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The Royal Government
Established by the King of France in 1663, the Royal Government was the organization of the government in New France, and was part of the French regime's absolute monarchy. This gave rise to power struggles between the two main administrators in the colony: the governor and the intendant. The king of France was above all, and below him was the sovereign council (Governor and Intendant), and underneath that were the captains of militia, and then the citizens. -
The Great Peace of Montreal
The French were trading for fur with the Amerindians, and one of their main suppliers were the Huron. The French's business with the Huron attracted the Iroquois' Five Nations, who were at war against the Huron. Seeing that the Huron were working with French, the French became new enemies to them. For many years, the Iroquois caused problems in the fur trade business. That was until 1701, when the Great Peace of Montreal was signed, stopping the Iroquois wars. -
British Take-over
After the Seven Year War (1756-1763), the French were forced to surrender their land to the British (except St Pierre and Miquelon). The treaty of paris was signed, and the Royal Proclamation was put into place. This renamed New France to the Province of Quebec, English criminal and civil laws were applied, a new Government was put in place, townships were placed, and the Bishop was sent away, with no new Bishop allowed. French were allowed to leave, but they would give their land to British. -
The Royal Proclamation
After the conquest, in 1763, the king of England put into place the Royal Proclamation, which changed New France into Quebec. There was a governor who now appointed members of an executive council to advise him. The territory's borders were decreased to just around the St Lawrence river valley, and now divided by the township system instead of the seigneurial system. English criminal and Civial laws were applied. The bishop was sent back to France to dissolve the Catholic religion in Quebec. -
The Governor Problem pt. 1
In 1765, governor James Murray realized that the french were 99% of the Quebec population, with the rest of the 1% being English. The few English demanded many things, that James knew the French would be very displeased of. In order to gain their loyalty, he did a few things to please them. He allowed a new bishop to continue the Catholic religion, he allowed French Laws in Lower Courts, and he did not call an Elected Assembly. -
The Governor Problem pt. 2
The British Merchants were very angry with James Murray, so they told the King of England, who swiftly brought James Murray back to France, and replaced him with Guy Carleton, who became Governor in Murray's place. Once he got there, he decided to keep Murray's ideas, because he found they were fair, and he needed the French's loyalty in case the Thirteen Colonies decide to attack. Unlike James, he was not kicked out of the Governor's seat, and he even returned back to be the Governor in 1785. -
The Quebec Act
In 1774, Guy Carleton applied the Quebec Act was applied to guarantee French loyalty. It denied an elected assembly (Which the British wanted), enlarged the area of Quebec, replaced Test Act Oath with Test Oath of Allegiance, put in place French civil laws, tithe and seigneurial system one again, appointed council (minimum 17 members). This angered the Thirteen Colonies, and caused them to retaliate and demand independence. -
American Revolution
Since 1765, when James Murray tried to help the French, the thirteen colonies were angry at the crown of Great Britain for letting this happen. They were also angry that they did not get the Valley of Ohio, since they fought with the British to claim it. Great Britain, however, did not feel that the thirteen colonies contributed enough to the war, and they imposed extra taxes on them. After the Quebec Act, they fought against the British, and in 1776, they won the battle and won independence. -
The Tory Party
The Tory Party was formed after the Constitutional Act, and was a conservative political party formed by the Anglophone merchants. They were against the Parti Canadien, and they wanted to make laws and policies favorable for commerce. Eventually, when things heated up with the Patriotes, the Doric Club, which was associated with the Tory Party, were trained for combat against the Patriotes which were bound to attack. -
Parti Patriote
Previously named The Parti Canadien in 1791, this political party was reformist, and was made up of mostly French Canadian Representatives, who wanted more power for the French Canadians. They were unsatisfied of the Legislative Assembly`s lack of real power. In 1826, they changed their name to the Parti Patriote. Eventually more radical reformists came into view, like the Patriote Leader Louis Joseph Papineau, who went to more extreme measures, including rebellion against the British. -
The Constitutional Act
In 1791, the province of Canada was split up into Lower Canada and Upper Canada. Lower Canada was home to all the French, and a few British. Upper Canada was all British, with very few exceptions. Now, the Governor General had veto power, The Legislative Council was applied to approve or reject laws made by the Assembly, ordinary people had the right to vote for the first time, but only land-owning men over 21 had this right, and people in the Assembly were elected every four years. -
