Episode 6: The Proclamation

Against the backdrop of Pontiac's War in North America, George III's ministers in London draw on lessons learned in colonial Nova Scotia to begin drafting a blueprint for transforming British America into an empire of order.

Featuring: Fred Anderson, Matthew Dziennik, Max Edelson, and Alexandra Montgomery

Voice Actors: Grace Mallon and Beau Robbins.

Narrated by Dr. Jim Ambuske.

Find the official transcript here.

This episode is made possible with support from the John Carter Brown Library, an independent research library located on the campus of Brown University. 

Music by Artlist.io

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Worlds Turned Upside Down is a production of R2 Studios at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

Episode Transcript

Jim Ambuske (00:00):
This episode of Worlds Turned Upside Down is
supported by the John CarterBrown Library and independent
research library on the campusof Brown University.
King George the Third kept theCherokee emissaries waiting for

(00:23):
days. The three leadersincluding Ostenaca, had arrived
in England aboard the HMSrevenge on June 16 1762. They
had come to see the King toassure him and the British
people of the Cherokeesfriendship, after peace treaties

(00:45):
negotiated in the coloniesfinally brought an end to the
Anglo Cherokee war. TheCherokees were the latest in a
long line of indigenous peoplesfrom North America to visit the
imperial capital. To thecuriosity and Shaka British
onlookers, Ostenaca in hisfellow Cherokees stepped ashore

(01:06):
at Plymouth on Englandsouthwestern coast and wailed a
song of thanks to the sky fortheir safe passage. Engraved
prints made during their visitreveal three men dressed and
expertly woven cloaks, trimmedwith wampum beads and wearing
leggings. Earrings hang fromtattooed faces. In a portrait of

(01:29):
Ostenaca by Joshua Reynolds, thefamed historical painter,
Reynolds omitted the Cherokeeleaders face tattoos. He is
wearing a scarlet red cloaktrimmed with gold lace, with a
wampum belt draped around hisneck. In his right hand,
Ostenaca holds a weapon as amonarch would hold a royal

(01:49):
scepter Reynolds wanted hisaudience to see what ASA Naku
was not a Cherokee King. Whatthe Cherokees thought of the
crowds who turned out to seethem as they made their way to
London is mostly last. MajorHenry Timberlake had accompaned
them from British America, buthe spoke a little of their

(02:10):
language, and the translator haddied on the ocean crossing.
While the British public gawkedas they caught the sight of the
Cherokees on the road to London,the King's ministers recognize
the significance of their visit.Between 1759 and 1761, the
Anglo-Cherokee war had broughtruin and hardship to white

(02:33):
settlers and Cherokeecommunities alike. The British
were eager to have the Cherokeesas allies once again, to ensure
the stability in order of theirempire. Ostenaca went to London
to bolster his standing with hisown community and convince the
government that Virginia wouldmake a valuable Cherokee trading
partner. On July 8, after daysspent touring gardens, St Paul's

(03:00):
Cathedral, Westminster Abbey,and the Tower of London, and
having met the Earl of Egremont,one of the ministers in charge
of the American colonies, thethree Cherokee men were finally
presented to George the Third atSt. James palace. Without a
proper translator for their 90minute meeting Ostenaca speech's

(03:21):
to George the Third was lost onmost of its witnesses. Major
Timberlake felt he got the gistof it though, and told the king
that also Naku and the Cherokeespledged friendship in a faithful
alliance with the crown. TheCherokees remained in Britain a
few more weeks after theiraudience with the King. They
sailed for South Carolina inlate August, having been the

(03:44):
subject of public spectacle,often racist press commentary
and diplomatic overtures formore than two months. For
British officials, however, whowere ready to proclaim a new
vision of empire in NorthAmerica, the Cherokee
delegations visit in the historyof recent wars were powerful
reminders, that unless theKing's Men reformed the colonies

(04:08):
and brought order to the Empire,then the future of British
America would stand always on aknife's edge.
I am Jim Ambuske and this isworld's turned upside down a
podcast about the history of theAmerican Revolution. Episode

Six (04:29):
The Proclamation. On November 17 1763, General
Jeffery Amherst departed NewYork City for London aboard the
HMS Weasel, the commander inchief for British forces in
North America was headed to theImperial capitol to confer with
government officials and helpplan the future of George the

(04:51):
third's American empire. Havingaccepted new Francis surrender
three years earlier, Amherstcrossed the Atlantic Ocean
expecting to arrive in Britainhailed as a conquering hero.
Instead, he was met with disdainfor his more recent conduct in
the field. Months earlier inJuly, word of a major indigenous

(05:14):
uprising in the Ohio Countrybegan circulating in London. The
stunning success of the Odawaleader Pontiac and his allied
warriors at distant outposts,like Fort Michilimackinac, the
siege is akin centers of Britishpower at forts Detroit, Pitt,
and Niagara, in repeated raidson settlements in western
Pennsylvania and Virginia,caught the British government

(05:36):
and the public off guard. HowGeneral Amherst and the 8000
British Regulars under hiscommand, had so quickly turned
triumph into travesty was beyondthem. But it all made perfect
sense to colonial officials likeSir William Johnson. Unbeknown
to Amherst, the Superintendentof Indian Affairs for the

(05:59):
Northern District have beenwriting to his superiors on the
board of trade to offer them hisassessment of the generals
abilities. Johnson complained tothe men who managed American
affairs that Amherst's newrestrictions on trade, his
attentiveness to reciprocity,and his indifference to
Indigenous diplomatic customswere a threat to peace, to say

(06:20):
nothing of his own prestige andstanding among Native nations.
Ohio peoples like the Odawa,Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Wyandot,
Miami, and Shawnee were alreadyalarmed at Britain's inability
to honor its previous agreementsto stop settlers from heading
west over the AppalachianMountains. Was it any wonder

(06:40):
then, that these nations, manyof whom were inspired by the
Delaware Prophet Neolin'sencounter with the Master of
Life and the Spirit'scommandment to cast off white
ways and live as their ancestorsonce had, had chosen to make
common cause with each other andresist British authority through
force. As Johnson took pains topoint out that his own methods

(07:05):
for ensuring good order in theking's new dominions with a
proper ones, London newspapersoffered their readers insight
into the origins of Pontiac'swar. As Lloyd's Evening Post
reported in mid July,

Grace Mallon (07:18):
The advices from the continent of America of an
Indian war cannot be alarming.Many reasons are given for their
rising among the rest, thenotion the Indians have that we
shall extirpate them when wehave an opportunity, and are
calling the continent of Americaour own makes them think that
time approaching. If we searchinto the beginning of some of

(07:40):
the late Indian Wars, we shallfind they have taken rise from
some of our colonistsoverreaching them in their
treaties, and getting possessionof their hunting and fishing
grounds, without which theycannot possibly subsist.

Jim Ambuske (07:54):
In London private correspondence, British and
colonial officials alike damnedand hers handling of the
uprising. In December 1763.Thomas Penn, a son of
Pennsylvania founder WilliamPenn, noted that

Beau Robbins (08:08):
Sir Jeffrey Amherst's conduct is extremely
injurious to the colonies andhis schemes not approved of here.

