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Nov 25, 1500
First Occupants
In Native groups, there were no elected central government. The Iroquois lived in a matriarchal society and the Algonquin lived in a patriarchal society. -
Period: Nov 25, 1500 to
Official Power and Countervailing Powers
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Relations between French and Natives
The French allied themselves with Hurons and Montagnais, they would help each other in wars. Natives used the Guerilla Warfare fighting style which used ambush attack, this differed to the European way of shooting at each other in an open field. -
Power of State (part 1)
In 1663, the chartered company system was replaced with Royal Absolutism by King Louis the 14th. In this system, the King and the Minister of Marine, who controlled all French colonies, stayed in France. The Governor and dealt with external affairs, like defence. The Intendant controlled money, seigneurial system, roads, and industries. The Sovereign Council the high court, consisted of the governor, bishop, intendant and some councillors. -
Power of State (part 2)
The bishop controlled parishes, priests, hospitals, schools, charities. Captain of the Militia was the chief of police, dealt with issues on the seigneuries but had no seat on the council. -
Collaboration Between State and Catholic Church
Catholicism had a religious monopoly in New France, they were in charged of all hospitals, schools, missions and parishes. Church encouraged people to listen to the governor and intendant, in exchange they had a church tax called tithe, had a place on the sovereign council and had insurance that religious matter were respected. -
Great Peace of Montreal
Native groups were at war and it was getting in the way of the French fur trade because the Amerindians would fight instead of hunting beavers. Louis Hector Callier, the governor general of New France, called 40 native nations to accept the king as their father so they could resolve their disputes and help the french. -
Life in New France
Settlers of New France had to do a lot of hard work in the colony. They had to care for their crops, making clothes, fixing tools and preparing for winter. Despite this, they had a better life in the colony, they had land and money, there was a smaller gap between rich and poor and the king had less power. There was still 3 social classes. Elite like the governor, intendant and councillors; middle class like Seigneurs and richer merchants and Peasants like censitaires, and craftsmen. -
Seven Year War and Articles of Capitulation
France and England began the 7 year war in Europe, their North American colonies went to war too. The British colonies won on the plaines of Abraham, but the war continued in Europe so from 1760 to 1763, the colony was under British military rule. French militia were allowed to go back to their homes, French military had to go back to France. Catholicism could still be practised, but the bishop went to France. French elite chose to go to France, and everyone who stayed became British subjects. -
Royal Proclamation
After England took over the colony, they wanted to assimilate the French so they made the Royal Proclamation. The land was renamed Province of Quebec, it's size decreased after giving natives land around the great lakes. The French were upset as a lot of fur came from there. The colonies laws were all English, townships were made, there weren't new bishops, Catholicism had to be denounced to hold public office and no French immigrants were allowed. Quebec was run by an all British government. -
Difficulties of Governments
James Murray, the governor of Quebec, couldn't put in place the strict laws in the Royal Proclamation, since the population was mostly french and they would rebel. He let the bishop come back, french civil laws were kept, and he didn't call for an assembly so the English couldn't make laws. English people didn't like him because they didn't want to live under french laws. French people still didn't think they have enough powers. So, he was replace by Carleton who did the same things. -
Causes of the American Revolution
After the 13 colonies helped England take New France in 1760, they expected to get the valley of Ohio, but they didn't. The British King also taxed them a lot and made them house British soldiers. They didn't like these things and started to revolt. This caused a war between England and the 13 colonies, that took place from 1774-1783. The colonies won and became an independent country, but loyalists had to leave. 6000 people came to Quebec and increased the English population. -
Quebec Act
Britain was scared that the French would join the American revolution, so they made the Quebec Act to gain their loyalty. This Act gave the Great Lakes back to Quebec so the French could continue their fur trade, French civil law the seigneurial system was put back in place. The test oath act was changed to an Oath to the King of England, the French could stay Catholic. There were less British in the government and more French people because there wasn't any elected assembly. -
Reaction to Quebec Act
The British merchants living in Quebec were unhappy with the changes that came with the Quebec Act because they wanted an elected assembly and expected the colony to favour the British. The French were scared of the changes that came with the proclamation, but the Quebec Act eased them, they felt it was still not enough French rights though. The Americans got even more mad because the French wanted more land and they wanted more land too. Their revolts got even worst. -