The 92 Resolutions
Louis-Joseph Papineau, the radical leader of the Parti Patriote in the Lower Canada, wrote the 92 Resolutions in 1834 which asked for: The election of members in the Legislative Council , control of the budget by the Legislative Assembly, and a responsible government. The 92 Resolutions was responded with the 10 Russel Resolutions, which said no to the latter. This angered Papineau and the Patriotes, and was one of the main reasons they decided to rebel. -
The Rebellions of 1837
After the 10 Russel Resolutions were read by Louis-Joseph Papineau, he and the patriotes were angered. They had rallies where they would speak of their anger towards the British, and they planned for rebellion. Les Fils de la Liberte provided them guns, and in 1837, the patriotes fought against the British. Papineau led the rebellion in Lower Canada, and William Lyon Mackenzie King led the rebellion in Upper Canada. After a short fight, the patriotes failed, and Papineau fled. -
Act of Union
After the Patriote Rebellions of 1837-1838, Great Britain sent a new Governor, Lord Durham to find out why the rebellions happened. Lord Durham sent London a report which encouraged them to do the Act of Union, which would unite lower Canada and Upper Canada. In 1840, the Act of Union was officially put together, which had one Legislative Assembly, Governor General, etc. -
The Charlottetown Conference
The Charlottetown Conference was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1864, and the purpose of the conference was to discuss the Canadian Confederation. The conference was originally supposed to be the meeting of 3 maritime province leaders (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), but the province of Canada came in order to discuss a union that would include them. There were multiple benefits to joining together: Political benefit, economic benefit, and military benefit. -
The Quebec Conference
Took place in 1864 and involved the same people as the Charlottetown conference. They agreed on 72 resolutions detailing how the Dominion of Canada would be run. They agreed on: A federal system, 24 seats to each colony, Assembly elected by representation by population and a railway to be built between colonies. This plan barely got through, as many people were not accepting of it. -
London Conference
Took place in 1866, in London, it was the final conference that lead to the formation of the confederation. It had 16 delegates from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia gathered with members of the British government to draft the British North America Act. This act was a continuation of the 72 resolutions. -
The Louis Riel Affair
In 1885, many Canadians demanded that Louis Riel, leader of the metis who rebelled against the British, be hanged. French Canadians who felt they could relate to Riel, pleaded with John A MacDonald not to hang him. As usual, John A MacDonald bit into his large Big mac, and calmly shook his head, simultaneously ordering the lynching of Louis Riel, which ended up happening. -
Feminism
Since the 20th Century, feminist parties rose and fought for woman rights. They wanted woman to be allowed to vote, have the same jobs as men, and pretty much be equal to men. Even after those rights were given to women, many men were still sexist, and feminism continued. Feminists continued to demand equality to men in very radical ways. -
Conscription of 1917
At the start of WW1, many English Canadians signed up to help Great Britain's armies, but the French did not feel the same way, as they were not treated as equals. The war took its fair share of lives, and the British armies needed more people. This is when the conscription was put into place (Obligatory to fight in the war if the requirements are met). The French were very dissatisfied with this, and many people went into hiding, and many others were thrown into the army by force. -
Maurice Duplessis Government
After Maurice Duplessis, a lovely fellow, came into power in 1936 and started the Duplessis Government. He started a conservative party, and the liberal opposition was unable to fight against his power. This started something called the Great Darkness for the liberals and separatists. He was very corrupt, using patronage and favoritism, and he banned strikes. Don't even get me started on the Duplessis orphans. That makes it all so much worse... -
The Padlock Act
Made by the Duplessis Government, it was an Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda (That is exactly what it's named, actually). It was also put into place to make strikes illegal, which was fought against by many social justice groups because they felt people deserved the right to defend their job interests. Frank Scott eventually convinced the government to get rid of it, making strikes legal. -
Conscription of 1942
During WW2, the government promised that there would be no second conscription. Not long after, they broke their promise and applied the second conscription. Still, the majority of French did not approve. They made a group called the Bloc Populaire, which went against Conscription and once again demanded Quebec's Autonomy. It was shortly dismissed, and there were no other instances of this.