Jim Ambuske (08:19):
Pontiac and his warriors may have failed to
capture forts Detroit. Pitt. orNiagara, but in many ways, and
with a little help from SirWilliam Johnson, they had
conquered General Amherst afterall. His failure to quell the
uprising cost him his command.In 1764, the king replaced

(08:39):
Amherst as commander in chiefwith a veteran army officer
named Thomas Gage. So what stepsdid George the Third and his
ministers take to promote peaceand prosperity in North America?
And how did those plans reflecta new vision for transforming an
old empire after a decade ofwar? To begin answering these

(09:02):
questions we'll have first toLondon were some of the king's
men were drafting blueprints forthe future, just as British
America exploded and violenceagain, will then sail west to
the colony of Nova Scotia.resettlement schemes of the past
shaped British plans forcolonizing the present before
heading back to the Imperialcapitol to draft a royal

(09:24):
proclamation to remake BritishAmerica into an empire of order.
The spring of 1763 bloomed inLondon with a sense of
possibility. The Treaty of Parishad been signed on February
10th, bringing the Seven YearsWar to a close. The treaty left

(09:49):
George the third and the Britishin command of new lands and new
subjects in North America.cartographers were busy updating
old maps to represent the Kingsclaims to conquer territory is
like New France, Louisiana,Florida, and a host of Caribbean
islands. The change in seasonsalso brought a change in His
Majesty's government. By thespring of 1763, the Prime

(10:14):
Minister John Stuart, the ThirdEarl of Bute, had become deeply
unpopular. The King's mentor hadtaken office in May 1762,
becoming the first Scottish bornPrime Minister in British
history. Lord Bute ushered in anew era of Conservative
government, what today we mightcall a Tory government. But the

(10:36):
concessions Bute offered toFrance and Spain during peace
talks later that year, rankledsome members of parliament as
being far too generous toBritain's enemies. Bute was also
subjected to relentlessanti-Scottish attacks by radical
English politicians and authorslike John Wilkes, who believed
that Scots were corruptingEnglish liberty, and the crown

(10:59):
and Butte also had to contendwith a tax revolt. As British
diplomats negotiated with Spainand France, the government began
addressing the enormous cost ofthe war and a national debt that
had ballooned to 133 millionpounds because of it. Somebody
had to bear the price theBritish had paid for victory. In

(11:21):
1762, Butte asked an alreadyovertaxed British public to pay
a little more as part of aseries of domestic tax reforms.
He devised an excise tax thatlevied a four shilling duty per
Hogshead of cider, which wasabout 64 gallons of barrel
enacted by Parliament in early1763. The new tax and the

(11:45):
intrusive powers the law grantedto excise officials to enforce
it infuriated Britain's mostespecially those in the cider
producing regions like England'sWest Country. Rioters and
pamphleteers all condemned thenew tax. As one satirical print
loudly declaimed liberty,property and no excise. After

(12:09):
treating the king for weeks tolet him resign, George the Third
put Butte out of his ministerialmisery. He accepted buttes
resignation on April 8 1763. Inhis place, the king named George
Britain villas Prime Minister, apolitician who in short order
would introduce new taxationschemes of his own. The change

(12:33):
in Prime Minister's did nothingto lessen the impulse to reform
British America. In fact, itonly emboldened it. For the
moment, however, the mostpressing concerns for the
ministers who manage thecolonies are how to incorporate
the new conquered territoriesinto the Empire, how to settle
them and ensure their loyalty tothe crown and how to prevent

(12:55):
conflicts between colonists andindigenous peoples. For more
than a decade, members of theBoard of Trade and government
officials like CharlesTownshend, John Pownall, the
Earl of Shelburne and the Earlof Halifax, have been
contemplating similar questionsand lamenting the inefficiencies
of the Empire.

Fred Anderson (13:15):
For the most part, the British aren't very
systematic in the way they thinkabout their colonies before the
middle of the 18th century. Inthe 17th century, they'd been
founded as enterprises of jointstock companies, or they were
founded by grandees who weregiven by the Crown the right to
deal with the Indians on behalfof the crowds and acquire the

(13:35):
lands from the Indians,proprietary colonies were
organized that way. I'm FredAnderson, professor emeritus
University of Colorado atBoulder. So there was a sort of
public private partnership, wewould call it today between the
Crown and people who wouldcolonize lands that the crown
was willing to grant. Now, thatmeant for a messy colonial

(13:57):
picture, there was little in theway of governing policy because
it was opportunistic and basedon external factors that were
often unpredictable whenproduced strange results. You
get colonies made up ofreligious fanatics like
Massachusetts colony is made upof people who are religious
fanatics who were in flight fromreligious fanatics, which is to

(14:17):
say Rhode Island, each of whichrequires its own corporate
existence, each of which is partof this empire, but neither of
which is really a project thatreflects an imperial vision. And
the same can be said for allBritish colonies in North
America.

Jim Ambuske (14:32):
Despite this messy colonial picture, trade
statistics and security concernsto say nothing of pride and
prestige, had convinced theBoard of Trade in the King's
ministers that Great Britaincould not do without its empire.
It generated significant wealthfor the mother country and
extended pretend his rulesacross the waves. But
intercolonial rivalries tensionwith native peoples haphazard

(14:56):
settlement schemes and weakregulations had made for a man
only America. The Board of Tradethe government and the king
believe they could bring orderto the Empire. inspired in part
by the Scottish Enlightenmentwith its new ideas on social
improvement and politicaleconomy. They began planning the
transformation of BritishAmerica by first engineering a

(15:17):
new kind of colonialism in theconqured colonies. And that
effort began with a series ofquestions. On May 5, 1763, just
four days before Pontiacs alliedwarriors began laying siege to
Fort Detroit, Charles went ham,the second Earl of Egremont sent
a lengthy letter to the Board ofTrade. eggermont, who was the

(15:41):
Secretary of State for thesouthern department, the Cabinet
Office that worked closely withthe board on colonial affairs.
He had held the post sinceWilliam Pitt reside in 1761.
Egremon began his letter thisway,

Beau Robbins (15:55):
"My Lords His Majesty, having brought the
negotiation with France andSpain to a happy conclusion, and
having given the necessaryorders for carrying into
execution, the severalstipulations of the late treaty
is now pleased to fix his royalattention upon the next
important object of securing tohis subjects and extending the

(16:15):
enjoyment of the advantageswhich piece has procured."

