Established the western boundary of Cherokee land claims, ceding territory comprising most of present-day West Virginia to British settlers.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- October 17, 1768
- British signatory
- John Stuart
- Named after
- Hard Labor, South Carolina
- Territory ceded
- Most of present-day West Virginia
- Superseded by
- Treaty of Lochaber (1770)
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 had established a western boundary for colonial settlement, but many settlers and land speculators had moved beyond it. British authorities sought to renegotiate boundaries with Native tribes to legitimize those settlements and reduce frontier tensions.
On October 17, 1768, British representative John Stuart signed the Treaty of Hard Labour with the Cherokee, establishing a boundary line from the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers to the headwaters of the Kanawha, then south to East Florida, ceding Cherokee claims to lands comprising most of present-day West Virginia.
The treaty was almost immediately complicated by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix signed the following month with the Iroquois, which set a conflicting boundary further west. The resulting dispute was not resolved until 1770, when the Treaty of Lochaber redrew the line originally set by the Treaty of Hard Labour.
Political Outcome
Cherokee relinquished claims to land west of the Allegheny Mountains and east of the Ohio River; a new boundary line was established running from the Ohio-Kanawha confluence south to East Florida.
Cherokee held claims to lands west of the Allegheny Mountains under the 1763 Proclamation boundary
Great Britain gained recognized title to territory comprising most of present-day West Virginia