Woody Holton's "Forced Founders"
I would like to add a bit to the discussion that we had concerning the Proclamation of 1763 and land speculation. For another history class here at KU, I read an excellent book about Virginians and the causes of the American Revolution written by Woody Holton and entitled "Forced Founders". Holton points out that the that Great War for Empire nearly doubled Great Britain’s debt, and as a result Great Britain was fearful of an Indian uprising that could potentially lead to another costly war if the colonists continued to move further west. Many times, land speculators put land grants down as collateral and also used land grants as a form of payment. Needless to say, these land speculators were greatly upset with the Proclamation of 1763 that nullified these land grants.
From this, I would argue that the colonists were intent on moving farther west because a lot of wealthy men (George Washington for one) were deeply involved in these lands. And as we have seen, the British and the Natives had a shaky history including fraud and war. Instead of carrying out another war against the Natives, Virginia colonists turned against the British with land speculation being a major reason.
And as I (actually Holton) mentioned early, the British were in major debt after the Great War for Empire, and combined with the violent history between Natives and the British, it is my belief that the Proclamation of 1763 was not a treaty with the Natives but rather it was created for financial reasons.
4 comments:
That's real interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing Colby. It seems to make sense too, as I was quite baffled by the sudden British change of heart regarding Native Land. The fact that proclamation line is financially motivated certainly brings a different angle to the argument. This also makes quite a bit of sense as the only thing stronger than the British thirst for empire was their wallet.
What a great insight!
To repeat what Torre said, that was some interesting information that you gave!! I would agree with you and the author, that it makes more sense that the English government used the treaty as a means to control spending and stop their debt from raising. It's great to see all the various actions that caused the colonists to revolt against their government come together in a more complete story. Too often we take the information that we get in High School as the whole story. As a future teacher, I hope to be able to teach my kids about all the factors that went into the revolution.
That is interesting, I too had to read this book for a history course. Likely it was the same one.
what an interesting story! I had some clue that money is always involved in most wars or battles for territory; but this took the cake! I am very impressed with how the Indians carried themselves with the whites.
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