Jim Ambuske (16:19):
The map of British America looked much different in
1763 than it did ten yearsearlier. By the terms of The
Treaty of Paris, the Britishclaimed the whole of the east
coast – from Nova Scotia andthe Canadian Maritime provinces
in the north to Florida in thesouth – and all the land west
from the east coast to theMississippi River. The new

(16:40):
imperial borders encompassedIndigenous nations who had not
consented to the land cessions,and whose status as subjects or
sovereigns remained, at leastfrom the British perspective,
unresolved. With the ink on thepeace treaty now dry, the king
directed Egremont and the Boardof Trade to evaluate North
America’s potential, and createa plan to manage this new

(17:04):
empire. The Board was asked toconsider three fundamental
questions:

Beau Robbins (17:10):
“1st What New Governments should be
established & what Form shouldbe adopted for such new
Governments? 2ndly What MilitaryEstablishment will be
sufficient? 3rdly In what Modeleast Burthensome and most
palatable to the Colonies canthey contribute towards the
Support of the AdditionalExpence, which must attend their

(17:30):
Civil & Military Establishment?"

Jim Ambuske (17:33):
Egremont’s questions were as much about
addressing the needs of BritishAmerica’s present as they were
about rectifying problems thereformers saw with its past.
Implicit in his queries was ashared belief that while
private-public partnershipsmight have made sense to settle
colonies like Virginia orMassachusetts Bay in the
seventeenth-century, they hadgiven rise to an unwieldy

(17:55):
assortment of provinces in theeighteenth century, each with
their own legislativeassemblies, who were too often
consumed with local concerns,and not enough with the common,
imperial interest. Britain’sstruggle to mobilize the
colonies to meet the French andIndigenous threat during the
Seven Years’ War only confirmedthis assessment. . In other

(18:15):
words, what British Americalacked could be distilled down
to one word :coherence. And inthe mid 18th century, few
British politicians saw thismore clearly than one man,

Ala Montgomery (18:29):
George Montague dunk, the second Earl of
Halifax.He was many things butmost relevantly to this story.
He was the president of theBoard of Trade. I'm Dr.
Alexandra Montgomery. I am themanager of the Center for
Digital history at the GeorgeWashington Presidential Library
at Mount Vernon. The Board ofTrade had been the free,
ineffectual body up until thepoint when Halifax gets his

(18:50):
position, which is in the 1740s.The Earl ofHalifax was
different. He had a vision. Hewas a was a vision guy. And he
looked at the British coloniesand he went, Ah, this is a mess.
He was just disgusted by thechaos, and that the fact that
nothing was uniform. Andeveryone was doing their own

(19:11):
strange things, and no one hadany control over and he was like
this will not stand. This is nogood. We can't be having this.
The problem, of course, is thathow do you actually fix
something like that?

Jim Ambuske (19:23):
Here's Fred Anderson.

Fred Anderson (19:25):
Halifax is a very interesting figure. He's one of
the few people in the Britishadministrative system that deals
with the North Americancolonies. He's one of the very
few people in that small bodywho actually sees a big picture.
And he sees an empire that is,by its very nature, a Rube

(19:46):
Goldberg device, which isthreatening to just go crazy.
Halifax.

Jim Ambuske (19:50):
His view of the Empire was shaped profoundly by
the events of the 1740s duringthe War of Austrian Succession,
known to the colonists as KingGeorge's war. or, in 1745, New
England soldiers launched anattack on fortress Louisbourg,
the French stronghold on CapeBreton Island. They acted
without orders from London inhopes of protecting Protestant

(20:12):
New England from the CatholicFrench and their Wabanaki allies.

Fred Anderson (20:16):
These New England colonists now who think of
themselves as acting on behalfof the crown of Great Britain in
this great imperial contestagainst the French, they seize
the Fortress of Louisbourg onCape Breton Island, which
effectively closes off the St.Lawrence River to French trade
and French control and itrenders the whole control of

(20:39):
Canada just instantly unstable.That's a huge asset. All of New
France is at risk because theseNew Englanders have mounted an
expedition on their own payingfor it themselves to seize the
Fortress of Louisbourg. NewEnglanders have their own war
that they're fighting in 1745.When they take off for loop
work, and they fight what lookslike God's grace lined up in

(21:03):
control of it.

Jim Ambuske (21:04):
The British returned to the Louisbourg to
the French and the peace of 1748in exchange for Madras and
India, much to the consternationof New Englanders who believed
they had acted in the Kingsinterest. But for the Earl of
Halifax, who was by nowPresident of the Board of Trade,
the New Englanders attack on thefort was a powerful example of

(21:24):
how colonists acting and selfinterest could destabilize the
balance of power in North America.

Fred Anderson (21:29):
Halifax comes out of this experience as a young
and politically ambitiousaristocrat. The experience of
seeing the colonies up closeduring King George's War, he
comes out of that thinking, wegot to fix this, or the next war
with France is going to just whoknows what's gonna happen as a

(21:50):
result. So he is one of the veryfew people in England. And
certainly Westminster, whothinks in terms of long term
policy toward North America isimportant, not just somebody who
can improvise. And so he'sbeginning already in 1748 49 50,
to think ahead about how tomaintain some kind of unity or

(22:12):
some kind of coherence, at leastin this administration of the
North American colonies. He'sthinking big, and he has plans

Jim Ambuske (22:22):
As Halifax constructed the ideal empire in
his mind. One of the lessons hetook away from colonial history
and from King George's war wasthat the older British American
provinces lack coherence becausethey had developed with too
little oversight and influencefrom the crown or parliament in
December 1748. Halifax to crythe older colonies as:

Beau Robbins (22:45):
“little independence Commonwealths; in
some of which the Governors, whoare chosen annually by the
People, give no Security for thedue Observance of the Laws of
Trade and navigation…From whichit is but too easy to judge what
Effect, any other Laws here,without a coercive Power, would
have among them.”

Jim Ambuske (23:03):
In his view, the Empire's future prosperity and
security depended on thegovernment taking a more
proactive role in directingcolonization itself and
strengthening British rule inNorth America.

Ala Montgomery (23:15):
So he's looking around, he wants to standardize
he wants to create a uniformimperial system. And he looks at
Nova Scotia, which from hisperspective is like pretty
empty, pretty strategicallyimportant. He says, Here we go.
This is my playground, this ismy sandbox. This is where I am
going to figure out the systemfor imperial government, and

(23:35):
then we're going to roll it outeverywhere else. So Nova Scotia
in his eyes, and then in theeyes of the Board of Trade
generally becomes his laboratoryfor this new standardized vision
of empire in the 18th century.

Jim Ambuske (23:49):
Halifax's experimentation in Nova Scotia
in the 1740s and 1750s is one ofthe keys to understanding
British ambitions for reformingNorth America beginning in 1763.
And to do that we must firstgrapple with Nova Scotia as a
contested even an inventedplace. Alexander Montgomery explains,

Ala Montgomery (24:11):
Nova Scotia was invented in 1621. That is the
year that Sir William Alexanderreceives a grant from King
Charles, first of essentiallyall of the land, encompassing
what we now think of as AtlanticCanada, and a large chunk of
Maine. It is called New Scotlandbecause Charles the First was
granting this land not in hiscapacity as King of England, but
in his capacity as King ofScotland. This was a Scottish

(24:34):
colonization venture. It'simagined as a way for the Scots
to get in on this bigcolonization game in the quote
unquote, new world and it failsmiserably. It fails almost
immediately. It does not goanywhere. This is during a
period where that chunk of landis already claimed by the French
by them. It is called Acadia,and essentially Sir William
Alexander, send some folks overthere. It's a disaster they

(24:56):
leave immediately and nothingever comes of it. But Name
sticks. So I say inventedbecause it certainly wasn't a
founding in 1621. But what doyou get out of it is not so much
the founding of a place as aconcept that then floats around
for several decades. It's notthat they founded Nova Scotia,
it's that they had this idea ofNova Scotia and then they made

(25:18):
it real.

