Lesson 3
1
THE WAR FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE UNIT
The Proclamation of 1763
LESSON OVERVIEW
Students analyze and discuss the implications of the Treaty of Paris, 1763 as well as the
Proclamation of 1763, using excerpts from the documents.
OBJECTIVES
In this lesson, students will:
• Review the French and Indian War and understand how the conflict contributed to heightened
tensions in the British colonies.
• Understand the Royal Proclamation of 1763 intended to protect Indian land beyond
boundaries established by the British Government, and why this angered British subjects in
America.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
• What was the economic and political relationship among the major world powers, the colonists,
and the Native Americans at this time?
• What effect did the Proclamation of 1763 have on the relationship of the British government
and the British colonists? Why?
KEY CONCEPTS
• Conflict
• Movements
VOCABULARY
• Mercantilism
TEACHER MATERIALS
• Teacher Resource: http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/interactives/declaration/
HTML/overview.html This essay on the economic causes of the American Revolution outlines
the competing ideals of mercantilism and free trade.
• Digital projector to show online maps and images to the class
• Colored blocks or tokens (can be wooden blocks, unifix cubes, Legos—anything with color that
students can pass around during the mercantilism demonstration.)
• Signs for students participating in the demonstration to wear (King, Tobacco Farmer, Furniture
Maker, Lumber Merchant, Member of the East India Company)
• 3.1: Mercantilism Map (either project an image of this map for students or make copies for
them to examine
STUDENT HANDOUTS
• 3.2: Blank map of North America for students to mark
• 3.3: Role play cards and signs for students
• 3.4: Excerpts of the Treaty of Paris, 1763
• 3.5: Excerpts from the Royal Proclamation of 1763
• 3.6: Questions about the Royal Proclamation of 1763
Funded under Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act, Institute of
Education Sciences , U.S. Department of Education
2
Goal 1
Goal 2
Goal 3
Goal 4
Goal 5
Conflict
Democratic
Citizenship
Historical
Inquiry &
Historiography
Historical
Empathy
Discussion &
Deliberation
X
X
Procedures
X
Teacher Notes
INTRODUCTION/HOOK
Say:
✓This lesson assumes that students
Today we’re going to try to understand a bit more about the
have recently learned about the
way the world worked in the 1700s. As you’ll see, things
French & Indian War and a brief
were a lot different than they are today!
recap is all that is needed. If this is
not the case, an explanation of the
The time leading up to the American Revolution was an
war, either oral or in a text, will be
age of empires. France, Britain, and Spain were some of
necessary.
the largest. These major powers were always competing
with each other to see who was the most powerful and
wealthiest. At that time, wealth meant one thing: how
much gold and silver you had. So, when these countries
spent money to send people out to other nations and
establish colonies, they expected to gain wealth (in the form
of gold and silver) from these colonies. If the colony didn’t
happen to be located in a place with gold or silver, the
empire could still make money through trade.
Here’s how it worked. (3.1 Mercantilism Map)
✓Project the map for students to view
or provide copies to student pairs
Where are all the raw materials coming from? Where are
they going?
Where are the finished goods coming from? Where are they
going?
Once students have a visual of the structure, say:
This economic system is called mercantilism and it was
practiced by all the big empires of the day. Now let’s take
a closer look at how it worked.
Funded under Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act, Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES (continued)
Choose five students to engage in a demonstration.
✓ You may want to select these
Pass out role-play cards (3.3), role signs, and colored
students in advance and meet with
blocks to students. Ask designated students to wear
them in order to give them the
the signs around their necks. Then have them engage
opportunity to practice their roles.
in the demonstration as follows:
1. Have the King read his belief statement to the
class.
2. Have the tobacco farmer read his statement to
the class and then trade his blocks for 5 gold
blocks.
✓ Track the transactions in the form
of a list or a diagram up on the
whiteboard or smartboard to help
the students see the whole system.
3. Have the furniture maker read his statement.
4. Have the Lumber merchant read his statement
and trade his blocks to the furniture maker for
5 gold blocks.
5. Have the furniture maker then trade his three
red blocks (furniture) with the tobacco farmer
for three gold blocks.
6. Have the East India Company representative
read his statement and sell three of his tea
blocks to the lumber merchant in exchange for
three gold blocks.
Now ask students:
• How are the British benefitting from this system? How
could they benefit more? (enforcing regulations)
• How are the Colonists benefitting from this system?
How could they benefit more? (evading regulations when
beneficial)
• Do you see any problems with this way of doing
business?
