A Gift of Land

When the treaty was signed between the French and English in 1763, it gave vast lands in America to the British.  The British, however, hadn't the vaguest notion of the extent, appearance or resources they had gained.  Even though place names in the upper Ohio become household names during the war, little was actually known about them.

Translations from French writers about the regions were amazing misrepresentations of the actual lands.  The western lands were thought to be of little value as Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote, "only barren parts of the continent, the refuse of earlier adventures which the French had taken only as better than nothing."  It was a common belief held by such people as Franklin and Washington, that it would take centuries for the land to be settled and civilized.  No one believed that within 75 years the population of "these barren lands" would equal that of Great Britain herself!

The first order of business, nevertheless, was to provide government, solve the land tenure and trade issues, and conciliate the Indians.  The English were not pleased with vast quantities of wilderness swarming with "savages" as they referred to it.  Some folks believed the Indians were entitled to protection from the invading whites into their hunting grounds. Originally the new territories were to be left as one huge Indian reserve with no white settlements.

The King desired to keep the western lands separate as much as possible from the colonies and wanted to regulate both settlement and trade.  One way to do this was to limit white settlers to the seaboard colonies. 

In 1763 four new provinces were set up in the ceded territories...Quebec, East Florida, West Florida and Grenada.  The rectangle formed was bounded by the Alleghenies, the Mississippi, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico.  The Mississippi Valley was not included in this territory. 

Next time...problems with settlement
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On January 21, 1855, gun designer John Browning is born.  Often referred to as the father of modern arms, Browning was born in Utah on this date.  Many of the guns manufactured by companies with names like Winchester, Colt and Remington were actually based on Browning's designs.