Jim Ambuske (25:19):
In 1710, the British began to reimagine Nova
Scotia as a place when theyconquered the French colony of
Acadia, and took control thepeninsula that now forms most of
the modern Canadian province.

Ala Montgomery (25:31):
They take it over they rename it Nova Scotia,
but the unsureness about whatexactly Nova Scotia is what it
means whether or not it's evenreal persists in the way that
this area actually ends upgetting called Nova Scotia, or
Acadia, for the better part ofthe 18th century. No one is
totally sure what to call it.And part of the reason it's so
contested is that the British,although they take political

(25:54):
possession of the states in1710, have very little power to
actually control it to a largedegree because there is
practically zero loyalpopulation on the ground. This
is land that is inhabitedprimarily by indigenous folks.
And in terms of a settlerpopulation. It's overwhelmingly
French and Catholic and this isthe status quo in his area until

(26:15):
the run up to the Seven YearsWar.

Jim Ambuske (26:17):
In that continued state of uncertainty, the Earl
of Halifax saw an opportunity tomake Nova Scotia real and
establish it as a model forfuture settlement in British
America. Under his leadership in1749, the Board of Trade
proposed the creation of a newcolony on the peninsula. Unlike
the older colonies, thissettlement would be funded and

(26:38):
managed directly by the British government.

Ala Montgomery (26:41):
This is a completely parliamentary funded
project. This is a plannedcolony using government money
using folks that they haveliterally like round it up.
They're trying to like dredge upas many colonists as possible
and stick them on a boat andsend them over. The whole thing
is planned out sketched out, themap is sketched out in London,
and then they are just sent overthere to make it happen.

Jim Ambuske (27:04):
To convince parliament to fund the project,
Halifax successfully pitched itas a matter of Imperial Security
in the wake of King George'swar. By the mid 18th century,
Nova Scotia was inhabited bymore than 10,000, Catholic
French Acadians and indigenousMi'kmaq people. The British
viewed them with suspicion andthe peninsula's geographic

(27:26):
location in the northernAtlantic was especially advantageous.

Ala Montgomery (27:30):
Nova Scotia is in a very interesting position
from an imperial perspective.This is because if you look at a
map of shipping routes of thevery practical ways in which
folks got from Europe to NorthAmerica, all of the Northern
routes go right past NovaScotia, they either go along
what we call the South Shore,and then down the eastern

(27:51):
seaboard, or they go around CapeBreton into the St. Lawrence
Seaway. So it's seen as an isincredibly strategically
important, because the idea isthat if you can control this
space, there is a sense in whichyou can also control shipping,
so you have a greater control ofthe way every European every
Northern European enters intothis space. So it's tremendously

(28:14):
strategically geographicallyimportant just because of where
it is.

Jim Ambuske (28:18):
This new Nova Scotia would be led by a
governor and a provincialcouncil, all appointed and paid
by the Crown and not by taxeslevied by a Provincial Assembly.
Halifax in the Board of Tradewanted to ensure that the
governor and other officials didnot become creatures of local
politicians for Halifax,creating a coherent Empire met

(28:39):
keeping their eyes fixed on theImperial interest. To plant this
new colony, Halifax, in theBoard of Trade recruited roughly
2500 People with the promise ofland grants. Most of them were
demobilized soldiers and sailorswho had served in King George's
war. In 1749, they sailed forChebucto, the Mi'kmaq name for

(28:59):
the natural harbor in the centerof Nova Scotia southeast coast,
where they began building a newtown called Halifax, named for
the Earl.

Ala Montgomery (29:08):
So the plan is they are going to found this new
capital city Halifax wherethey're previously had been from
European perspective, nothing.And then they are going to
create a series of strategicallylocated townships amongst
Acadian populations as part ofthis idea that they could
naturally overwhelm the Frenchsettler population. Is this idea

(29:28):
that like, trying to deport themis messy. I guess we can't just
kill them all. So what we'regoing to do is we're going to
harness the incredible power offertile Protestant families out
breed them. So we're going tosee them strategically within
these existing populations. Andthrough just magic Protestant
power, they will becomedominant, they will take over

(29:50):
control we will naturally have asettler population that will be
loyal to us.

Jim Ambuske (29:55):
But the settlement of Nova Scotia did not go as
planned

Ala Montgomery (29:58):
This day is not work, it may shock you to know
that this is in fact an almostimmediate failure to such a
degree that it's even difficultto realize that that was the
plan in the first place.Instead, what ends up happening
is Halifax is founded with a lotof grumbling.

Jim Ambuske (30:11):
The British recruited few women for the
first wave of settlement, makingit difficult for that magical
Protestant power to have itsintended reproductive effect.
Women arrived in greater numbersbeginning in 1750, when the
government sent GermanProtestants to the colony, but
few of them are unmarried,leaving the demobilized British

(30:34):
soldiers and sailors mostly outof luck. To lead the new colony,
the king appointed an armyofficer named Edward Cornwallis.

Ala Montgomery (30:43):
Edward Cornwallis, who's sort of a mid
level government figure he wasfresh off of terrorizing
HIghlanders after the JacobiteRising, and he just hates
everything about this. I wouldsay even buy 18th century
standards. He's a real piece ofwork. All of his letters are him
complaining about all of thefolks that are in Halifax and
it's like, there's so poor, theydon't even have shoes, it's

(31:04):
gross. I hate looking at them, Ihad to make them work harder.
And then he also is just openlygenocidal towards Mi'kmaq peoples.

Jim Ambuske (31:11):
Indigenous communities challenged British
claims to their land, thesettlement of Halifax and
British plans to expand beyondit.

Ala Montgomery (31:18):
The magma are highly resistant to this because
this is in fact in violation oftreaties previously signed with
the British where they hadpromised not to develop new
towns, at least withoutconsultation, and today are
successfully blocked from doinganything like this.

Jim Ambuske (31:30):
Violence erupted between the Mi'kmaq and the new
settlement, with GovernorCornwallis offering a bounty for
Mi'kmaqscalps in hopes ofdriving them from the peninsula.

Ala Montgomery (31:39):
Halifax does get founded and rather than creating
this string of townshipsthroughout the most fertile
agricultural useful areas of thepeninsula, they are able to
found one additional townshipwhich is Lunenburg, which is
essentially on top of a existingMi'kmaq and Acadian village,
Mirliguèche. But that's it.

