The proclamation also established or defined four new colonies, three of them on the continent proper. Quebec, which was of course already well settled, two colonies to be called East Florida and West Florida—and off the continent, Grenada. These facts were established immediately, but most of the proclamation is devoted to the subject of Indians and Indian lands. It asserted that all of the Indian peoples were thereafter under the protection of the King. It required that all lands within the "Indian territory" occupied by Englishmen were to be abandoned. It included a list of prohibited activities, provided for enforcement of the new laws, and indicted unnamed persons for fraudulent practices in acquiring lands from the Indians in times past. Resolution of the hostilities of the French and Indian War was a difficult problem for the crown. Most of the Indian tribes had been allied with the French during the war, because they found the French less hostile & generally more trustworthy that the English settlers. Now the French would depart, & the Indians were left behind to defend themselves and their grounds as best they could. Relations between the Indians and the English colonials were so poor that few settlers would argue in public that the Indians had rights to any lands. In this proclamation the King sided with the Indians, against the perceived interests of the settlers. Moreover, it provided, and Parliament soon after executed, British royal posts along the proclamation boundary. Parliament was under no illusions about relations between the Indians and the colonists. They understood that the colonists would not respect the boundary without some enforcement mechanism. Finally, the English were interested in improving the fur trade, which involved the Indians and independent trappers who lived out on the frontier.
The Proclamation line extended from the Atlantic coast at Quebec to the newly established border of West Florida. Establishing and manning posts along the length of this boundary was a very costly undertaking. The British ministry would argue that these outposts were for colonial defense, and as such should be paid for by the colonies. From the American perspective this amounted to a tax on the colonies to pay for a matter of Imperial regulation that was opposed to the interests of the colonies. A bitter pill indeed. -ToKind
A ROYAL PROCLAMATION
October 7, 1763
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
10th Day of February last; and being desirous that all Our loving Subjects, as
well of our Kingdom 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,
styled and called by the names of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida and
Grenada, and limited and bounded as follows, viz.
First—The Government of Quebec bounded on the Labrador Coast by
the River St. John, and from thence by a Line drawn from the Head of that River
through the Lake St. John, to the South end of the Lake Nipissing; from whence
the said Line, crossing the River St. Lawrence, and the Lake Champlain, in 45
Degrees of North Latitude, passes along the High Lands which divide the Rivers
that empty themselves into the said River St. Lawrence from those which fall
into the Sea; and also along the North Coast of the Baye des Châleurs,
and the Coast of the Gulph of St. Lawrence to Cape Rosières, and from
thence crossing the Mouth of the River St. Lawrence by the West End of the
Island of Anticosti, terminates at the aforesaid River of St. John.
Secondly—The Government of East Florida, bounded to the
Westward by the Gulph of Mexico and the Apalachicola River; to the Northward by
a Line drawn from that part of the said River where the Chatahouchee and Flint
Rivers meet, to the source of St. Mary's River, and by the course of the said
River to the Atlantic Ocean; and to the Eastward and Southward by the Atlantic
Ocean and the Gulph of Florida, including all Islands within Six Leagues of the
Sea Coast.
Thirdly—The Government of West Florida, bounded to the
Southward by the Gulph of Mexico, including all Islands within Six Leagues of
the Coast; from the River Apalachicola to Lake Pontchartrain; to the Westward
by the said Lake, the Lake Maurepas, and the River Mississippi; to the
Northward by a Line drawn due East from that part of the River Mississippi
which lies in 31 Degrees North Latitude, to the River Apalachicola or
Chatahouchee; and to the Eastward by the said River.
Fourthly—The Government of Grenada, comprehending the Island of
that name, together with the Grenadines, and the Islands of Dominico, St.
Vincent's and Tobago. And to the end that the open and free Fishery of our
Subjects may be extended to and carried on upon the Coast of Labrador, and the
adjacent Islands. We have thought fit, with the advice of our said Privy
Council to put all that Coast, from the River St. John's to Hudson's Streights,
together with the Islands of Anticosti and Madelaine, and all other smaller
Islands lying upon the said Coast, under the care and Inspection of our
Governor of Newfoundland.
We have also, with the advice of our Privy Council, thought fit to
annex the Islands of St. John's [now known as Prince
Edward Island] and Cape Breton, or Isle Royale, with the lesser Islands
adjacent thereto, to our Government of Nova Scotia. We have also, with the
advice of our Privy Council aforesaid, annexed to our Province of Georgia all
the Lands Iying between the Rivers Alatamaha and St. Mary's.
