The Treaty of Paris, 1763
The Royal Proclamation, 1763
Early Demands by British Merchants
Other Problems
The Search for a Solution
Merchants Seek an Elected Assembly
Stumbling Toward a Constitution
Other Interesting or Important Documents

The Northern Colonies in Britain's America;
The Question of Quebec
The Dividing of Empire
The Loyalists and their Heritage

"The Treaty of Paris (1763), signed 10 February 1763 by France, Britain and Spain after 3 years of negotiations, ended the SEVEN YEARS' WAR. New France was surrendered by Governor Vaudreuil to a British invasion force at Montréal by the Articles of Capitulation on 8 September 1760. Prior to this the native allies of the French had reached an agreement with the British at Oswegatchie (25 August) and the Huron of Lorette had done likewise at Longueuil (5 September). The colony was under military occupation and under military rule until a definitive treaty of peace was negotiated."
Source:  Canadiana Encyclopedia

Wikipedia entry:  Treaty of Paris 1963

Newfoundland context, including clauses dealing with St. Pierre and Miquelon
Nova Scotia Museum Black Loyalist site for a clear map of colonies

Map of Territory and article on Britannica
Historical narratives of Canada has posted before and after maps here and here

"This act was an extension of the Royal Proclamation meant to push Québec's boundaries into Aboriginal land located past the Great Lakes into the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. It has been interpreted that the spirit of the Royal Proclamation was to be kept in acquiring Aboriginal land for the British. From the British perspective, it had two goals: to keep French Canadian neutral in the coming uprising in the Thirteen Colonies, and to keep Aboriginal peoples on the side of the British.
Source:  The Canada in the Making page here which also published this map showing the rest of North America in context.

"The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III to establish a basis of government administration in the North American territories formally ceded by France to Britain in the Treaty of PARIS, 1763, following the SEVEN YEARS' WAR. It established the constitutional framework for the negotiation of Indian treaties with the aboriginal inhabitants of large sections of Canada."

Source:  Canadiana Encyclopedia   Includes small map of territory.

"In accordance with the ROYAL PROCLAMATION OF 1763, Governor James MURRAY was to extend English laws and institutions to Québec. He was instructed to govern with the assistance of a council of 8. An elected assembly was planned but did not appear. Murray's instructions also prescribed a Test Oath for officeholders which, because of its doctrinal content, no Catholic could conscientiously take. This provision would have resulted in all public offices being occupied by English-speaking Protestants, of whom there were only about 200, to the exclusion of nearly 70 000 French-speaking Catholics. Murray interpreted his instructions in such a way that he could govern through a 12-member appointed council."  See also
Source:  Canadiana Encyclopedia section on Constitutional HIstory


"Murray was reappointed Governor for this civil regime. He set up a council to assist him, as his new instructions required, and as further instructed, started to introduce English law into French Quebec. English criminal law, with its trial by people's jury, might win acceptance in time. But civil law, involving the weight of property and business dealings -- and indeed, seigneurial tenure, the very basis of the land system under Old French law -- posed a mass of unfamiliarities and complexities for new courts. Thus a hesitant Murray did not push legal changes further; any more than he created an elected Assembly as called for in the Proclamation. Here the rising English-speaking merchant element in Quebec province made plain their sharp displeasure. The Proclamation had promised the English law they relied on, and a representative assembly in which their own views could be heard. Had Old Subjects no rights? Yet Murray, a military man and an autocratic Scot, had small liking for noisy shopkeepers and petty demagogues (as he saw them), but felt a good deal more sympathy for the "orderly" French who understood authority -- yet who might not even be able to vote for or sit in, an Assembly under existing British laws, which still withheld political rights from Catholics in the Protestant-controlled United Kingdom of Great Britain."
Source: CANADA: A Celebration of Our Heritage Chapter 4: British Empire and American Revolution: 1763-1791
See also:  Canadiana Encyclopedia entry about Murray.

"By 1763 the territorial battles between English and French had been resolved but the Indians, most of whom had been allies of the French, had been excluded from the process.    Pontiac, the war chief of the Ottawas, rejected the idea that Britain would now control his people's fate. Supported by other chiefs, he urged the Indian nations to attack the English."
Source:  Canada: A People's History Episode page:  Indians reject British control

"In 1762 he sent messengers with a red stained tomahawk and a wampum war belt, who visited every tribe between the Ottawa and the lower Mississippi, all of whom joined in the conspiracy The end of May was determined upon as the time when each tribe was to dispose of the garrison of the nearest fort, and then all were to attack the settlements. A great council was held near Detroit on 27 April, 1763, when Pontiac delivered an oration, in which the wrongs and indignities that the Indians had suffered at the hands of the English were recounted, and their own extermination was prophesied."  Source:  Native American Ways blog entry by Malcolm Gault-Williams

Jeffrey Amherst and Smallpox Blankets - References to the letters indicating intentional germ warfare on the part of the British towards the Indians.
Smallpox and Indians - A response from a reader questioning Easterbrook's claim that the delivery of smallpox-laden blankets was the "most successful biological warfare to date."

"The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 14 Geo. III c. 83) setting procedures of governance in the area of Quebec.
Principal components of the act:

-Expansion of territory to take over the Canadian portions of the Indian Reserve (1763) that had separated Quebec from Rupert's Land including much of what is now southern Ontario
-Expansion of territory to take over land that is now in the United States (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota).
-Replaced the oath of allegiance so that it no longer made reference to the Protestant faith.
-Guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith.
-Upheld the continued use of the French civil law for private matters while maintaining the use of the English common law for public administration, including criminal prosecution."

Source: Wikipedia reference page which also contains an image of the government structure of the time.

The original document of The Quebec Act is located here- Scanned and accessible on Early Canadiana Online.

"The impending American Revolution and the fear that the "Canadiens" might join them in the revolt led the British government to pass "An Act for making more effectual provision for the government of the Province of Quebec in North America" (Quebec Act) in 1774."  Source and longer analysis by Claude Bélanger here.