The British colonists were initially angered at the inequality of the colonies to Great Britain. This anger grew with the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited settlement beyond the Appalachians. This feeling arose because the colonists had paid for the fertile lands of the interior with their blood in the French and Indian War, and now they were prohibited from settling it. This was increased by the many taxes levied on the American colonists to pay for King George's war. The territorial issues only worsened after the Great Famine of 1769.