Colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia

Southern Governments

By "our Southern Governments" Wheelock refers to the colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia, which claimed parts of the Ohio River Valley in which Pontiac's War took place in 1763. The defeat of the French in the French and Indian War (1754-63) outraged several Indian tribes in the area who had allied with the French and feared uncontrolled British incursion into the region. A confederation of Indians under the leadership of the Ottawa chief Pontiac called for ousting the British from the Indians' traditional lands. During 1763, Pontiac and his forces attacked and took eight British forts. His influence waned in the following year, but the uprising prompted the British to issue the Proclamation of 1763, which subjected white settlement in the West to reform and was extremely unpopular with white colonists. The rebellion spawned bitterness among settlers, increased racial violence against Indians, and soured the attitudes of colonists towards Wheelock's "great design" of Indian missionary education.

"Pontiac's Rebellion." Ohio History Connection. www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Pontiac's_Rebellion?rec=539.