The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America

Written by Colin G. Calloway

Narrated by Simon Vance

In February 1763, Britain, Spain, and France signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War. In this one document, more American territory changed hands than in any treaty before or since. As the great historian Francis Parkman wrote, "half a continent...changed hands at the scratch of a pen."

As Colin Calloway reveals in this superb history, the Treaty set in motion a cascade of unexpected consequences. Indians and Europeans, settlers and frontiersmen, all struggled to adapt to new boundaries, new alignments, and new relationships. Britain now possessed a vast American empire stretching from Canada to the Florida Keys, yet the crushing costs of maintaining it would push its colonies toward rebellion. White settlers, free to pour into the West, clashed as never before with Indian tribes struggling to defend their way of life. In the Northwest, Pontiac's War brought racial conflict to its bitterest level so far. Whole ethnic groups migrated, sometimes across the continent: it was 1763 that saw many exiled settlers from Acadia in French Canada move again to Louisiana, where they would become Cajuns. Calloway unfurls this panoramic canvas with vibrant narrative skill, peopling his tale with memorable characters such as William Johnson, the Irish baronet who moved between Indian campfires and British barracks; Pontiac, the charismatic Ottawa chieftain whose warriors, for a time, chased the Europeans from Indian country; and James Murray, Britain's first governor in Quebec, who fought to protect the religious rights of his French Catholic subjects.

Most Americans know the significance of the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation, but not the Treaty of Paris. Yet 1763 was a year that shaped our history just as decisively as 1776 or 1862. This captivating book shows why.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Apr 21, 2006
• ISBN: 9781400172337

Reviews for The Scratch of a Pen

[benkline · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting look at post-French/Indian (Seven Years) War look of North America, specifically how it entailed in the year after 1763 with the Native American (Indian) tribes and the British (and leaving French).

Bit slow, bit of a slog to read, but was very interesting. Dry writing, but informative, knowledgeable information. Lots of sourcing, citations, etc. It often gets lost in thinking about the timeframe (pre-Revolution/American Revolution, 1740s-1780s), but there was much more to North America than just the thirteen colonies. Canada, Havana, Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida, West Florida, the interior (Louisiana), really all of the islands in the Caribbean (Cuba, St. Dominque, Puerto Rico, etc, etc, etc).

It also gets lost just how much the Seven Years War effected, and basically was the main catalyst for the American Revolution. How the Treaty of Peace (Paris) paved the way for the American Revolution (similar to how the Treaty of Versailles paved the way for World War II).

Very interesting and fascinating book, just extremely dry.

[asyouknow_bob · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting but not revelatory.

[Bud Tyler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great information, became very dry by the end for me . I suspect it was largely the information from the period transitioned to. It began to work towards southern tribal changes in the midst of the transfer of power between the Spanish and French Cuba.

[alincolnnut · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In American history, the year 1763 was a watershed. With the treaty ending the French and Indian War signed in Paris began a series of consequential decisions which seem to inexorably lead to the American Revolution. Historian Colin Calloway, professor at Dartmouth College, uses this momentous year to consider the broad context of life in the British controlled sections of North America, which he construes as a tipping point for the region.In "The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America," a volume in the Oxford University Press series, "Pivotal Moments in American History," Calloway offers a panoramic snapshot of the various political and cultural interests in and around the British colonies in North America. In particular, he depicts a highly politicized environment in which several groups were simultaneously trying to gain the upper hand in the wake of the transfer of power – at least on paper – of the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River from French control to British.While others have described the variety of impulses among the American colonists, particularly those who hoped to settle across the mountains, few have offered much insight into the actions and maneuverings of the native Indian nations living in those lands. Calloway, with his expertise in Native American history, remedies this to offer a sophisticated and complex portrait of a geography disputed by American colonists, British, French, Spanish, and several Native American tribes. To use an anachronistic comparison (though one which seems to inform Calloway's analysis), the Cold War-like balance of power between the French and the British vanished after the 1763 treaty, creating a vacuum in which alliances shifted uneasily and with uncertainty.If the text is occasionally a little dense, this is mostly due to Calloway's goal of offering a portrait that is both comprehensive and condensed. The amount of information, including a fair number of biographical stories of key participants, presented in this slim volume is breathtaking. For those interested in the immediate prologue to the American Revolutionary War, this book is among a handful of necessary volumes, alongside those of Bernard Bailyn and the like.