BRITISH POLICY IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY 1763–1768 BY CLARENCE EDWIN CARTER A. M., 1906 (UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN) THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1908 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS June 1 1908 THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY Clarence Edwin Carter, A.M. ENTITLED British Policy in the Illinois Country, 1763-1768 IS APPROVED BY ME AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy in History Evarts B Greene HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF History. BRITISH POLICY IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY 1763-1768 CHAPTER I.—Introductory Survey. CHAPTER II.—The Occupation of Illinois. CHAPTER III.—Status of the Illinois Country in the Empire. CHAPTER IV.—Trade Conditions in Illinois, 1765-1775. CHAPTER V.—Colonizing schemes in the Illinois. CHAPTER VI.—Events in the Illinois Country, 1765-1768. BIBLIOGRAPHY.— CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY SURVEY. In 1763 Great Britain was confronted with the momentous problem of the readjustment of all her colonial relations in order to meet the new conditions resulting from the peace of Paris, when immense areas of territory and savage alien peoples were added to the empire. The necessity of strengthening the imperial ties between the old colonies and the mother country and reorganizing the new acquisitions came to the forefront at this time and led the government into a course soon to end in the disruption of the empire. Certainly not the least of the questions demanding solution was that of the disposition of the country lying to the westward of the colonies, including a number of French settlements and a broad belt of Indian nations. It does not, however, come within the proposed limits of this study to discuss all the different phases of the western policy of England, except in so far as it may be necessary to make more clear her attitude towards the French settlements in the Illinois country.