The American Revolution and the Loyalists
Timeline of Events
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The American Revolution (The American War of Independence)
The war pressured people to take sides. Many people who supported British rule left the Thirteen colonies for Quebec and Nova Scotia - they were refugees (people seeking protection in another country to escape danger in their own country)
This wave of people included 3,000 black Loyalists, 2,000 Haundenosaunee people, and 3,000 German Mennonites who did not take a side in the war.
This wave of people included 3,000 black Loyalists, 2,000 Haundenosaunee people, and 3,000 German Mennonites who did not take a side in the war.
Challenges Created by the Loyalist Migration
The Canadiens
The Canadiens
- The migration increased the number of British people in Quebec.
- The Loyalists began to ask Britain for British laws and customs, considering they were British born.
- What about the rights of the french? what about the rights under the Quebec act? Will the Loyalists endanger these rights?
- The Loyalists were mostly farmers; their arrival will mark a shift in the reason that British negotiated treaties with the First Nations.
- The Royal Proclamation stated First Nations had to agree to give up their land, but this did not always happen. did the negotiators understand each other?
- Many Loyalists ended up in Nova Scotia which had little farmland. They ended up taking over Mi’Kmaq hunting and fishing grounds. The British gov’t did not negotiate with the Mi’Kmaq - said the “Indian Territory” was not recognized in this area.
What did the Loyalists want?
Nova Scotia
It gave the St. John River settlers their own colony - New Brunswick. Quebec
It passed the Constitutional Act in 1791 which established British laws and institutions for Loyalist settlers west of Montreal. It divided Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Upper Canada - British laws/customs, Lower Canada - Quebec Act 1774 - British criminal law, but French civil law. Set aside land for Protestant churches and guaranteed Canadiens rights to the Catholic Church. Both Upper and Lower Canada had a “representative government”. *** A Representative Government is where citizens elect representatives to an assembly, and the assembly speaks on their behalf. |
Information shared above is summarized from:
Rees, Anderson Gerrits, Allaire (2006) Our Canada: Origins, Peoples, Perspectives. Thompson, Nelson
Rees, Anderson Gerrits, Allaire (2006) Our Canada: Origins, Peoples, Perspectives. Thompson, Nelson