US History: The Scratch of a Pen by Calloway

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Seven Years’ War and Treaty of Paris
North American Peoples in Geopolitical Context
North American Transformation
Reference

Introduction

The history of the United States of America has been rightfully associated with the constant battle for freedom and recognition of the state’s socio-political identity. The existing tendency of multiculturality and ethnic diversity traces back several centuries ago, following the patterns of political force allocation within the modern US territory. In his The Scratch of a Pen, Collin E. Calloway dwells on the manifestation of the consequences of such a force allocation, namely, the fundamentals of the historical development of the United States and global politics after signing the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

The Treaty, initially signed by British, French, and Spanish leaders, put an end to a dreadful and seemingly lifelong war on political leadership and imperialistic intentions of the world’s leading nations. However, while it is generally accepted to prioritize the discussion of the solely political implications of the end of the Seven Years’ War, Calloway places emphasis on a more significant aspect of the political endeavor: the indigenous peoples affected by the political power distribution and Europe’s egocentric intentions. Hence, The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and Transformation of North America is a book that focuses not on the purely historical context of the Seven Years’ War but focuses on the Treaty of Paris’s role as a precursor of North America’s transformation and rebellion, leading to the signature of the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

Seven Years’ War and Treaty of Paris

Having started at the end of the 15th century with the thrive of colonialism during the Era of Discovery, some of the most powerful nations at the time paid much effort and attention to the desire to subdue as many colonies as possible in order to establish their position as the most powerful and economically successful political entities. France and Britain, being lifelong enemies in the battle for world supremacy, eventually entered a war in 1756. Also known as the French and Indian War, the conflict eventually resulted in something Christian Frederick Post would later describe as “[s]o long as the world has stood there has not been such a War” (Calloway 2006, 4). According to Calloway (2006, 4), “British and French, Americans and Canadians, American Indians, Prussians, Austrians, Russians, Spaniards, and East Indian moguls fought the war, and conflicts had been waged on land and sea, in North America, the Caribbean Islands, West Africa, India, and continental Europe.”

Hence, the scope of the international conflict eventually became entirely unprecedented, and the settlement for peace was required immediately. France and Britain, for their part, focused on the yearning for power in the North American lands, prioritizing the conquer of Ohio (Calloway 2006). While, at first, Britain was not in a beneficial position in the war, the policies introduced by the newly appointed prime minister William Pitt helped the state regain its strengths and “win victories” (Calloway 2006, 5). Simultaneously with battles, British leaders negotiated the peculiarities of further collaboration with Indian peoples, granting them freedoms and guidance. As a result, with the help of Indian troops, Britain received a significant advantage in the military, and the Treaty of 1763 resulted in France losing much of its power in North America and Britain becoming the most dominant nation outside Europe. However, such a complex diplomatic endeavor, according to Calloway (2006), although helping reestablish the forces across Europe, entirely disregarded the feelings of actual human beings living across the North American areas.

North American Peoples in Geopolitical Context

In order to address the aforementioned issue and discover the long-term implications of the Treaty of 1763 for North America, Calloway shifts the investigation beyond a historical landscape. According to the author, “family was more important than empire, prayer more important than political power, weather more important than world news” (Calloway 2006, 42). By using such phrasing, Calloway underscores the idea that every historical event cannot be treated in isolation from the socio-cultural context in which it took place. While the Treaty of Paris was undeniably a turning point in world history, it might not have been the political power allocation and geographical distribution that mattered the most. When pondering the historical paradigm employed across the writing, the author states the following:

[The Scratch of a Pen] is not a book of diplomatic history… Rather it surveys the enormous changes generated by the Peace of Paris and assesses their impact on many societies and countless lives. (Calloway 2006, xi)

Hence, it becomes evident that the author moves beyond a plain diplomatic history blueprint and investigates how social, political, and cultural aspects of history intertwine in order to catalyze a chain of drastic socio-economic changes for a certain population. The book’s editor notes that The Scratch of a Pen serves as a link between “diplomatic history and socio-cultural history of North America” (Calloway 2006, xi). Hence, it is necessary to outline the ways in which attention to Indian peoples redefines the historical impact of the Treaty of 1763.

The primary scopes Calloway outlines in the first chapter of the book is the scopes of diversity observed in America in 1763. He claims:

The people living in America in 1763 were a diverse lot. Even in the British colonies, English, Scots-Irish, Irish, Highland Scots, and Welsh settlers mingled with Palatine Germans, Dutch, Swedes, Finns, French Huguenots, and Jews, as well as Indians, Africans, and British soldiers. (Calloway 2006, 24)

The majority of local residents at the time were not involved in global politics and focused on the preservation of their agriculture. When the war began, Americans were not interested in the pragmatics of alliance with the empires. For example, when speaking of Indians, Calloway (2006, 49) states that “Indians fought not out of love for the French or the British but in a consistent effort to keep their country independent of either.” Hence, once they were convinced that the British empire could present more favorable conditions for co-existence in the American land, local peoples settled for everything that could prevent them from another drastic and challenging year of combat.

However, the imperial administration that did everything to gain financial and political advantage became nothing but a traitor to Indian peoples, who were taken out of the political picture and whose feelings were disregarded by the imperialists. Such behavior eventually resulted in the Pontiac being initiated by Native American tribes fighting for independence from Britain colonists. According to Calloway (2006), even though British military forces won the war, the overall management mistake that catalyzed the rebellion in the first place was never taken into account by the British government. As a result, North America and its population underwent a series of drastic transformations leading to the American land people know today.

North American Transformation

The primary takeaway from Calloway’s book is the fact that the drastic change of political force initiated by the Seven Years’ War produced a domino effect that transformed America into a modern cosmopolitan land once and for all. As a result of continuous hand changes across North American territories, “the relationship between the people who were the citizens of the new nation and peoples who were not continued to contradict the ideals expressed to justify the nation’s birth” (Calloway 2006, 171). Some of the major precursors to such transformation, according to the author, included but were not limited to:

The sacrifice of the Indian peoples’ interests for the sake of imperialism eventually caused the growing dissatisfaction rates;
The imperialists’ perception of American lands as a purely industrial and commercial source with no account for the population;
The imperialists’ failure to counsel the indigenous peoples of the Americas prior to establishing their rule;
The deprivation of lands and rights prior to considering the implications of such an egocentric act (Calloway 2006).

In the urge to respond to such outrageous behavior and materialistic expectations from land with real people, culture, and values, “people in 1763 responded to problems whose consequences they could see but not accept by initiating actions whose consequences they could not clearly foresee” (Calloway 2006, 171). As a result, such a response initiated the process of transforming North America into a land united by the desire to resist the system and find freedom within their land. Unlike British imperialists, the US founding fathers accounted for the mistakes they witnessed during the past centuries and did not place imperial administration above the people’s needs. Considering Calloway’s arguments, it may be concluded that the Seven Years’ War and the subsequent Treaty of Paris served as catalysts for a series of socio-political transformations that led to the establishment of the independent American land free of imperial ruling and ignorance.

Reference

Calloway, Collin E. 2006. The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America. Oxford University Press.

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US History: The Scratch of a Pen by Calloway

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