Jim Ambuske (31:59):
The Earl of Halifax is increasingly expensive model
colony was floundering when theSeven Years War broke out in the
mid 1750s. The renewed conflictwith the French, however,
offered the British a convenientexcuse to deal with the Acadian
population. Many Catholic FrenchAcadians refused to swear
allegiance to the ProtestantBritish king, and the British

(32:21):
remain fearful of the supportthey might offer to fortress
Louis Berg on Cape BretonIsland. On July 28, 1755, Nova
Scotia is Lieutenant GovernorCharles Lawrence in the colonies
Provincial Council ordered theexpulsion of the Acadians.

Ala Montgomery (32:36):
The French population the Acadians, about
10,000 plus strong are wholesalerounded up and deported by the
British government, which was acatastrophe for a number of
reasons. From a sheer level ofhumanity. You can imagine it was
horrible, many, many peopledied, many people were forced to
live in terrible conditions,people obviously lost their
homes en mass.

Jim Ambuske (32:56):
The Acadians remembered this period as the
great derangement. In the monthsand years that followed the
expulsion order Acadians weredispersed throughout the rest of
British America. Some were sentto Britain and France, others
resettled in French, Louisiana,were in time they will become
known as "Cajuns."

Ala Montgomery (33:16):
But it was also an economic disaster. They had
deported the only populationthat was producing European
goods. They were only folks thatare that were doing large scale
provisional farming. They werethe only folks there that were
fully and actively participatingin a European economic system on
the way that you need someone tobe in order to run a colony.

Jim Ambuske (33:36):
British Nova Scotia might have faltered because of
poor planning conflict with theMi'kmaq and the outbreak of the
Seven Years War, but it neverentirely failed. More importantly:

Ala Montgomery (33:47):
This dream, this vision of creating a Protestant
colonized Nova Scotia becomesthe principal driving light for
the rest of the 18th centuryinto the 19th century when it
comes to Nova Scotia.

Jim Ambuske (34:03):
Despite the setbacks in Nova Scotia, the
spirit of Lord Halifax, hisvision for British America
endured. The Seven Years' Waronly confirmed his worst fears.
Like the New Englanders assaulton fortress Louisbourg in 1745.
The outbreak of violence in theOhio Country in 1754, was in his
mind a direct result of toolittle Imperial oversight from

(34:26):
London and too much selfinterest on the part of the
colonists. Fred Andersonexplains why,

Fred Anderson (34:32):
For example, controlling Indian relations
centrally, which no one else hasever had. They've simply let
Indian relations beat theprovince of the governors of the
various colonies. Halifaxbelieves by 1750 Certainly by
1752 that that's not necessarilya good idea. And the intrusion
of these Pennsylvania traitorsinto the Ohio Valley and 1752 to

(34:54):
establish creating posts as farwest is what's now the border
with Indiana. You In the OhioValley, I mean that these people
are dangerous to the Britishimperial stability. He wants to
control that kind of activity.Well, by the time he realizes
that this needs to be done, andstarts thinking about Indian
trade is something that needs tobe controlled. The whole system

(35:18):
has been blown up by thisunstable set of relationships in
trans Appalachian West in thearea where that neither the
French or the British can claimreal direct control. So it's
Halifax is view that you needsome kind of unity among the
various colonies, or everythingwill turn into a nightmare of
disorder and make the Britishimperial system in North America

(35:40):
vulnerable to disruption at willby the French. So he's thinking
big, and he's thinking aboutpolicy. And he's thinking about
diminishing the autonomy ofBritish colonies in areas where
the British colonists are usedto thinking of themselves as
being in charge. Now, the SevenYears War intervenes because
Halifax thinks he didn't have achance to prevent this by

(36:03):
creating administrativecoherence before it all blew up.
But he's still thinking aboutthis. And when the Seven Years
War is finally concluded in1763, he's still in government.
He's more powerful than he wasbefore because he's older and
he's better connected.

Jim Ambuske (36:21):
By May 1763, when the Earl of Egremont sent the
Board of Trade questions meantto guide the future development
of British America, Halifax wasno longer a member of the board.
A year earlier, the king hadappointed him Secretary of State
for the Northern Department, theminister in charge of British

(36:41):
relations with Northern Europe,the Earl of Shelburne had become
the board's president. But thatchange in position really didn't
matter. Halifax, his influenceand his commitment to the
Imperial interest in pused,every aspect of Egremont's
questions and the Board'sanswers. In keeping with their
instructions, the Board undershell burns leadership approach

(37:05):
to British America from acontinental perspective, one
that took into account the newcolonies as well as the old the
board consulted with Britain'sknowledgeable about American
affairs, including some who hadserved in the colonies. More
than 60 pieces of advice in theform of reports,
recommendations, maps, lettersand journals survive and

(37:28):
children's papers. None weremore important or influential
than the works of two men, HenryEllis and William Knox. Both
were protegees of Halifax. Ellisand Knox were of Irish descent,
in the late 1750s. Halifaxengineered Ellis his appointment
as Governor of Georgia. Once hewas settled in the colonial

(37:48):
capital of Savannah Ellisnegotiated a border between the
province and the Creek Nationand instituted new land policies
designed to make Georgia moreproductive for the Empire. Knox
served under Ellis as thecolonies provost marshal in
Georgia Knox acquired aplantation and enslaved people,
and he came to share Ellis'sview that British America was a

(38:12):
land of disorder. By 1763,Ellison Knox were back in
London, and were part of a cadreof ministers and former colonial
officials, who are advising theBoard of Trade on the future of
British America. In separate andunsurprisingly, similar essays,
Ellis and Knox urged the boardto create a more rationalized

(38:33):
colonial system. They called forthe conquered territories to be
organized into colonies withclearly defined boundaries to
prevent the competition that hadplagued older provinces like
Virginia and Pennsylvania, whoare often at odds over where the
one began and the other ended,provincial rivalries worked

(38:53):
against the common Imperialgood. They argued that the
government should impose abarrier to Western migration to
keep settlers facing east towardthe mother country instead of
gazing West, where they mightbecome Britain's political and
economic competitors. Just overa month after the Earl of
eggermont sent his queries, theBoard of Trade completed its

(39:17):
assignment. The board drew onthe arguments of Ellis, Knox and
others to supply eggermont andGeorge the Third with an
extensive report that pointed toa prosperous future in North
America. If properly managed,and regulated. The king's
subjects might grow Indigo silkand cotton in Florida. Ply the

(39:37):
fisheries off the coast of NovaScotia, harvest Canadian lumber
for the Royal Navy's needs, andwith the French gone, they could
take command of the fur tradewith native peoples. But what
shape would these colonies take?As conquered territories all the
lands ceded by the French andthe Spanish fell under George

(39:58):
the Third's Royal prerogative,giving the crown considerable
authority to develop newcolonies and control over any
remaining unorganized lands. Theboard advocated for dividing
Florida into two colonies, Eastand West Florida, and it called
for Cape Breton Island and St.John's Island, both formally

(40:19):
part of New France to be annexedto Nova Scotia. To govern the
new colonies, the boardrecommended Halifax is chosen
model for Nova Scotia.

