George III Royal Proclamation of 1763 | The "Indian Magna Carta"

George III (Great Britain. Sovereign, 1760–1820)

By the King, A Proclamation. George R. Whereas We have taken into Our Royal Consideration the extensive and valuable Acquisitions in America, secured to Our Crown by the late Definitive Treaty of Peace, concluded at Paris the Tenth Day of February last; and being desirous, that all Our loving Subjects, as well of Our Kingdoms as of Our Colonies in America, may avail themselves, with all convenient Speed, of the great Benefits and Advantages which must accrue therefrom to their Commerce, Manufactures, and Navigation; We have thought fit, with the Advice of Our Privy Council, to issue this Our Royal Proclamation, hereby to publish and declare to all Our loving Subjects, that We have, with the Advice of Our said Privy Council, granted Our Letters Patent under Our Great Seal of Great Britain, to erect within the Countries and Islands ceded and confirmed to Us by the said Treaty, Four distinct and separate Governments, stiled and called by the Names of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada, and limited and bounded as follows; viz. …

And whereas it will greatly contribute to the speedy settling Our said new Governments, that … so soon as the State and Circumstances of the said Colonies will admit thereof, they … summon and call General Assemblies within the said Governments respectively, in such Manner and Form as is used and directed in those Colonies and Provinces in America, which are under Our immediate Government; …

And whereas We are desirous, upon all Occasions, to testify Our Royal Sense and Approbation of the Conduct and Bravery of the Officers and Soldiers of Our Armies, and to reward the same, We do hereby command and impower Our Governors … to grant … the following Quantities of Lands, … To every Person having the Rank of a Field Officer, Five thousand Acres.—To every Captain, Three thousand Acres. —To every Subaltern or Staff Officer, Two thousand Acres. —To every Non-Commission Officer, Two hundred Acres. —To every Private Man, Fifty Acres. …

And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to Our Interest and the Security of Our Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians, with whom We are connected, and who live under Our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to, or purchased by Us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds; We do therefore, with the Advice of Our Privy Council, declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleaſure, that no Governor or Commander in Chief in any of Our Colonies of Quebec, East Florida, or West Florida, do presume, upon any Pretence whatever, to grant Warrants of Survey, or pass any Patents for … any Lands whatever, which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by Us as aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians, or any of them … and We do hereby strictly forbid, on Pain of Our Displeasure, all Our loving Subjects from making any Purchases or Settlements whatever, or taking Possession of any of the Lands above reserved, without Our especial Leave and Licence for that Purpose first obtained.

And We do further strictly enjoin and require all Persons whatever, who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any Lands within the Countries above described, or upon any other Lands, which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements.

And whereas great Frauds and Abuses have been committed in the purchasing Lands of the Indians, to the great Prejudice of Our Interests, and to the great Dissatisfaction of the said Indians; in order therefore to prevent such Irregularities for the future, and to the End that the Indians may be convinced of Our Justice, and determined Resolution to remove all reasonable Cause of Discontent, We do … strictly enjoin and require, that no private Person do presume to make any Purchase from the said Indians of any Lands reserved to the said Indians, within those Parts of Our Colonies where We have thought proper to allow Settlement. … And We … declare and enjoin, that the Trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all Our Subjects whatever; provided that every Person, who may incline to trade with the said Indians, do take out a Licence for carrying on such Trade. … Given at Our Court at Saint James's, the Seventh Day of October, One thousand seven hundred and sixty three, in the Third Year of Our Reign. London: Printed by Mark Baskett, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty; and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett, 1763

Broadside printed on a full sheet of laid paper (610 x 485 mm, preserving deckle on all sides; watermarked fleur de lis suspending shield, countermarked IV), two-line headline, text printed in two columns separated by a rule, woodcut royal arms at head, woodcut initial-frame, contemporary docket on verso, "Proclamation for Selling the Conquered Colinys 7 Octr 1763"; creased where formerly folded once vertically and once horizontally, some light dust-soiling at margins and verso, a little bit of foxing at top vertical crease, four small worm-trails in right margin, three tiny holes in second text column costing four letters and touching another, pinhole at intersecting folds.

A fine copy of the very rare Royal Proclamation of 1763 issued in the wake of Great Britain's victory in the French and Indian War, one of the most consequential of George III's proclamations concerning British North America, much of which is devoted to the promise of the King's safeguarding of "the several Nations or Tribes of Indians, with whom We are connected, and who live under Our Protection. …"

While largely an ironic historical artifact for the Native Americans of the United States, since the second Treaty of Paris (1783) ceded much of the uncolonized western lands designated as "Indian Reserve" to the United States, the 1763 Royal Proclamation remains legally significant to the First Nations of Canada, whose constitutional Head of State is His Majesty King Charles III, King of Canada.

During the semiquincentennial celebration of the Proclamation in 2013, the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada issued a bulletin describing the Proclamation as “a foundational document marking the beginning of Canada’s historic link with Great Britain and British parliamentary institutions. It was also important in establishing the core elements of the relationship between First Nation people and the Crown, recognizing First Nation rights in Canada and defining the treaty-making process that is still used.”

