Scratch of a Pen - Collin G. Calloway

The author of this book, Collin G. Calloway derived the title of the book from the famous quote on the treaty of Paris, "half a continent...changed hands at the scratch of a pen" (p. 15). This book covers a broad scope of how the Peace of Paris that ended the Seven Years War in 1763 transformed the North American continent. The peace treaty signed in Europe in 1763 ordered that both France and Spain would surrender Canada and all territory east of the Mississippi River to Britain. The settlers, immigrants, and Indians in those areas would now be under British rule. Calloway shows the effects that the new British rule had on various people by describing their everyday lives and the challenges they faced as Britain commenced its heavy taxation on the American colonies and the Indians were being driven out of more of their lands.

The 1763 Peace of Paris also gave Louisiana to Spain, which led to cultural development there as exiled Acadians settled there from Canada. The migration of people from one place to another throughout North America after the signing of the treaty in 1763 helped shape the country known as America today, because twenty years later, at the Peace of Paris in 1783, all of the land that had previously been transferred to Britain was given to America as a nation. Through many detailed accounts, "The Scratch of a Pen" demonstrates how events in 1763 transformed the political and cultural environment of an entire nation and sparked the beginnings of an American revolution – and eventually an American nation.

In the first chapter of the book, the author gives the reader a clear picture of the lives of those who lived in the American colonies. Calloway talks about the priorities of the people, stating that "planting and harvesting meant more to most people than did timetables for the transfer of territory" (Calloway 20). The people of the colonies had no interest in the treaty when it was first signed. The colonists were more concerned with the treaty and their zealous reactions are what led to the Pontiac War which Calloway discusses in the second and third chapters of the book along with its ramifications. The colonists thought that they would seize new land now that there was more land under the British rule. The Indians however, were not willing to give up the land that they occupied. When the British tried to force the Indians to submit to their rule, this led to a rebellion led by Pontiac, an Ottawa chief. Calloway refers to Pontiac's War as the "Indian war for independence" and writes that although they "did not win the war of 1763" they managed to "assert their power" (Calloway 76).

The Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Augusta in 1763 is discussed in detail