History of Canada after the Fall of New France

1774-1834

Today’s Topics

1774 - Quebec Act

1775 - American Invasion of Canada

1776-1783 - American Revolution

1791 - Constitutional Act

1812 - 1815 - War of 1812

1834 - Upper/Lower Canada issues

Quebec Act - 1774

An Act of the Parliament of Great Britain.

The oath of allegiance was replaced with one that no longer made reference to the Protestant faith.

It guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith

Territory - Expanded to take over much of the Indian Territory.

Allowed a mix of French civil law and English common law. Civil law is based off of tradition and precedences while common law is more flexible to the current standards.

Province of Quebec

Eastern North America

American Revolutionary War

1776-1783

Dec 31, 1775 - American Invasion

American Manifest Destiny

During this time in history, the 13 British Colonies who represented what is now USA, were lurking for independence.

The objective for this campaign was to capture the province of Quebec and convince the French speaking people to join their side.

The battle was fought at Quebec City and was the first defeat for the American Continental Army.

It came at a great cost to the Continental Army as 50 we killed, 34 wounded, and 341 captured, while the protectors of Quebec only has 5 killed and 14 wounded.

American Revolutionary War

In the 13 colonies, people were separated into two groups: Americans and Loyalists.

During the early 1770s, the British began taxing the 13 colonies. This angered the colonists and a small battle broke out between Massachusetts and Britain.

Tempers flared and the British soon occupied all of Massachusetts.

Upset colonists boarded at British ship full of tea and dumped it all into the ocean. This became known as the Boston Tea Party.

On July 4, 1776 the 13 colonies separated from the British Crown and declared the United States of America with the Declaration of Independence.

Britain did not like this and war ensued. 7 years later the British were defeated and the 13 colonies officially became the United States of America with the second Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Treaty of Paris - 1783

*Second Treaty of Paris* (Both Important to Canada)

This was the end of the American Revolutionary War and was signed between the Americans and Great Britain.

10 Key Agreements. Below are important to Canada.

#1. United States completely sovereign.

#2. Established boundaries between BNA and USA.

North America after the Revolutionary War

American Revolution Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_comGBmnYew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwWi0zdF7wk

Constitutional Act - 1791

The Quebec Act in 1774 ensured the French people would have some of their orders, traditions, and religions maintained.

The two groups involved were the Loyalists (British) and Quebecois. Unlike the Americans, Canadians were happy to remain loyal with the British.

These two groups had to reach an accommodation about the organization of society.

The Loyalists wouldn’t accept the provisions of the Quebec Act so the Constitutional Act was created.

The Act created two colonies: Upper and Lower Canada.

Upper-Lower Canada - Constitutional Act

This act gave each colony an appointed governor. The governor was advised by executive and legislative councils who were appointed for life. There was also a legislative assembly elected by a few male voters. Britain hoped this would solve the issue of responsible government.

The government quickly became elites who represented powerful economic interests, so they weren’t necessarily the best government for middle class people.

This act created two groups: Loyalists (Ontario) and Quebecois (Quebec)

Upper - Lower Canada

Upper-Lower Canada

Lower Canada - Quebec - Chateau Clique

Upper Canada - Ontario - Family Compact

Problems

$$ spent to build canals to ship commercial goods rather than roads to ship agricultural goods.

The rural agricultural class felt its interests were constantly being ignored by the government.

Caused tension between rural and urban.

Upper-Lower Canada

Upper Canada (Family Compact) used its power to preserve the Anglican Church despite the fact that the majority was Methodist.

In Lower Canada, the English speaking elite controlled business and used its political connections to dominate the French majority

Obviously the French (lower Canada) did not like this.

Lower Canada wanted a legislative assembly where the Governor was accountable to the elected assembly to protect their culture.

This was always shot down immediately.

Reform in Quebec

The Quebec (Lower Canada) reform movement was led by Louis Joseph Papineau.

Papineau’s supporters wanted radical political change.

They formed the Fils de la Liberte. (Sons of Liberty)

Reform in Quebec

A small fight broke out between the two groups (Upper & Lower), and troops were send to arrest Papineau and his supporters for disturbing the peace. Papineau soon lost support and fled to the U.S. Papineau’s rebellions collapsed quite quickly.

In Upper Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie, became the leader of the radicals (English)

They were unhappy, because the systems of government were run by the elites.

In 1837, Mackenzie decided that the system was so corrupt that it needed to be overthrown. Mackenzie’s revolt was a disaster and he fled to the US.

Oligarchy Versus Republicanism.

Mackenzie was the first mayor of Toronto and was thrown out of office 5 times.

He wanted a direct democracy model of governance, while most wanted a system based on British Parliamentary traditions. This did not work in Canada. Too many people’s interests were involved and pleasing people in a brand new country would not be possible with old methods of governance.

Reform in Upper Canada

A Canadian rejection to republicanism.

Canada was currently running on an oligarchical system. This means a small group of people running a country.

The farmers and non-elites did not want this.

Republicanism was the model the United States had and people felt it was a good system.

Remaining an oligarchy was about keeping faith with the crown.

The War of 1812 (-1815)

War between the new country of USA and the British Colonies to the north.

Canada had the support of Britain and therefore had an enormous army and navy to back them.

Laura Secord - In 1813 she heard of a planned American attack at Beaver Dams near Niagara Falls. She ran roughly 32km early the next day to warn the British. The British and Mohawk tribes were able to better prepare for the attack and ended up either killing or capturing almost all British soldiers.

August 1814 - Burning of Washington

War of 1812

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Kbn8hFT1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf-nZZg3iBw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ety2FEHQgwM

Change

What types of change did we see today?

1841 - Province of CanadaCanada East and Canada

West