The Royal Proclamation itself is referenced in section 25 of the Constitution Act of 1982, signed by Queen Elizabeth II: “The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada including:

"a. any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and

"b. any rights or freedoms that now exist by way of land claim agreements or may be so acquired."

Very rare: ESTC locates just two copies of this broadside in the British Isles (the British Library and the National Archives, London), three in the United States (the Library of Congress; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; and the John Carter Brown Library, Brown University), and one in Canada (McGill University Library); there is also a copy at Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa. Lawrence Lande, whose copy is now at McGill, claimed "These large broadsides were sent to the governors of the colonies in America," so the print run might have been quite small.

We can trace only two copies in the auction records, the most recent of which was a silked example sold ninety years ago in the auction of the Library of John B. Stetson Jr. (American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, 17 April 1935, lot 286). Even then the catalogue noted that “Only a few copies are known of this original broadside proclamation establishing the four new governments in America under the crown of Great Britain, granting land to those who had served in America, protecting the Indian lands, and providing for the settlement of the provinces.”

The earlier copy at auction was part of the sale of historical materials from the Rodney family of Delaware, including Caesar Rodney, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Col. Thomas Rodney, Member of the Continental Congress, and Caesar A. Rodney, Attorneys General of the United States (Henkels, 26 June 1919, lot 114: "Exceedingly rare"). The only other copy in commerce that we are aware of appeared in Rosenbach Company catalogues 5 (1911) and 6 (1913), described in both as “Of extraordinary rarity and importance. It refers at length to the Indians, the Fisheries, the Government of Georgia, etc. We cannot trace another copy.” (The 1913 entry hopefully, if inaccurately, added “Probably Unique.”)

The 1763 Treaty of Paris, signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, radically redrew the map of North America. As Francis Parkman wrote in his magisterial seven-volume France and England in North America, “half a continent … changed hands at the scratch of a pen.” Britain gained the former French colony of Canada, Spanish Florida, as well as most of French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. The present Proclamation describes the new organizations of these territories as the colonies of Quebec, East Florida, and West Florida (in addition to the also acquired island of Grenada).

Perhaps the most significant provision of the Proclamation was the establishment of the Appalachian Mountains as a boundary between British colonial settlements and Native American land. This demarcation was in immediate tension not only with the desire of the colonists to move westward, but with the actual land bounties that had been granted to British veterans of the French and Indian War by the very same Proclamation. George Washington, for example, was given 20,000 acres for his service, much of it in the Ohio region.

Moreover, many settlers already lived west of the Appalachians—with disastrous results in the Great Lakes region during Pontiac’s War—while many Indians were established east of the mountains. As Colin Calloway observed, “The concept of an Indian boundary line was established, but the line was porous and impermanent” (p. 92). The British authorities had little interest in westward expansion: the long Atlantic coast was what made North America a valuable possession. But the American colonists already felt the stirrings of Manifest Destiny, although that term would not be coined for another six decades.

George Washington gave his view of the situation—a common one among wealthy colonists—in a 17 September 1767 letter to William Crawford, a former officer in Washington’s Virginia Regiment who had settled with his family in the transmontane west:

“The other matter just now hinted at and which I proposd in my last is to join you in attempting to secure some of the most valuable Lands in the Kings part which I think may be accomplished after a while notwithst⟨an⟩ding the Proclamation that restrains it at present & prohibits the Settling of them at all for I can never look upon that Proclamation in any other light (but this I say between ourselves) than as a temporary expedien⟨t⟩ to quiet the Minds of the Indians & must fall of course in a few years esp⟨e⟩cially when those Indians are consenting to our Occupying the Lands. any Person therefore who neglects the present oppertunity of hunting ou⟨t⟩ good Lands & in some measure Marking & distinguishing them for their own (in order to keep others from settling them) will never regain it. … I woud recommend it to you to keep this whole matter a profound Secret, or Trust it only with those in whom you can confide & who can assist you in bringing it to bear by their discoveries of Land and this advice proceeds from several very good Reasons, and in the first place because I might be censurd for the opinion I have given in respect to the Kings Proclamation” (The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, ed. Abbot and Twohig, 8:26–32).

When Washington wrote this letter, he was a loyal British subject; less than eight years later he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army by the Continental Congress. The Royal Proclamation of 1763—intended to allow George III’s “loving Subjects” to “avail themselves, with all convenient Speed, of the great Benefits and Advantages” of “the extensive and valuable Acquisitions in America, secured to Our Crown by the late Definitive Treaty of Peace”—paradoxically increased the dissatisfaction of the American colonists with British rule and played a major role in fomenting the American Revolution.

One of the most momentous broadsides relating to the development of the United States issued prior to the Declaration of Independence. 

REFERENCES:

ESTC T143763; Lande 387; cf. Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America 1754–1766 (New York, 2000); Colin G. Calloway, The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America (Oxford University Press, 2006)