Indian Reserve (1763)

The term "Indian" in this article refers to American Indians; not to be confused with South Asians from Indian subcontinent

Indian Reserve Territory of British America ← 1763–1783 →   → Red Ensign of 1707 Map of the United States portion of the territory in 1775 after Quebec laid claim to the land north of the Ohio River History  - Royal Proclamation of 1763 7 October 1763  - Treaty of Fort Stanwix 5 November 1768  - Vandalia (colony) 27 December 1769  - Quebec Act 13 January 1774  - Transylvania (colony) 14 March 1775  - Treaty of Paris (1783) 3 September 1783

Map of the Divides. The territory lay west of the Eastern Continental Divide.

Map of Rupert's Land. In Canada the land formed a small strip between the Great Lakes and Rupert's Land.

The Indian Reserve was a territory under British rule in North America set aside in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 for use by American Indians between 1763 and 1783.

In present-day United States it consisted of all the territory north of Florida and New Orleans that was east of the Mississippi River and west of the Eastern Continental Divide in the Appalachian Mountains that formerly comprised the eastern half of Louisiana (New France). In modern Canada it consisted of all the land immediately north of the Great Lakes but south of Rupert's Land land belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company as well as a buffer between the Province of Quebec (1763–1791) and Rupert's Land stretching from Lake Nipissing to Newfoundland.

Most of the newly British territory had been claimed earlier by France but was ceded in the Treaty of Paris (1763) that ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War.^{[citation needed]} In the Proclamation of 1763 George III consolidated much of the new territorial gains in three colonies in North America—East Florida, West Florida, and Quebec. The rest of the expanded British territory was left to American Indians.

The proclamation also temporarily resolved jurisdictional claims for some of the areas near the Thirteen Colonies on the east coast.^{[citation needed]}

According to the royal proclamation, all settlers in the territory (who were mostly French^{[citation needed]}) were supposed to leave the territory or get official permission to stay. Many of the settlers moved to New Orleans and the French land on the west side of the Mississippi (particularly St. Louis) which in turn had been ceded secretly to Spain to become Louisiana (New Spain). However, many of the settlers remained and the British did not actively attempt to evict them.^{[citation needed]}

Restrictions on settlement in the land was to become a flash point in the American Revolutionary War.^{[citation needed]} The revoking of the lands at the end of the war, was to continue to be a source of friction for the American Indians who were to largely side against the United States in the War of 1812.

Timeline

Early settlements

• 1587 - Sir Walter Raleigh founds Roanoke Island
• 1675 - Jacques Marquette founds Great Village mission at Utica, Illinois
• 1680 - Iroquois massacre Great Village
• 1680 - Fort Crevecoeur established at Peoria, Illinois
• 1696 - Cahokia, Illinois founded
• 1703 - Kaskaskia, Illinois founded
• 1717 - Illinois Country falls into Louisiana jurisdiction
• 1720 - Fort de Chartres established on Mississippi River near Prairie du Rocher, Illinois
• 1753 - Fort Presque Isle built near Erie, Pennsylvania
• 1754 - Fort Duquesne founded at Pittsburgh

French and Indian War

• 1754 - A French unit under Joseph Coulon de Jumonville has a letter for George Washington to leave French territory at Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Washington's militia ambush the French unit, and one account has it that Jumonville is killed by Seneca nation chief Tanacharison while in custody of Washington, igniting the French and Indian War.
• 1754 - Washington surrenders to Jumonville's half brother Louis Coulon de Villiers in the Battle of the Great Meadows in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. It is the only time Washington is to ever surrender in battle.^{[citation needed]} He signs a document taking responsibility for the assassination of Jumonville and is released. The document is to be used to widen the war into the global Seven Years' War.^{[citation needed]}
• 1762 - Following massive French defeats, the French secretly cede Louisiana on the west side of the Mississippi to its ally Spain in the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762).
• 1763 - France cedes all lands in modern Canada and all lands east of the Mississippi in the Treaty of Paris (1763). Terms call for religious tolerance in Quebec and unrestricted emigration from French Canada for 18 months.^{[citation needed]}
• 1763 - George III issues the Royal Proclamation setting aside the Indian Reserve and orders all settlers to leave the reserve and declares that the Crown rather than individual colonies has the right to negotiate settlements.

Push to settle the territory

• 1764 - Announcement that Spain has acquired the west bank of the Mississippi in Louisiana (New Spain).
• 1768 - Treaty of Fort Stanwix creates the Line of Property and Purchase Line in which the Iroquois cede much of Kentucky, West Virginia, and sections of western Pennsylvania and New York.
• 1772 - The Grand Ohio Company gets charter to settle the Vandalia colony south of the Ohio River much of which is now West Virginia.^{[citation needed]}
• 1774 - Quebec Act expands the borders of the Province of Quebec to take all the Indian land in Canada in the buffer with Rupert's Land as well as all the land in territory north of the Ohio River including, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and a section of Minnesota. The act is considered one of the Intolerable Acts that contribute to the American Revolutionary War.
• 1775 - Transylvania (colony) founded in what is now Kentucky by Richard Henderson. Daniel Boone blazes Wilderness Trail through Cumberland Gap and founds Boonesborough.
• 1775 - Most of the Thirteen Colonies lay formal claim to the land extending the borders in straight lines west to the Mississippi.

American Revolutionary War

• 1777 - Indian raids kill numerous settlers and most settlers abandon the territory.^{[citation needed]}
• 1778 - Larger conflicts in the Western theater of the American Revolutionary War begin with the Siege of Boonesborough in which Daniel Boone is initially captured and "adopted" by the Shawnee but eventually escapes to lead a successful American defense of Boonesborough.
• 1779 - American victories in Battle of Vincennes, Fort Laurens, Battle of Saint Louis (only battle west of the Mississippi in Spanish-held Louisiana).
• 1780 - British reassert control over the territory in Bird's invasion of Kentucky.
• 1781 - More British victories in Lochry's Defeat and Long Run Massacre.
• 1781 - Spain completes rout of Britain in Florida in the Battle of Pensacola (1781).
• 1782 - British victories continue in Battle of Blue Licks: ten months after Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis surrender in Siege of Yorktown.
• 1783 - Treaty of Paris (1783) ends the war and the British cede the territory south of modern day Canada to the United States and Florida to Spain. United States repudiates the proclamation.^{[citation needed]} No Indian tribes attend the negotiations.

See also

• Indiana
• Indian Wars
• Indian removal
• Indian reservation

References

• Map and background of territory from Canadiana.org
• Map of Canadian Portion of Territory from Boston Public Library

External links

• Proclamation of 1763 from UShistory.org (Independence Hall Association)