From 1754 to 1763 fighting raged along the western and northern expanses of British North America as American colonials and British soldiers warred against the French. On both sides Indian allies did much of the fighting; Indians had a vital interest in trading furs and deerskins with Europeans and had become dependent on manufactured goods and food they obtained in this trade. They willingly went to war for their white trading partners, killing both European settlers and other Native Americans. Ironically, in helping to win the war on the frontier, British-allied Indians created more-favorable conditions for whites to settle on their lands.

The Proclamation of 1763.

The British government tried to reward their Indian allies with the Proclamation of 1763, forbidding white settlers from crossing the Appalachian Mountains. The Crown wanted nothing to disturb their partners in the fur trade and knew independentminded settlers...