• Can you think of any groups we haven’t mentioned who
are not benefitting under this system? (Native
Americans- losing hunting grounds to farmers and
lumber merchants; slaves- losing their liberty to provide
cheap labor)
Funded under Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act, Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
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INTRODUCTION/HOOK (continued)
Say:
For the sake of this demonstration, we haven’t included one
big way the King made more money off of this system and
that was by charging taxes all along the way. He taxed the
raw materials when the entered the country and then taxed
them again when they reached the colonies. But we’ll talk
more about taxes later.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Say:
For mercantilism to work, the Colonists needed land on
which they could grow crops, cut timber, hunt for fur, or
whatever else they were doing so that they could sell these
raw materials to England. But they weren’t the only ones
who wanted that land.
✓The Mapping Colonial America
online exhibit is a great resource for
Colonial era maps. The zooming
tools allow the viewer a clear look at
the maps in detail.
Display a map of North America from the 1700s.
(such as one available on Colonial Williamsburg’s
online exhibit: Mapping Colonial America at http://
www.history.org/history/museums/
mappingExhibit.html )
• Suggested map: A Map of the British and
French Dominions in North America, 1755.
Ask students:
Who do you think owned this land? Who lived on this
land? What did they use the land for?
✓You can zoom in on the map to see
the names of the Native American
tribes and settlements on this map.
Encourage students to consider multiple groups
(Native Americans, colonial farmers, French and
British fur trappers, the British, French, or Spanish
governments). Point out that many different groups
of people claimed this land.
✓Have students brainstorm this in
pairs first and then share with the
larger class. Track their ideas on the
board.
Ask:
What claims did these different groups (French, British,
Colonists, Native Americans) have on this land? What did
they intend to use it for? How might they come into
conflict with each other over the ownership and use of this
land?
Funded under Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act, Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES (continued)
Help students recall the French and Indian War,
which was a war over land rights.
Give students blank maps (3.2) and the treaty of
1763 excerpt (3.4). Before reading the excerpt, orient
students to map landmarks like the United States,
Canada, the Mississippi River, The Appalachian
Mountains, and Florida. Tell students that before the
war, England had rights to the thirteen colonies, but
that was about it. France had the rest, except for
Spain, who had Florida.
✓ Have students attempt to draw in
pencil the new borders of the
Then read through the treaty excerpt together,
British Colonies, British Canada,
having students highlight unfamiliar words or
and Spanish holdings in North
phrases and discuss meanings. At this point, either
America. Note that in the treaty the
break students into pairs to mark the post- treaty
landmarks and directions
holdings or do so as a large group (depending on
referenced are written from the
student needs.)
position of facing south, not north
(note the comment “left” of the
Say:
river in particular). Help students as
Look at all this land that Britain just gained!
a group to create their borders after
they have tried on their own during
If you were a British colonist, what would you want to see
the reading.
happen to the land gained from France east of the
Mississippi? (open it up to settlers from the eastern
colonies; used for expansion of the current area of the
colonies).
If you were a Native American, what would you want to
see happen to your land east of the Mississippi River,
based upon what happened with the Native population in
the eastern colonies? (They would likely want to see
settlers strictly regulated or prevented from colonizing
Native lands. They wanted protection from settlers that
may harm them or take advantage of their land and
resources.)
If you were a member of the British Parliament, what
would you do about this issue? Who would you side with
and why?
Funded under Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act, Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES (continued)
Part 3: Royal Proclamation of 1763:
Say:
Let’s see how the British Parliament solved this problem.
Keep in mind that they’d just fought a war with the Native
Americans and they weren’t terribly interested in spending
a lot more time and money protecting colonist from Native
American attack.
Provide students with copies of the Royal
Proclamation of 1763 and questions (3.5 and 3.6).
Have students, in pairs, look at the document and
answer the questions provided. Discuss and clarify
student responses.
✓ This can be done as homework if
you run out of time.
Show students the Proclamation Line (along the crest
of the Appalachian Mountains) on display map and ✓ You may want to have students
have students mark the line on their own maps.
color or shade in the different
sections on the map and label them
Ask:
(e.g., New Spain, protected area of
• How do you think the colonists felt about this line?
British Colonies).
• How do you think the Native Americans felt about this
line?
DEBRIEFING
Ask:
Knowing what we do about conflict, can you see any
potential conflict? Where? Between whom?
HOMEWORK
Homework:
Ask students to write a paragraph about how the Royal Proclamation was a source of conflict
OR direct students to record their responses to the Royal Proclamation of 1763 questions (3.6).
Emphasize that for either option students should use evidence from the proclamation and other
data sources from the lesson.
Funded under Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act, Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education