The scratch of a pen

Scratch of a Pen by Colin Calloway

The book "The Scratch of a Pen 1763 and the Transformation of North America" by Colin Calloway appears in a literature context that treats the issues of American history in the late 18th century period. It sets a distinct course in the academic research in the period, focusing not necessarily on the Anglo-American society or international politics, but more on the effects on multicultural and multiethnic relations following significant events of the year 1763. The end of the French and Indian War meant that Britain would receive French and Spanish territories East of Mississippi as well as Canada -- alongside with its diverse and complex cultural and ethnic mixture.

Calloway begins his book by a context presentation focusing on the "America and Americans in 1763." He offers a very comprehensive analysis on assessing the ground conditions, explaining various reasons for which conflict can and did appear: low communication channels between local British military forces and the Kingdom; little awareness of politics for common Anglo-Americans, Indians, French or Spanish people.

The following chapters focus on effects of the 1763 Peace that eliminated French presence on the North American region and gave Britain full control, at least in what regards territories. Britain began losing control of the North American colonies due to massive conflicts between migrating populations as well as due to its poor administration and unsuccessful tax policies. What Calloway correctly assesses is the fact that Britain lost in the following years what it had won by in-between empires war by an inefficient local and regional management.

As colonists migrated more and more to the West, conflicts with the Indians also increased. Victory after victory gave momentum to the white population in realizing they can defeat the Indians without British intervention. Winning the French North American colonies set the important seeds of the American Revolution, creating a context of anti-British rule that transformed into independence needs, later on in 1783.

Therefore, Calloway offers an in depth view of how the 1763 British rule over the French colonies in North America focusing in the driving factors and forces that twenty years later led, alongside with Eastern colonies to the American independence. As well as pushing forward social frustrations due to high taxes, the British also fueled anti-imperial movements at an elite level in the North American population. No representation in the British Parliament of high tax payers in the American colonies provoked, therefore, political collisions started not necessarily as independence struggles but more anti-British struggles.

Colin Calloway accurately answers the question that the book addresses: the effect of the 1763 borders shifts on various populations in the area. Yet the book also offers an insight on the nature of Native American opposition in the evolution of American independence. The author portrays the Pontiac War, for example, as an Indian war of independence against British rule. The level of bloodshed and the number of displaced or destroyed Indian populations grew not only in relation with Indian-British violent relation but also due to East-West migration. As soon as French presence disappeared, white colonists started moving aggressively in Indian territory creating even more instability in the region for Britain. Weakened by wars fought inside and outside the American continent, Britain lost even more of its military power in its conflicts with the Indians, offering a context for North American independence. The author builds upon this and also presents the relations between other colonists of the North American Plains. Spanish, French or British soldiers reaction to the 1763 events are also important elements in the 1783 American Independence War, as the year has not only reshaped state borders but it also created new cultural and ethnic borders and relations.

The book is an essential reading in understanding the facts that resulted in the American Independence going to the roots of social, cultural and political change in the continent. Furthermore, the value of the book lies in the attractive narrative on evolution of cultural and ethnic elements that other populations beside the Anglo-Americans had during these times. Indian, French, Spanish, African and even Canadian populations are described and put in the larger context of the evolution of what became the United States. Different interests, cultures, languages and mentalities form what we know today as on the most multicultural state.