Quebec Act

The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the British Parliament setting out procedures of governance in the area of Quebec.

Background

After the Seven Years' War, a victorious Great Britain achieved a peace agreement through the Treaty of Paris (1763). Under the terms of the treaty, the Kingdom of France chose to keep the rich sugar islands and gave up its vast North American territories east of the Mississippi River known as New France. New France was then considered less valuable, as its only significant commercial product at the time was beaver pelts. The territory located along the St. Lawrence River, called Canada by the French, was renamed Province of Quebec by the British.

With unrest growing in the American colonies to the south, which would one day grow into the American Revolution, the British were worried that the French Canadians might also support the growing rebellion. In order to secure the allegiance of the approximately 70,000 French Canadians to the British crown, first Governor James Murray and later Governor Guy Carleton promoted the need for action. There was a need to compromise between the conflicting demands of the new subjects and that of the newly arrived British subjects. This eventually resulted in the Quebec Act of 1774.

Effects on the Province of Quebec

The Quebec Act restored the former French civil tradition for private law, which had been ended in 1763 and allowed for the Roman Catholic faith to be practiced. It replaced the old oath with one to George III which had no reference to the Protestant faith. The act annexed, to Quebec, the area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River.

Effect on the Thirteen Colonies

The Quebec Act was one of the Intolerable Acts denounced by the American colonists, further contributing to the American Revolution.

Frontiersmen from Virginia and other colonies were already entering the area annexed to Quebec and land development companies had already been formed to acquire ownership of large tracts and sell land to settlers. Americans also denounced the Act for promoting the growth of Papism and cutting back on traditional English rigths and freedoms in favor of a French-styled system.

Langston (2006) looked at press reaction in New England. Newspaper editors of the time explained how the Act reorganized Canadian governance, establishing direct rule by the crown, and limiting the reach of English law to criminal jurisprudence. Editors such as Isaiah Thomas of the The Massachusetts Spy drew links between the Quebec Act and legislation circumscribing American liberties, such as the Tea Act and the Coercive Acts. Editors shaped public opinion by writing editorials and reprinting opposition letters from both sides of the Atlantic. The First Continental Congress, which met from 5 September to 26 October 1774, addressed the inhabitants of Quebec, warning them of the perils of the increasingly arbitrary, tyrannical, and oppressive nature of British government.

The Act was never enforced outside Canada. Its main importance was to anger the Americans, weaken the King's supporters (Loyalists), and speed the confrontation that became the American Revolution. When the war started, an unsuccessful effort was made in Parliament to repeal the laws in hopes of mollifying the angry Americans, but it was too late and there was no repeal. The Treaty of 1783 gave the lands south of the Great Lakes to the United States.

Bibliography

• Langston, Paul. "'Tyrant and Oppressor!' Colonial Press Reaction to the Quebec Act. Historical Journal of Massachusetts 2006 34(1): 1-17. Issn: 0276-8313
• Lawson, Philip. "'Sapped by Corruption': British Governance of Quebec and the Breakdown of Anglo-american Relations on the Eve of Revolution." Canadian Review of American Studies 1991 22(3): 301-323. Issn: 0007-7720 Fulltext: online in Ebsco
• John C. Miller; Origins of the American Revolution 1943. online version

See also

• Canada, History
• American Revolution

External links

• The Quebec Act
• Canada in the Making - Constitutional History

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