imperial government and defense.

Western Lands and Defense

There was an immediate need for English government in the former
English and French lands. In October 1763 the Board of Trade proposed,
and the king in council established, a temporary program for western
lands. Under the Proclamation of 1763 a governor-general would run
Quebec (an attempt to get the French colonists to use an elected
assembly failed), the French were confirmed in their land grants, and
the Roman Catholic Church was retained. East and West Florida became
separate colonies. In the disputed lands beyond the Appalachians into
which English settlers had moved as soon as General Forbes occupied
Fort Duquesne in 1758 and where the Indians under Chief Pontiac were in
rebellion against these incursions, no English settlers were allowed
until permanent treaties could be worked out with tribes owning the
lands.

The Grenville ministry had several aims for its western lands policy.
The Proclamation of 1763 would separate the Indians and whites while
preventing costly frontier wars. Once contained east of the mountains,
the colonials would redirect their natural expansionist tendencies
southward into the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, and northward into
Nova Scotia. Strong English colonies in former Spanish and French
territories would be powerful deterrents to future colonial wars. There
is no indication Grenville believed the Americans would be more easily
governed if contained east of the mountains. His prime aim was orderly,
controlled, peaceful, and inexpensive growth.

The Proclamation of 1763 hurt Virginia land speculators more than
individual colonists. For the Ohio Land Company whose stockholders were
mostly Northern Neck and Maryland gentry, including the Washingtons and
Lees, it was a crushing blow to their hopes for regaining the Forks of
the Ohio and lands on the southern bank of the Ohio granted to them by
the crown in 1749. The rival Loyal Land Company led by Speaker
Robinson, Attorney-General Randolph, and the Nelsons, lost their claims
to the Greenbriar region, but with less invested, they had less to
lose. Also dashed were the hopes of many French and Indian War veterans
who had been paid in western land warrants for their service. Many
veterans ignored the proclamation, went over the mountains, squatted on
the lands, and stayed there with the concurrence of amiable Governor
Fauquier. Most Virginians were little injured by the or