A Brief History
On October 7, 1763, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III of Great Britain and Ireland, forbidding American settlers from moving into Native American lands West of the Appalachian Mountains, part of the settlement of the French and Indian War that was in turn part of the larger Seven Years’ War.
Digging Deeper
American colonists certainly had a wanderlust for new territories, giving them new land to exploit for farming, hunting, fur trapping, and mining. Being forbidden from seeking their fortune by a far away King rankled American feelings and caused bitter resentment. Back in England, the King wanted to avoid provoking Native Americans and possibly infringing on territories claimed by other countries.
While other reasons are often cited for causing revolutionary fervor among Americans, such as The Stamp Act, The Intolerable Acts, and of course, “Taxation without representation,” the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was a major factor in instigating the American War for Independence.
Question for students (and subscribers): Should a 1763 Act have legal relevance for Native American land today? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Ellis, Joseph. The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783. Liveright, 2021.
Fenge, Terry and Jim Aldridge. Keeping Promises: The Royal Proclamation of 1763, Aboriginal Rights, and Treaties in Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Berlin-George of USA Proclamation of 1763 Silver Medal: Franklin Mint Issue 1970, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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