From the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century, the French, Spanish, and English battled for control of North America. According to Francis Parkman, Spanish civilization crushed the Indian; English civilization scorned and neglected him; and the French embraced and cherished him. The problem was that the French lost all claims to North America during the French and Indian War. After 1763, tribes like the Iroquois and the Seneca were therefore in a defensive position as British colonists began encroaching on their lands.

Several Indian chiefs and spiritual leaders decided to combat European colonization. Some, like the western Delaware prophet Neolin, preached against the evils of alcohol and European goods. Others, like Chief Pontiac of the Seneca, gathered his tribal warriors and attacked British forts and garrisons. By June of 1763, Pontiac's multi-tribal alliance controlled nine of the twelve British-held forts west of the Appalachian Mountains. Despite the fact that British reinforcements re-took the forts, King George issued a proclamation forbidding colonists from settling west of the mountains. The royal Proclamation of 1763 upset crowded colonists hungry for more land, pushing America closer to Revolution. This lesson lets students explore the role of Native American politics and warfare in the events of colonial America.