MICHIGAN UNDER THE BRITISH

In 1760, Michigan and the whole country which is now known as British America was lost to the French and came under the dominion of Great Britain. War broke out between the French and British colonies in North America in 1754, but the change did not seriously disturb the posts in the Great Lakes region until the year 1763. Detroit and Mackinac had received English garrisons in 1760, without resistance either from the French or the Indians. It was fondly believed by the English government, as well as by the American colonists in these parts, that this meant an era of peace and prosperity for the region of the Great Lakes. But the calm was of short duration. A storm was brewing in the breast of the great chief, Pontiac.

The treatment accorded the Indians by the British was very different from what they had been accustomed to receive from the French. The French always paid the Indians proper respect and deference. The British, on the contrary, began almost immediately to thrust them aside and to treat them as dependents and vagabonds. The British continually encroached on the Indian hunting grounds. Complaints began to be heard, which grew louder, stimulated no doubt by the active sympathy of the French traders on the borders of Michigan.