Amer_Rev_AHS.qxd
3/21/07
7:21 PM
Page 15
Indian Trouble
The British trusted that the line they drew
on a map in London would prevent future
conflicts in America. It might have done
just that if news of the proclamation had
reached the colonies earlier. By the time it
did, blood was already flowing once more.
Angered by British refusal to engage in
trade and act as intertribal mediators, as
the French had done, and insulted by the
gun ban, Indians along the frontier rose
up. Led by an Ottawa warrior named Pontiac, the Indians launched a ferocious
assault on American settlements and
Proclamation of 1763
Amer_Rev_AHS.qxd
3/21/07
7:21 PM
Page 16
British forts in May 1763. The colonial
response was swift and bloody. Animated by racial bigotry and frustration at the
parent country’s seeming indifference to
their plight, frontiersmen attacked Indian
villages and hounded Indian war parties.
The Americans, however, saved enough
energy to point an accusatory finger at the
home government. Settlers claimed that
the proclamation line protected murderers and savages. It also crushed the hopes
of colonial farmers who desperately needed access to western land. The presence of
British regulars along the line also aroused
old fears of tyranny. Royal soldiers, it was
claimed, could be used to enforce laws that
Americans disagreed with. The redcoats
might even be part of a scheme to deny
the colonists their rights as British subjects.
In any case, colonial patience was wearing thin. Parliament, Americans complained, seemed to be “in favour of Indians only, against His Majesty’s faithful &
loyal subjects” east of the disputed line. 8
Colonial suspicions grew.
Money from Sugar
Parliament, at the height of the war with
Pontiac, did little to ease American fears.
In fact, it passed a piece of trade legislation that only made matters worse. The
Indian campaign was in full swing and
American tempers were rising. It was not
a good time to begin addressing the debt
left over from the war with France. Nine
years of fighting had been expensive; the
national debt of Great Britain in 1763
stood at approximately $12 billion in
modern money and was rising. Much of
this amount reflected expenditures on
Ottawa warrior Pontiac led the Indians on
an attack against the Americans and
British.
16 ■ The American Revolution