Chief Pontiac and the Colonial American Conflict

Early colonial America was full of rivalry and conflict. England was just at the finish of the French and Indian War, which took up nearly a decade 's worth of time and ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. The British had exhausted an innumerable amount of money on the war, leaving them avoiding further conflicts as much as possible. Succeeding the victory of the French and Indian War, the lands previously belonging to the French were now under ownership by England. The Native Americans lost their French allies and were fearful that the new colonialists would invade into their territories. Since 1760, the chief of the Ottawa natives, Chief Pontiac, galvanized other natives to revolt against the British. As tension escalated, Pontiac succeeded

This made the natives uneasy, and they feared the colonists would invade into their territory. Particularly, the Ottawa tribe 's chief, known as Pontiac, was angered. Pontiac 's War unofficially started in 1760 with Chief Pontiac invigorating other native tribes to revolt against the new settlers. His ultimate goal was to seize individual forts, then all combine power and overtake the settling colonists. After years of planning, tribes united under Chief Pontiac attacked the colonist Fort Detroit on May 8th, 1763. This date is synonymous with the official start of Pontiac 's Rebellion. This first attack was unsuccessful as a result of their plan being disclosed to the British forces at Fort Detroit, but the attack inspired other tribes to rise up. In the initial stages of Pontiac 's War, the Native Americans were highly successful. Eight forts were captured and the sieges led to eliminate surrounding settlers. The British started to notice the significance of Pontiac 's Rebellion. In response, they sent out two armies in 1764. One was sent to Ohio and the other to Pennsylvania. The armies successfully regained and forced some tribes under Pontiac 's alliance to surrender. Without the support of other Native Americans or the French, Pontiac did not have enough power to continue his rebellion, and surrendered in 1766. The

They were aware of the growing unease between the settlers and Native Americans, especially through Pontiac 's War. The rebellion caused great loss of life, time, and money for the British government. To prevent any further conflict, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763. The proclamation stated that no colonist could cross or settle any west of the Appalachian Mountains, the territory which was inhabited by many Native Americans. In theory, the idea was simple and would have worked, but complications prevented its fulfillment. The proclamation angered American colonists. Already they were functioning almost independently of England, and were disturbed by the new act. Many of them felt like they did not have a proper involvement in its production. The colonists had great plans to move westward, and the new proclamation prohibited them from doing so. After their victory in the French and Indian War, they did not feel like they should have been restricted from moving into territory that they fought for. It added to the strife and hostility between the early-Americans and their British authorities. Later acts then added to the existing conflict and led to the beginning of the American Revolution. Although Pontiac 's War did not directly cause this, it started the pathway by forcing the enactment of the