To keep their rich hunting grounds around the Great Lakes, the Odawa helped the French fight the British when war began in 1754. Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit was a key fort in the fur trade networks. When Britain defeated France in 1763, the Odawa had to decide whether they could trust the English, but Governor Jeffrery Amherst banned the sale of weapons and ammunition to Indigenous people, proving they could not.

Chief Pontiac, a key Odawa leader, along with Seneca Chief Kayshuta, rallied an Indigenous force and attacked British forts around the lakes.  Pontiac was eventually defeated, but his war taught the Crown that First Nations people could not be ignored. In The Royal Proclamation of 1763 the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains were declared off limits to American settlers. It was hoped this gesture would prevent another leader like Pontiac from emerging.