Beau Robbins (40:28):
“With respect to the Form of each of these
Governments, We are of Opinion,that in regard to their being
Infant Settlements the mostsuitable will be that of a
Governor and Council, by YourMajesty’s Commission, with
Instructions adapted to the mostquick and speedy Settlement of
these Countries. "

Jim Ambuske (40:45):
The governors and councils of the new colonies
withdraw their salaries from thecrown and not from their future
provincial assemblies, toprevent local concerns from
corrupting their loyalty to thekings interests. British
regiments would be sent todefend the colonies against
lingering indigenous and Frenchthreats until the provinces were

(41:05):
capable of raising their ownmilitias. Soldiers and Sailors
were critical in another regard,as they considered how best to
populate the new provinces. Theboard drew inspiration from
Halifax, his earlier scheme tosettled Nova Scotia by offering
land grants to demobilize servicemen.

Beau Robbins (41:22):
“We cannot help offering it as Our humble
Opinion that the utmostAttention should immediately be
given to the Speedy Settlementof this Tract of Country and
that Instructions be preparedfor Your Majesty’s Governor for
that purpose, with particularregard to such Officers &
Soldiers who have served sofaithfully & bravely during the
late War."

Jim Ambuske (41:42):
But the North American interior was a much
more vexing problem. The Board’sreport reflected Halifax, Ellis,
and Knox’s collective view thatthe territory roughly west of
the Appalachian Mountains was apotential flash point for
violence. It was inherentlyunstable. The late war had made
that very clear. Reports fromSir William Johnson communicated

(42:05):
the unease and distrust thatmany indigenous nations felt
since do Francis surrender, andBritish officials in the older
colonies struggled to enforcetreaties that forbid white
settlement over the mountains.And when the board sent its
report to eggermont on June 5,1763, its members had no idea
that fort Detroit lay undersiege by Pontiac and his allied

(42:28):
warriors, or that fort MichelaMakena had fallen to a chip way
and socks people's. Max Edelson,a professor of history at the
University of Virginia explains,

Max Edelson (42:38):
One of the great concerns for the Board of Trade
and the British government inthis moment was the expansion of
territorial settlement into theinterior of North America. It
was hard to defend a bigfrontier, encroaching settlers
caused conflict with Native Americans.

Jim Ambuske (42:54):
From London, the board drew on Knox and Ellis his
arguments to frame the problemas one of overpopulation rampid
specter speculation that droveup land prices, and governors
who are under the influence oflocal elites.

Beau Robbins (43:07):
“Nothing is more certain than that many of Your
Majesty’s ancient Coloniesappeared to be overstock’d with
Inhabitants, occasioned partlyfrom an extremely increasing
Population in some of thoseColonies, whose Boundaries had
become too narrow for theirNumbers, but chiefly by the
Monopoly of Lands in the Handsof Land Jobbers from the

(43:27):
extravagant injudicious Grantsmade by some of Your Majesty’s
Governors, whereby a great manyof Your Majesty’s industrious
Subjects were either forced intoManufactures, being excluded
from planting by the high Priceof Land…or forced to emigrate to
the other Side of the Mountains,where they were exposed to the
Irruptions of the Indians aswell as the Hostilities of the French.”

Jim Ambuske (43:53):
The acquisition of Canada and the Florida's could
help alleviate this problem. Inan ideal world, settlers who
couldn't find land and the oldercolonies would move north or
south to the new provinces. Andby offering land grants in these
places, the government coulddirect the colonial process.

Max Edelson (44:10):
Part of the new plan was not only to make
available these new tracts ofland closer to the coast in new
colonies, to redirect the flowof that settlement toward those
lands and away from the interiorwhere those settlers did more
harm than good. According toImperial planners.

Jim Ambuske (44:26):
British settlers would do the Lord's work in
other ways as well. MatthewDziennik, Associate Professor of
History at the United StatesNaval Academy tells us how

Matthew Dziennik (44:35):
What's often forgotten about this is that
it's actually more to encouragesettlers not to continue their
journey into the interior, butto gravitate to the margins,
particularly Quebec and Florida,because these are two places
that the British Empire hassecured through the Seven Years

(44:56):
War. And these are two placeswhere the predominant religion
is Catholicism. Some, and for18th century Britain's the idea
of having to manage an empirethat includes large number of
Catholics forces many people inpositions of authority in
Britain to kind of rethink theirpriorities on religion and on

(45:18):
governance. And one of thethings that are trying to do is
ensure a kind of Irish solutionto the problem of Quebec and
Florida, which is to throw abunch of Protestant settlers in there.

Jim Ambuske (45:32):
Lord Halifax's Nova Scotia stood to play a key role
in the grander scheme of things.Here's Alexandria Montgomery,

Ala Montgomery (45:38):
Nova Scotia actually has a lot in common
with Florida, sort ofperversely, in this moment, in
that both our coastal regions onthe Atlantic on the shipping
routes that do not have a largeexisting settler population.
These are seen as if anywhere inthe empire should be developed.
These are the regions becausethese are the ones that are on

(45:59):
the water. These are the onesthat are most suited to this
vision of empire. But it's kindof like the war ends and this is
Nova Scotia is moment everythinghas finally aligned. Or this is
the moment where we are finallygoing to fulfill Halifax is
Dream we're finally going to getthose townships, we're finally
going to get a stable whitesettler population.

Jim Ambuske (46:21):
Routing settlers to Nova Scotia and the Florida's
also served another crucial purpose.

Ala Montgomery (46:26):
People are very especially on the British side
and the British government,suspicious of ideas about
creating interior colonies. Theidea being if you let people go
to Ohio, God forbid, they'renever going to come back.
They're too far away fromshipping routes. They're going
to start manufacturing thingslike weaving flax, and they're
just going to become their ownlittle independent polity and

(46:46):
you can't get them back. Soinstead, what we want is to keep
our white settlers on thecoasts, and wouldn't you know
it, we've got these two greatspaces we've got Florida, we got
Nova Scotia, this is where weshould be sending folks this is
where we should be encouragingfolks to go.

Jim Ambuske (47:00):
The reformers believed that if they permitted
Western settlement, it wouldbreak the bonds between wayward
British Americans in the homegovernment. London would
struggle to maintain itsauthority over such interior
settlements, and defending themwould be expensive. Their
distance from Atlantic marketswould by necessity compel these

(47:22):
colonists to manufacture theirown goods to the possible
disadvantage of BritishIndustry. Lord Halifax, his
dream of a coherent Empire wouldbe nothing but a pleasant
fiction. Most importantly, thegovernment was keen to prevent
future bloodshed between whitesettlers who coveted lands in
the Ohio Country and indigenouspeoples, who were determined to

(47:45):
defend their sovereignty. Theboard wanted to ensure that
trade continued between Nativenations and British colonists,
while also creating fair rulesto govern future negotiations
with Native nations. But theseplans could only work if the
government imposed morestringent regulations to stop
colonists from moving west. Thatwas easier said than done. Two

(48:08):
versions of the same map help usto understand why. In 1755,
cartographer Emanuel Bowenpublished "An accurate Map of
North America. Describing anddistinguishing the British,
Spanish and French dominions onthis great continent; exhibiting
the present seat of war, and theFrench encroachments." Bowen's
map depicted a tense GeographyThe Welshman used yellow to

