The Scratch of a Pen

1763 and the Transformation of North America

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.

The “Pivotal Moments in American History” series seeks to unite the old and the new history, combining the insights and techniques of recent historiography with the power of traditional narrative. Each title has a strong narrative arc with drama, irony, suspense, and – most importantly – great characters who embody the human dimension of historical events. The general editors of “Pivotal Moments” are not just historians; they are popular writers themselves, and, in two cases, Pulitzer Prize winners: David Hackett Fischer, James M. McPherson, and David Greenberg. We hope you like your American History served up with verve, wit, and an eye for the telling detail!

©2006 Colin G. Calloway (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Spellbinding....First-rate cultural history." (Publishers Weekly)
"Imbued with cultural erudition and diplomatic insight." (Booklist)

excellent snapshot of 1763

This is a relatively short book, but it keeps delivering insight after insight. I have read quite a few books about the years 1754 to 1783, but this short book offered facts of which I was unaware. Calloway makes connections that I have not seen in print before.I do have a small quibble with his dealing with Fort Pitt, smallpox, and Amherst. No doubt Amherst wanted to remove the Indian menace in a any way possible, but Calloway correctly points out the distribution of smallpox blankets happened before ASmherst's suggestion of spreading smallpox. Trader William Trent (I believe Trenton was named after his father) charged the British army for the blankets he, Trent, distributed (Calloway is one of the few to actually Trent's name). My quibble is that he mentions that smallpox was fairly widespread in western Pennsylvania that spring and summer. In other words, smallpox was already present in the local tribes (in the spring, before the blankets were distributed), and smallpox was widesrpread throughout the colonies. Including along the Susquehanna which was raided by other tribes who stopped with Fort Pitt's lcal Delawares coming and going. Amherst is guilty of intent, but smallpox was prevalent in the colonies at that time.
But Calloway does go into into the politically correct game of blame. As in his book on Washington and his relations with Indians, Calloway points out the circumstances and lets the readers reach their own conclusions. Alas, almost all the political leaders are following their own agendas, and those are partially determined by the values, or some might sat lack of values, of the time.This reader can't help noticing, once again that the 'free space' in the English colonies created a land hunger in most individuals that is not seen in New France nor New Spain. The peace treaty of 1763 changed the lives of those on the American continent as much as the War had. Calloway keeps giving examples of how the peace changed the relations between people(s) once the French threat was gone.
Once again I am amzed at how good a narrator Simon Vance is. I can't imagine a better, more satisfying reading of this book.

Wish it was longer.

The author does an excellent job recounting the events triggered by the 1763 treaty, however there's one area I wish he had covered better. In the prologue he discussed the purely negative portrayal of Anglo-American settlers that has predominated modern coverage of the era. He says that this book will take a long-biased look at those settlers, but he doesn't really deliver. The book glances over the migration of these peoples into contested land with barely a nod rather than a look at the social forces moving them. The policy makers and land speculators are well covered, but not the settlers themselves. Speaking as someone tired of the black/white coverage of the events of the era, I can't help but feel this was a missed opportunity.

Spectacular Look into 1763

This is a wonderfully written and thoroughly researched short history book. The best way to describe it is a cross-section of what it was like to live in North America in 1763. Despite this book being short, the detail is amazing -- how the mail worked, how suits were ordered, how tobacco was sold . . . . You get a very vivid sense of daily 1763 life among various groups including: southern planters, British soldiers, French-Canadian furriers, freed slaves, whites who chose to live among Indians, etc. etc. etc. Of particular note, this probably does as good a job of any popular history I have ever read with respect to giving a textured and nuanced description of many various Indian groups and their relations to white settles, the British, the French, and each other. In short, I learned a lot and really enjoyed it.

short and to the point

I really enjoyed this book as it was straight to the point. It's always good to learn things from different points of view. great work

A truly excellent scholarly account.

Any additional comments?

An excellent scholarly treatment of the multifarious outfalls of the Treaty of Paris of 1763, with particular reference to the influence of the cession to Britain of French-claimed lands between the Appalachians and the Great Lakes and Mississippi. All players are comprehensively discussed: the French colonists more or less abandoned by their home country; the American colonists hungry for western land and the benefits of Indian trade; policy-makers in London and Paris, and their militaries in interior North America; the Spanish, despoiled of Florida, and almost embarrassed by acquiring trans-Mississippi Louisiana; and above all the Indians beset by pressures on every side and no longer able to play British, French, and Spaniards against one another to try to maintain their independence of action, to secure their lands, and to maintain the trade essential to their survival.Many readers will be familiar with the general outline of this account, and with many of the names and places referenced, but few, probably, will have ever read a comprehensive treatment of all the moving parts in this story so pregnant for the immediate future of eastern North America in 1763. Note: this is decidedly not a history of the French and Indian war, which is dispatched in a matter of a few paragraphs preliminary to the main subject of the book.It is regrettable and remarkable that neither the director nor narrator knows how to pronounce "hegemony."

Quick & Neutral Overview of North America after the French & Indian War

This is a good, balanced, and neutral overview of North America after the French & Indian War, aka the Seven Years' War.

It is a bit sporadic and scattered in how it presents information, but still worth the read for a high level overview of this period in history.

Poor account - there are better

If you want to read about the French and Indian War and the aftermath, skip this poor book and instead get "The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War (Unabridged)", also on audible and with the same narrator. This book is very poorly written and constructed, and treats the Indians as a bunch of cartoon "noble savages" rather than examining the different tribes as different people (who often fought each other). The first 45 minutes is just telling you (twice!) what the next 5.5 hours will hold (and then it doesn't deliver). No narritive structure, no compelling story, nothing worth listening to.

Disappointing

This was a painful book, very disorganized and pointless. Excuse my candor :-)

Lacked sparkle

I was disppointed in the author's style, rather than in the facts -- even understanding that it's a political history. Rather dry. I feel the author's work didn't live up to the scope of his project, and it failed to convey the depth of the impact of the treaty, although it includes many anncedotes and details. Read a bit like an undergraduate's thesis. But because of the details, I would recommend it for listeners who aren't also looking for style.