The Seven Year's War changed relations between Britain, France, and
Spain, their colonies and colonists, and the natives in North America.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Analyze the results of the Seven Year's War
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
Though Britain gained the territory of New France and French Canada, France and Britain both
suffered financially because of the war with significant long­term consequences.
The French and Indian war took place in the American theater of the Seven Years War, which
became a global war.
The consequences of the French and Indian War included a proclamation line, established in
1763, which threatened to greatly hinder the Anglo­American colonists push toward their western
boarders.
TERMS [ edit ]
Treaty of Paris
Signed in 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War, recognized the
United States' independence, established the borders of the United States and British North
America, and guaranteed the fair treatment of British loyalists in the United States. The treaty
greatly enlarged the territory of the United States, mainly at the expense of Native American
tribes.
Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great
Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian
War. It established limits to colonization west of the Appalachian mountains.
speculators
A speculator is a person who engages in commercial or financial speculation
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Results of War
Though most of the North American fighting ended on September 8, 1760, when the Marquis
de Vaudreuil surrendered Montreal—and effectively all of Canada—to Britain, the French
and Indian War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763.
The treaty resulted in France's loss of all its North American possessions east of the
Mississippi (all of Canada was ceded to Britain) except Saint Pierre and Miquelon, two small
islands off of Newfoundland, marking the beginning of an era of British dominance outside
Europe.
Britain also gained control of French Canada, a colonycontaining approximately 65,000
French­speaking, Roman Catholic residents. Early in the war, in 1755, the British had
expelled French settlers from Acadia, some of whom eventually fled to Louisiana. Now at
peace and eager to secure control of its hard­won colony, Great Britain found itself obliged to
make concessions to its newly conquered subjects.
The European theatre of the war was settled by the Treaty of Hubertusburg on February 15,
1763. The war changed economic, political, and social relations between Britain and its
colonies. It plunged Britain into debt, which the Crown chose to pay off with tax money from
its colonies. These taxes contributed to the beginning the American Revolutionary War.
Royal Proclamation of 1763
Following the peace treaty, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 on
October 7, 1763. The treaty outlined the division and administration of the newly conquered
territory. Included in its provisions was the reservation of lands west of the Appalachian
Mountains to its Indian population,a demarcation that was at best a temporary impediment
to a rising tide of westward­bound settlers. One of the biggest problems confronting
the British Empire in 1763 was controlling land speculators in both Europe and the British
colonies, whose activities often led to frontierconflicts. Many Native American peoples—
primarily in the Great Lakes region—had a long and close relationship with France, and were
dismayed to find that they were now under British sovereignty.
The proclamation created a boundary line (often called the proclamation line) between the
British colonies on the Atlantic coast and American Indian lands west of the Appalachian
Mountains. The proclamation line was not intended to be a permanent boundary between
white and Aboriginal lands, but rather a temporary boundary which could be extended
further west in an orderly, lawful manner. The proclamation outlawed private purchase of
Native American land, which had often created problems in the past; instead, all future land
purchases were to be made by Crown officials "at some public Meeting or Assembly of the
said Indians". Furthermore, British colonists were forbidden to move beyond the line and
settle on native lands, and colonial officials were forbidden to grant grounds or lands without
royal approval. The proclamation gave the Crown a monopolyon all future land purchases
from American Indians.
Almost immediately, many British colonists and land speculators objected to the
proclamation boundary, since there were already many settlements beyond the line and
many existing land claims yet to be settled. Indeed, the proclamation itself called for lands to
be granted to British soldiers who had served in the Seven Years' War. Prominent American
colonists joined with land speculators in Britain to lobby the government to move the line
further west. As a result, the boundary line was adjusted in a series of treaties with Native
Americans. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the Treaty of Hard Labor, both signed 1768, and
the Treaty of Lochaber of 1770, opened much of what is now West Virginia and Kentucky to
British settlement.
Consequences
The war changed economic, political, governmental, and social relations between Britain,
France, and Spain, their colonies and colonists, and the natives that inhabited the territories
they claimed. France and Britain both suffered financially because of the war, with
significant long­term consequences.
The Seven Years' War nearly doubled Britain's national debt. The Crown, seeking sources of
revenue to pay off the debt, attempted to impose new taxes on its colonies. These attempts
were met with increasingly stiff resistance, until troops were called in to ensure that
representatives of the Crown could safely perform their duties. These acts ultimately led to
the start of the American Revolutionary War. For France, the military defeat and the
financial burden of the war weakened the monarchy and contributed to the advent of the
French Revolution in 1789.
France returned to North America in 1778 with the establishment of a Franco­American
alliance against Great Britain in the American War of Independence.