"This Land is My Land" - Between 1763 and 1789, the use and control of the frontier regions presented problems to both the British and the Americans.

Essay by greenfoxxHigh School, 12th gradeA+, October 2003

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During the years between 1763 and 1789 Great Britain and America encountered much difficulty while trying to claim control over the frontier regions west of the Appalachian Mountains. However, their struggle for supremacy over the land was not new by any stretch; Britain and America had been battling one another to dominate the lands from the time before the American Revolution through the time up until the Critical Period. Their ongoing contest and lust for more land eventually produced problem after problem and greatly affected all attempts, British and American, at controlling the wild frontier.

One of the earliest problems faced by both parties was the fact that the Native Americans were already settled in the land the newcomers were trying to claim, thus, posing problems which eventually led to border disputes. At this time, America was still under the British rule, and Parliament passed The Proclamation of 1763, which graphed an invisible line from the north to the south along the ridge of the Appalachians.

The purpose of this proclamation was to provide the colonists with a restriction on where they could settle; if they moved past the line, they would be in danger of Indian raids seeing that the British army would not protect any one outside of it. Britain was trying to protect the settlers, but it was not possible if they were scattered all across the countryside. The Americans did not take this lightly; they were upset that people over 3,000 miles away were dictating where they could and could not live, so they rebelled and took their chances with living on the frontier.

After the American Revolution, many of the colonies had claimed enormous amounts of land west of the Proclamation line. Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts held the largest claims out of the thirteen. Many...