1761-1775: Rebellion Approaches
1761-1763: As soon as fighting ended and the French pulled out, American colonists began moving across the mountains into the Ohio Valley and Great Lake region. This, of course, roused up the tribes living there. Pontiac, an Ottawa warrior (who had been fiercely pro-French) saw the writing on the wall (so to speak). He convinced many of the tribes to rise up and strike at the encroaching whites. ”I mean to destroy the English and leave not one upon our land.” Pontiac believed that either they destroy the whites or be destroyed by them! More English soldiers were sent to deal with Pontiac’s war; more English money was spent. The English government did not have the money or the patience to deal with any additional Indian trouble; also, the tribes supplied valuable furs to the English.
1763: The Proclamation of 1763 law passed by Parliament banned any colonial settlement west of the Mountains. Impossible to enforce. Americans who wanted that land out there were furious and resented this intrusion.
1764: England needed money badly; war debts had piled up and the nation was on the edge of bankruptcy. The Parliament will update an old Navigation Law, the Molasses Act (Sugar Act), creating the Sugar Act. This reduced the tax on molasses but………….
