Officials in London feared that an increased Anglo-American presence in the western territory would encourage Native American violence that, when paired with resistance from French settlers in the region, would incite another expensive conflict for the empire. In addition, the British government viewed westward expansion as a threat to their mercantile economic system, expressing concern that opening up the west to farming families would provide the colonies with opportunities to gain economic independence through commercial agriculture.
While Britain intended for the boundary line to alleviate tensions between Anglo settlers and indigenous peoples, eager colonists largely ignored the proclamation and settled beyond the boundary with few consequences from the government. The Royal Proclamation was more successful in its ability to restrict the aims of private, Virginia-based land companies and their investors who sought to capitalize on the sale of lands in the Ohio Valley.
As a member of the Virginia gentry, a patron of numerous land companies, and an established surveyor , the boundary line profoundly affected George Washington. The end of the French and Indian War brought great geographic and political changes to North America.
The Treaty of Paris, signed on February 10, , effectively removed France from the continent, forcing her to cede all territory east of the Mississippi River to the victor, Great Britain.
In gaining these land holdings, the British declared their American colonies to be complete and secure from external threats. However, this post-war agreement produced numerous internal challenges that together induced the Crown to establish the Proclamation Line. As Native American war parties destroyed dozens of British forts and killed hundreds of civilians, retaliatory aggression from Americans illuminated the need to segregate both groups.
Though the British government assured its American citizens that the Proclamation Line was enacted for their protection, many interpreted the act as a pro-Indian measure. In restricting Anglo-American settlement beyond the Appalachians and prohibiting governors from transferring Native American lands to private companies or individuals unless previously acquired by Great Britain through an official treaty, the Crown formally acknowledged that Native Americans possessed certain land rights, evoking widespread colonial discontent and frustration.
Within the British mercantile world, colonies were to produce raw materials for export to the mother country, where they would be produced into manufactured goods and sold to consumers within the empire. To keep her wealth internalized, Great Britain enacted a number of regulations throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such as the Navigation Acts, prohibiting her colonies from trading with foreign markets. Following the French and Indian War, Britain feared that westward expansion would lead to a growth in commercial agriculture, allowing farmers to profit by smuggling excess crops to external Atlantic markets.
At the beginning of the s, nearly , Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida—land their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. By the end of the decade, very few natives remained Sitting Bull c. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. What Did the Proclamation of Do? Recommended for you. Proclamation of Lincoln Issues the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Native American History Timeline Long before Christopher Columbus stepped foot on what would come to be known as the Americas, the expansive territory was inhabited by Native Americans. They believed the western lands were one of the spoils of war earned by their blood and felt betrayed by the British government.
The Proclamation of also troubled many of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the colonies, because many of these men had invested heavily in speculative land companies such as the Ohio Company formed in , the Loyal Company formed in , and the Mississippi Company formed in These companies hoped to make money by obtaining title to large tracts of western land from the British government and reselling the land to settlers as they moved across the Appalachian Mountains.
Unable to obtain a title for the land from the British government, the land companies could not make sales. Though agents of the companies were sent to London to argue on behalf of the land companies, the British government refused to reverse its position.
While new treaties between the Indians and British agents opened up large tracts for development fairly quickly after the war, the land companies did not recover.
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