And whereas it will greatly contribute to the speedy settling of our
said new Governments, that our loving Subjects should be informed of our
Paternal care, for the security of the Liberties and Properties of those who
are and shall become Inhabitants thereof, We have thought fit to publish and
declare, by this Our Proclamation, that We have, in the Letters Patent under
our Great Seal of Great Britain, by which the said Governments are constituted,
given express Power and Direction to our Governors of our Said Colonies
respectively, that so soon as the state and circumstances of the said Colonies
will admit thereof, they shall, with the Advice and Consent of the Members of
our Council, 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 We have
also given Power to the said Governors, with the consent of our Said Councils,
and the Representatives of the People so to be summoned as aforesaid, to make,
constitute, and ordain Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances for the Public Peace,
Welfare, and good Government of our said Colonies, and of the People and
Inhabitants thereof, as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, and
under such Regulations and Restrictions as are used in other Colonies; and in
the mean Time, and until such Assemblies can be called as aforesaid, all
Persons Inhabiting in or resorting to our Said Colonies may confide in our
Royal Protection for the Enjoyment of the Benefit of the Laws of our Realm of
England; for which Purpose We have given Power under our Great Seal to the
Governors of our said Colonies respectively to erect and constitute, with the
Advice of our said Councils respectively, Courts of Judicature and public
Justice within our Said Colonies for hearing and determining all Causes, as
well Criminal as Civil, according to Law and Equity, and as near as may be
agreeable to the Laws of England, with Liberty to all Persons who may think
themselves aggrieved by the Sentences of such Courts, in all Civil Cases, to
appeal, under the usual Limitations and Restrictions, to Us in our Privy
Council.
The stated objective
of the Stamp Act was to reduce the burden of administering the colonies by
taxing trade and certain commodities to develop a self-supporting colonial
regime. The royalist argument was that the policies of crown and parliament in
America had favored business interests to such an extent that all trade in the
colonies had been heavily subsidized by the British treasury.
"Such was the policy of Great Britain at the
dictation of the mercantile class; and in the maintenance of that policy, in
sixty years between 1714 and 1774, [Gr. Britain] paid out of her Exchequer the
enormous sum of £34,697,142 sterling, a sum greater than the estimated
value of the whole real and personal property in the colonies"*. Taxes collected under the provisions of the Stamp
Act were to be applied exclusively to treasuries in America, and used
only for the administration of the colonies. However, the colonials were
already chaffing at the nature of that administration. 
HEREAS many
of Our Subjects in divers Parts of our Colonies and Plantations in North
America, misled by dangerous and ill designing men, and forgetting the
Allegiance which they owe to the power that has protected and supported them;
after various disorderly acts committed in disturbance of the publick peace, to
the obstruction of lawful commerce, and to the oppression of our loyal subjects
carrying on the same; have at length proceeded to open and avowed rebellion, by
arraying themselves in a hostile manner, to withstand the execution of the law,
and traitorously preparing, ordering and levying war against us: And whereas
there is reason to apprehend that such rebellion hath been much promoted and
encouraged by the traitorous correspondence, counsels and comfort of divers
wicked and desperate persons within this realm: To the end therefore, that none
of our subjects may neglect or violate their duty through ignorance thereof, or
through any doubt of the protection which the law will afford to their loyalty
and zeal, we have thought fit, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, to
issue our Royal Proclamation, hereby declaring, that not only all our Officers,
civil and military, are obliged to exert their utmost endeavours to suppress
such rebellion, and to bring the traitors to justice, but that all our subjects
of this Realm, and the dominions thereunto belonging, are bound by law to be
aiding and assisting in the suppression of such rebellion, and to disclose and
make known all traitorous conspiracies and attempts against us, our crown and
dignity; and we do accordingly strictly charge and command all our Officers, as
well civil as military, and all others our obedient and loyal subjects, to use
their utmost endeavours to withstand and suppress such rebellion, and to
disclose and make known all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which they
shall know to be against us, our crown and dignity; and for that purpose, that
they transmit to one of our principal Secretaries of State, or other proper
officer, due and full information of all persons who shall be found carrying on
correspondence with, or in any manner or degree aiding or abetting the persons
now in open arms and rebellion against our Government, within any of our
Colonies and Plantations in North America, in order to bring to condign
punishment the authors, prepetrators, and abetters of such traitorous designs.