colonial settlements for fear of instigating a war with Native Americans, which angered colonial land speculators.{{cite journal |first=Woody |last=Holton |title=The Ohio Indians and the Coming of the American Revolution in Virginia |journal=The Journal of Southern History |volume=60 |issue=3 |date=August 1994 |pages=453–478 |doi=10.2307/2210989 |jstor=2210989 }} Others argue that the Royal Proclamation imposed a fiduciary duty of care on the Crown.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1379594359150/1379594420080|title=Royal Proclamation of 1763: Relationships, Rights and Treaties – Poster|date=27 November 2013 |publisher=Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada}}

George Washington was given {{convert|20000|acre|km2}} of land in the Ohio region for his services in the French and Indian War. In 1770, Washington took the lead in securing the rights of himself and his old soldiers in the French War, advancing money to pay expenses for the common cause and using his influence in the proper quarters. In August 1770, it was decided that Washington should personally make a trip to the western region, where he located and surveyed tracts for himself and military comrades. After some dispute, he was eventually granted a patent letter for tracts of land there. The lands involved were open to Virginians under terms of the Treaty of Lochaber of 1770, except for the lands located {{convert|2|mi|spell=in}} south of Fort Pitt, now known as Pittsburgh.{{cite web |url=http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=WasFi03.xml&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=43&division=div1 |work=The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources |title=Letter from George Washington to George Mercer dated November 7, 1771, at Williamsburg |volume=3 |page=68 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004213347/http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=WasFi03.xml&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=43&division=div1 |archive-date=4 October 2013}}

In the United States, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 ended with the American Revolutionary War because Great Britain ceded the land in question to the United States in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Afterward, the U.S. government faced difficulties preventing frontier violence and eventually adopted policies similar to the Royal Proclamation. The first in a series of Indian Intercourse Acts was passed in 1790, prohibiting unregulated trade and travel in Native American lands. In 1823, the U.S. Supreme Court case Johnson v. McIntosh established that only the U.S. government, and not private individuals, could purchase land from Native Americans.{{ussc|21|543|1823|Wheat.|8}}

• Halifax Treaties
• Indian removal
• Indian barrier state
• Indian Reserve (1763)
• Northwest Territory
• Territorial evolution of the Caribbean

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Abernethy |first=Thomas Perkins |author-link=Thomas Perkins Abernethy |title=Western Lands and the American Revolution |orig-year=1937 |location=New York |publisher=Russell & Russell |year=1959 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1mbunQEACAAJ&pg=PP1}}
• {{cite book |last=Borrows |first=John |author-link=John Borrows |chapter=Wampum at Niagara: The Royal Proclamation, Canadian Legal History, and Self-Government |title=Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada |editor=Michael Asch |editor-link=Michael Asch |location=Vancouver |publisher=UBC Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-7748-0580-3 |chapter-url=https://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Borrows-WampumAtNiagara.pdf |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/aboriginaltreaty0000unse }}{{snd}} Also {{google books|qGIzvRlb55YC|Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada|page=155}}
• {{cite book|last=Calloway|first=Colin G.|author-link=Colin G. Calloway|title=The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mYSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533127-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Holton|first=Woody|author-link=Woody Holton |title=Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fV_qCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3|year=1999|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-0-8078-9986-1|pages=3–38|chapter=Land Speculators versus Indians and the Privy Council }}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal |last=Del Papa |first=Eugene M. |date=October 1975 |title=The Royal Proclamation of 1763: Its Effect upon Virginia Land Companies |journal=Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=83|issue=4|pages=406–411 |jstor=4247979}}
• {{cite journal |last=Holton |first=Woody |author-link=Woody Holton |date=August 1994 |title=The Ohio Indians and the Coming of the American Revolution in Virginia |journal=Journal of Southern History |volume=60|issue=3|pages=453–478 |doi=10.2307/2210989 |jstor=2210989}}
• {{cite journal |last=Marshall |first=Peter |title=Sir William Johnson and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1768 |journal=Journal of American Studies |date=October 1967 |volume=1|issue=2|pages=149–179 |doi=10.1017/S0021875800007830|s2cid=146390607 }}
• {{cite book|last=Middleton|first=Richard|title=Pontiac's War: Its Causes, Course and Consequences|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JpH7QyQ1V_YC&pg=PP1|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-86416-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Sosin|first=Jack M.|title=Whitehall and the wilderness: the Middle West in British colonial policy, 1760–1775|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aaMzwgEACAAJ&pg=PP1|year=1961|publisher=University of Nebraska Press}}{{snd}} The standard scholarly history of the proclamation and its effects.
• {{cite book|last=Stuart|first=Paul|title=The Indian Office: growth & development of American institution, 1865–1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwkaAQAAIAAJ&pg=PP1|year=1979|publisher=UMI Research Press|isbn=978-0-8357-1079-4}}

• {{cite book|last=Cashin|first=Edward J.|title=Governor Henry Ellis and the Transformation of British North America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2EZr42KhjvoC&pg=PP1|year=1994|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-3125-6}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1=Fenge|editor-first1=Terry|editor-last2=Aldridge|editor-first2=Jim|title=Keeping Promises: The Royal Proclamation of 1763, Aboriginal Rights, and Treaties in Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OSTCDAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2015|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=978-0-7735-9755-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Lawson|first=Philip|title=The Imperial Challenge: Quebec and Britain in the Age of the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfHaua8tlPUC&pg=PP1|year=1989|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=978-0-7735-1205-4}}
• {{cite journal |last=Roth |first=Christopher F. |date=Fall 2002 |title=Without Treaty, without Conquest: Indigenous Sovereignty in Post-Delgamuukw British Columbia |journal=Wíčazo Ša Review |volume=17|issue=2|pages=143–165 |doi=10.1353/wic.2002.0020|s2cid=159931063 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Stonechild|first=Blair A. |editor=Frederick E. Hoxie, D. L. Birchfield|title=Encyclopedia of North American Indians|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WO9wmgEACAAJ&pg=PA277|year=1996|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=978-0-395-66921-1|pages=277–281|chapter=Indian-White Relations in Canada, 1763 to the Present}}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Tousignant |first=Pierre |title=The Integration of the Province of Quebec into the British Empire, 1763–91. Part 1: From the Royal Proclamation to the Quebec Act |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |volume=4 |location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=1980 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/theme_essays.html?p=31}}

{{refend}}

{{Wikisource}}

• [https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/10354/page/1 The London Gazette of October 4, 1763 Issue: 10354 p. 1] Complete text as published in The London Gazette
• [http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/PreConfederation/rp_1763.html Complete text of the Royal Proclamation, 1763]
• [http://www.chickasaw.tv/history-timeline/document/royal-proclamation-of-1763 Royal Proclamation of 1763] – Chickasaw.TV
• [http://www.specific-claims-law.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12%3Aroyal-proclamation-1763&catid=5&Itemid=8 Complete text of the Royal Proclamation, 1763]
• [http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/proc63.htm UShistory.org: Article about the proclamation]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Proclamation Of 1763}}

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