Constitutional Act
After the Americans became independent, loyalists had to leave. Many came to Quebec, in the areas west of Quebec, they were unhappy with the french laws. So the constitutional act was made that split Quebec in two, Upper Canada and Lower Canada. They each had their own governments with a governor, who had veto power, executive council, legislative council and the legislative assemble, that was elected. -
Faults in Government
Although the elected assembly had the right to make laws, most of them were vetoed. The assembly was mostly french farmers who wanted to tax goods, not property, and didn't want to invest in big projects that wouldn't benefit farmers. The rest of the government was rich and British, they wanted to invest in big projects and tax property to build railroads and canals. -
Cause of Rebelliions
In the 1800s, people began to want responsible government, which means the elected body has more power. Louis Papineau wrote 92 resolutions to England about how the Canadian political system could be fixed. At this time, Irish immigrants were bringing diseases, crops failed and there was an economic depression. These made Canadians upset and caused the rebellions of 1837 1838. In lower Canada they were even worse due to the tensions between French and British. -
Rebellions and their Aftermath
The rebellions were in Upper Canada (lead by William Lyon Mackenzie) and in Lower Canada (lead by Papineau.) The Upper Canada rebellion were ended quickly, but the Lower Canada one lasted longer and had 3 battles; St. Charles, St. Eustache, which the British won and St. Denis, which the French won. The British won and captured 99 Canadian militants; 12 went to the gallows and 58 were sent to Australia. In total 325 men died in these rebellions, most of them French. -
Durham Report and the Act of Union
Lord Durham was sent to Upper and Lower Canada to find the reasons behind the rebellions. He realized that they wanted a Responsible Government, but he was also anti French Canadian and wanted to assimilate them. The British government listened to one of his points and made the Act of Union, which united the 2 Canadas, and made the French a minority. There was only one government so the French minority lost power because more English laws were being passed. -
The Charlottetown, Quebec and London Conference
These 3 conferences were made to discuss the Canadian Confederation. In the Charlottetown Conference, Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island got together to discuss the military, economic and political benefits of the Confederation. In the Quebec conference, the same members of the Charlottetown Conference made the 72 resolutions, which outlined how the dominion would be run. In the London Conference, Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick made the British North America Act. -
British North America Act (or the BNA act)
The BNA act created the dominion of Canada, consisting of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. It made the Justice system, Taxation system, and House of commons of Canada. It also divided power between the Provincial and Federal government. The Federal government was responsible for criminal law, defence, banking, etc. The provincial government was responsible for education, municipal institutions, hospitals, Property and civil rights. They shared immigration and agriculture. -
Conscription Crisis
In World War I, Britain needed more soldiers and Canada put in Conscription. Every man between 20 and 45 had to join the British army. French canadiens didn't want to join the British army because they didn't feel British and many of them went into hiding. The government didn't end up getting the amount of soldiers they were supposed to. -
Maurice Duplessis
After the great depression, Maurice Duplessis became the premier of Quebec. He had very traditionalist views, like the union between church and state and living in rural areas. He was also very anti-union and was against government intervention in the economy. The Canadian federal government got into a lot of disputes with him, due to his belief of provincial autonomy. He was constantly criticized for slowing down the modernization of Quebec by Unions and intellectuals. -
Quiet Revolution
After Duplessis lost power, Jean Lesage took over. He was very liberal and began more state intervention in the economy, like nationalizing hydro-quebec. He also supported the separation of church and state, he started the ministry of education and health care, so schooling and health was no longer run by the church. These changes in Quebec over a short period was given the name the Quiet Revolution. -
Quebec Nationalism
During the Quiet Revolution, French Canadians began to consider themselves a nation. They started to believe they needed to protect their culture and language, so many laws were put in place to protect them. The separation between Quebec and Canada became a popular idea at this time, two referendums were held for Quebec sovereignty. The first was in 1980 and the "no" side won. The second was in 1995, the "no" side won as well. This nationalism led Quebec to not sign the Canadian constitution.