(48:32):
shade the British colonies andto show the extent of British
settlements at the foothills ofthe Appalachian Mountains. New
France in Louisiana appear inpowder blue, but not with the
borders, the French would haverecognized Bo and place the
boundary of Louisiana beyond theMississippi River, and that of
New France above the Great Lakesin the space between the British

(48:56):
and the French bow and usedlight pink to show a contested
area that both powers claimed.And in a not so subtle nod to
Britain's ambitions and theboundaries described in the old
colonial charters, Boweninscribed the map with the names
of colonies like Virginia andNorth Carolina in capital
letters, and stretch them fromthe Atlantic coast to beyond the

(49:19):
Mississippi River. Eight yearslater, Bowen revised his map and
gave it a new title, "Anaccurate map of North America.
Describing and distinguishingthe British, Spanish and French
dominions on this greatcontinent; according to the
definitive treaty concluded atParis 10th Feby. 1763." It
depicted the new mainland andCaribbean territories the

(49:42):
British had acquired by theterms of the treaty, and it used
shades of yellow, pink and greento depict the borders of the
older colonies. Those borders nolonger passed beyond the
Mississippi River as they oncehad on older maps. The The
Treaty of Paris established theriver as the western border of
British America, overriding theland claims written into the old

(50:06):
colonial charters likeVirginia's and challenging the
sovereignty of indigenousnations. The Board of Trade
imagined would bow and depictedif settlers flocked west into
the lands the British claimed onpaper, but in reality hardly
controlled. That what had oncebeen a perilous space between
empires could become a site ofinternal turmoil. The territory

(50:29):
between the mountains and theMississippi River would have to
be dealt with. For the Board,that meant George the Third
should adopt:

Beau Robbins (50:38):
"the general proposition of leaving a large
Tract of Country round the greatLakes as an Indian Country, open
to Trade, but not to Grants andSettlements, the Limits of such
Territory will be sufficientlyascertained by the Bounds to be
given to the Governors of Canadaand Florida on the North and
South, and the Mississippi onthe West; and by the strict

(51:00):
Directions to be given to YourMajesty’s several Governors of
Your ancient Colonies forpreventing their making any new
Grants of Lands beyond certainfixed Limits to be laid down in
the Instructions for that purpose."

Jim Ambuske (51:14):
What those certain fixed limits were would require
an army of surveyors andcartographers to map out. In
July 1763, George the Thirdaccepted almost all of the board
of trades recommendations. TheKingdom made adjustments here
and there as befitting a man whoobsesses over details, and who

(51:34):
care deeply about the importanceof the empire to the Crown and
the nation. He asked its membersfor additional thoughts on
Canada, but the board'sblueprint for British America
remained largely intact.Ironically, the Earl of Egremont
informed the board of the Kingsatisfaction on July 14, just

(51:55):
one day after the first reportsof Pontiac's War began appearing
in London newspapers. Word ofthe indigenous uprising in North
America injected the board'swork with a greater sense of
urgency. By early August,Egremont had received reports
from General Jeffery Amhersthimself. What Amherst initially

(52:16):
described as simply "themischief the Indians were
doing," had become much moreserious. Amherts's own journals
reveal a commander in chiefstruggling to respond to
assaults on outposts like fortsPitt and Detroit, attacks that
were part of a coordinatedindigenous revolt that seemingly

(52:36):
had come out of nowhere toeggermont in the king, it was
becoming clear that the violencewas spinning out of control. On
August 5, the Board of Tradeurged George the Third to
implement the proposed reformsby arguing that:

Beau Robbins (52:52):
"a Proclamation be immediately issued by Your
Majesty as well on Account ofthe late Complaints of the
Indians, and the actualDisturbances in Consequence, as
of Your Majesty’s fixedDetermination to permit no grant
of Lands nor any settlements tobe made within certain fixed
Bounds, under pretence ofPurchase or any other Pretext

(53:14):
whatever, leaving all thatTerritory within it free for the
hunting Grounds of those IndianNations Subjects of Your
Majesty, and for the free tradeof all your Subjects, to
prohibit strictly allInfringements or Settlements to
be made on such Grounds.”

Jim Ambuske (53:31):
That same day, the board's members dispatched a
letter to Sir William Johnson inNew York, informing him that
they hid in treated the king toprevent settlers from moving
west into Indian country. Inmid-August, Egremont informed
Amherst that the King hadgranted the general's request to
return home for the comingwinter. eggermont expressed

(53:52):
confidence in Amherst abilities,though he made no attempt to
mask his horror at the reportsof Pontiacs war.

Beau Robbins (53:59):
“The King has seen with great concern the accounts
you give…of the savage andunprovoked behaviour of the
Indians by which several of HisMajesty’s subjects have already
suffered, and it is to be fearedthat many more may have been
victims to their horridBarbarities before you can be
able to put a stop to thereto."

Jim Ambuske (54:18):
Amherst was instructed not to leave the
colonies until there was somemeasure of quiet in North
America. That would not comeuntil November, after indigenous
warriors had abandoned theirsieges of forts Pitt and Detroit
to turn to the winter hunt. Itwas one of Egremont last
letters. The task of overseeingthe drafting of the king's

(54:41):
proclamation should have fallento him, but Death had other
ideas. The 53 year old Secretaryof State for the Southern
Department died on August 21. Inhis place, George the Third
appointed the Earl of Halifax.Here's Fred Anderson.

Fred Anderson (54:57):
Halifax is operating In the same set of
concerns in 1763, that he wasdeveloping 15 years earlier, in
the aftermath of King George ismore. Halifax wants coherence.
So, what's to do? Well, Halifaxbecomes a great engineer then of
Imperial policies to createcoherence after the Seven Years'

(55:18):
War, in a context then of anIndian uprising in the interior,
Halifax, from his new positionof authority as Secretary of
State for the southerndepartment. He orders drafted
the Proclamation 1763, whichforbids among other things,
white British settlers fromcrossing the Appalachians and

(55:38):
settling in the interior onIndian land.

Jim Ambuske (55:42):
In the weeks that followed Halifax and the Board
of Trade work to draft whatbecame the Royal Proclamation of
October 7, 1763. In our owntime, proclamations are often
little more than ceremonialpronouncements with no real
meaning. But in the 18thcentury, the king's Proclamation

(56:03):
was law. The Proclamation of1763 embodied almost everything
Halifax had worked for since the1740s. Max Edelson explains, the
proclamation

Max Edelson (56:13):
First and foremost was a legal definition of the
new colonies and established apath so that they could be self
sufficient self governingcolonies. It wasn't as if
Britain was envisioning placeslike the island of Grenada or
British East Florida, associeties that wouldn't have
representative democracy. Butthey sought to impose greater

(56:35):
imperial control in these newplaces. So they define them
really in the first instanceterritorially, as places that
would be easier to control from London.

Jim Ambuske (56:45):
The proclamation made real on maps what the Board
of Trade had recommended onpaper. It formerly created East
and West Florida, attached CapeBreton Island and St. John's
Island to Nova Scotia, to findthe boundaries of Quebec,
reorganize the government ofGrenada and adjusted the borders
of Georgia. The new colonieswould be administered solely by

(57:07):
governors and provincialcouncils appointed and paid by
the Crown until theirpopulations warranted the
creation of a legislativeassembly to reward British
soldiers and sailors for theirservice in North America during
the Seven Years War. The kingoffered demobilized veterans
land grants in the colonies on agraded scale, ranging from 5000

(57:28):
acres for field officers to 50acres for privates. Sailors like
James Bruce would use the Kingsgift to claim lands in the
colony of West Florida, where inthe years to come, he would
begin building a new life withhis wife, Isabella Christie, and
their enslaved West Africans,whom they called Glasgow,
Cathniss, and Aberdeen. Inkeeping with Halifax's strategy

(57:51):
from 15 years earlier, the landgrants were a means to settle
the new colonies and establish amore loyal population in British
America who were willing todefend the interests of the king
who had made their settlement inAmerica possible.

Max Edelson (58:06):
The other aspect of the Proclamation of 1763 is this
control of land in the interior,Britain had already reorganized
the way it dealt with Indiannations diplomatically.
Previously, Native Americanscould sell their land to
individual colonists, theytended to negotiate directly
with colonial governors on acase by case basis. And this was

(58:26):
now formally ended around theera of the proclamation of 1763.
Now there were official Indiansuperintendents, one for the
North and one for the South, whowere the ultimate authority when
it came to negotiation withNative Americans. It was
forbidden for Native Americansto sell land piecemeal to
individual colonists, that allhad to be done at a formal

(58:48):
diplomatic meeting, so that theBritish could assure the Indians
that they would be treatedfairly, and that Britain was not
going to endorse a process ofdispossession by treaty, as some
historians have called it, whereIndian land would be taken bit
by bit over time. So theproclamation of 1763 codified
new rules for the development ofcolonies. It codified the power

(59:10):
of the British officials inIndian country, and it laid a
legal basis for how all theseschemes were going to be developed.

Jim Ambuske (59:19):
Of the Proclamation's roughly 2000
words, almost 40% of the king'scommands address Indigenous
affairs. George the Thirdclaimed under his sovereignty,
protection and dominion, all thelands lying to the westward of
the sources the rivers whichfall into the sea. These lands
were now reserved for indigenouspeoples. It was as Halifax and

(59:43):
the Board of Trade had writtenfor the king:

Beau Robbins (59:46):
“just and reasonable, and essential to our
Interest, and the Security ofour Colonies, that the several
Nations or Tribes of Indianswith whom We are connected, and
who live under our Protection,should not be molested or
disturbed in the Possession ofsuch Parts of Our Dominions and Territories.”

Jim Ambuske (01:00:07):
The proclamation defined indigenous peoples
living under the King'ssprotection as distinct from his
British subjects. But whetherthese native nations, many of
whom were at that very momentwaging war against the British
in the Ohio Country, remainedsovereign in their own right,
the proclamation leftunresolved. Nevertheless, the

(01:00:27):
king forbade colonial governorsfrom making land grants beyond
the sources of the rivers whichfall into the sea. British
Americans who envisiontransforming the fertile Ohio
Valley into an agriculturalparadise didn't need a map to
know that the injunction appliedto the lands west of the
Appalachian Mountains.

Fred Anderson (01:00:47):
Which the colonists are appalled by,
because they see this as anintrusion into their rights and
their ability to shape their ownfutures. Halifax sees none of
that as irrelevant, because whathe's doing is trying to create a
staple in North America. Andthat's a kind of Imperial

(01:01:07):
thinking, with a metropolitanemphasis and policy coherence
that just scares the devil outof North American colonists, who
see it as tyranny, perhapsheading their way.

Jim Ambuske (01:01:20):
"God save the king."
260 years after WilliamShakespeare wrote his Hamlet,
Robert Rogers gave the world his"Ponteach, or the Savages of

America (01:01:40):
A Tragedy". By 1766, Rogers was a veteran soldier and
a well known author in GreatBritain. During the Seven Years
War, the New Hampshire borncolonists had taught British
officers such as Lord GeorgeHowe how to wage war in the
American woods. His company ofmen known as Rogers Rangers, had

(01:02:04):
served with distinction duringthat war, and Rogers later
fought to relieve for Detroitfrom Pontiac's siege in the
summer of 1763. After publishingtwo widely regarded books on the
history of North America, andhis experiences during the Seven
Years War, Rogers tried his handat playwriting. In early 1766,

(01:02:28):
Rogers published his Tragedy inLondon. His fictional Pontiac is
one that some of hiscontemporaries would have
recognized an indigenous leaderangered by the intrusion of
white settlers over themountains and British officials
who had failed to keep theirpromises. It is a dark play full

(01:02:50):
of despair, one that the worldquickly forgot. Rogers tragedy
was never put on stage. Itreceived horrid reviews in the
London press. The Monthly Rviewcalled it "one of the most
absurd productions of the kindwe have seen." The Gentleman's
Magazine condemned its vulgarlanguage and murderous plot who

(01:03:14):
could blame them. Despite recentprotests in the colonies over a
Stamp Tax, the future of BritishAmerica and the Empire seem to
bright. Rogers play foretoldotherwise. In the opening scene
of the second act, Rogersoffered his readers a debate
between Pontiac's two fictionalsons over the meaning of British

(01:03:39):
victory in the war, and theirhopes for peace. And perhaps a
failed reference to theproclamation of 1763. One son
claims "Now we may hunt the wildsecure from foes." His brother
was less certain. "Happy effectsindeed! Long may they last, but
I suspect the Term will be butshort. Ere this our happy Realm

(01:04:03):
is curs'd afresh, with all theNoise and Miseries of war. And
Blood and Murder stain in ourLand again.
Thanks for listening to WorldsTurn Upside Down. Worlds is a

(01:04:23):
production of R2 Studios, partof the Roy Rosenzweig Center for
History and New Media at GeorgeMason University. I'm your host,
Jim Ambuske. This episode wasmade possible by the support of
the John Carter Brown Library,an independent research library
located on the campus of BrownUniversity. Head to R2
studios.org for a completetranscript of today's episode

(01:04:46):
and suggestions for furtherreading. Worlds is researched
and written by me withadditional research writing and
script editing by JeanettePatrick. Jeanette Patrick and I
are the executive producers.Grace Mallon is our British
correspondent our lead audioeditor is Curt Dahl of CD
squared. Rachel Birch, AmberPelham,and Alexandra Miller are

(01:05:08):
our graduate assistants. Ourthanks to Fred Anderson, Matthew
Dziennik, Max Edelson andAlexandra Montgomery, for
sharing their expertise with usin this episode. Thanks also to
our voice actors Grace Mallonand Beu Robbins. Special thanks
to Sarah Donelson and Lynn PriceRobbins. Subscribe to Worlds on
your favorite podcast app.Thanks and we'll see you next time.