Quebec Prompted the Declaration of Independence in the US?

Winning New France lost Britain America. Pissing in Quebec lost the Patriots Canada.

I have been reading history with the kids a few times a week. Quebec as a colony of France was pivotal in prompting the declaration of Independence.

In 1760 ‘New France’ decided to occupy the Ohio Valley and exclude the English from that region. ** This was about the fur trade which seems was the real economic inducement of the times. Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia sent George Washington the Fort le Boef in 1753 and demanded the French withdraw from the area. The French refused.

George Washington and some 300 men set out to expel the French in 1754. It was a failure however it sparked further the conflict in the ‘New World’. France and England were at peace by some miracle.

1756 saw the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War in Europe. And that brought the conflict back to the New World.

New France was experiencing food shortages and the British were disrupting the flow of supply ships. By 1758 the military forces in New France was losing any competitive advantage.

In 1758 the British concentrated forces in 3 fronts Fort Duquesne, Louisbourg and Ticonderoga. Louisbourg fell on July 26, 1758 after a 7 week siege. Montcalm was the general in charge. he had appealed to France for aid prior to this. There were an estimated 50,000 British troops then in America. Montcalm having no aid, decided to minimize losses rather than win the war.

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham

In June of 1759 General James Wolfe and 9k men landed on the island of Orleans, seized the town of Levis opposite of Quebec. By September Wolfe was restless. And on the wee hours of September 13, 1759 the attack was launched. Montcalm met Wolfe on the plains of Abraham where both Wolfe and Montcalm were wounded within 15 minutes of the bloody battle.

The British spent a miserable winter in Quebec City short on supplies and shelter. General Levis attempted to drive out the British, then under the control of General James Murray. The first supply ship that would come in the Spring would decide the war. On May 9, 1760 British ships pulled into Quebec. Well here was another point!

The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 and France abandoned its possessions in Canada. Back in Britain the Board of Trade was designing the blueprint to govern the colony and set out the specifics in the Proclamation of 1763 renaming New France to the Province of Quebec. Originally it was intended to make Quebec more attractive to English speaking settlers however it pissed off the French as it limited their then established way of life and ultimately Britain was unable to attract English speaking settlers to Quebec.

Carelton said as I think: Quebec City was likely to become ‘the principal scene where the fate of America may be determined’.

In 1774 the Quebec Act was passed. This too influenced those in the 13 colonies. The Quebec Act gave Catholics in Quebec rights they were denied in England, including the right to hold office; reestablished the seigniorial system (is that feudal?), and gave the Catholic Church permission to collect its tithe. For the English , criminal law was retained. However what incensed the British merchant class and then those in the 13 colonies, was that the 1774 Quebec Act forbade elected government!!!

Riots were held in Montreal and New England and in Boston. The Sons of Liberty held rallies urging revolution.

So the British won against France and got Quebec and passed the 1774 Quebec Act and mightily pissed off the British (and other) colonists.

Now the ultimate reason Quebec really initiated the Declaration of Independence?
Well Britain decided that having assured the peace against France in the colonies, it wanted to reclaim the portion of costs for those war making efforts.

OUCH. From there came the taxation without representation. The Stamp Act. The Boston Tea Party. Of all ironies. Quebec was the reason for maybe one of the most important countries taking hold.

So I thought to myself, Britain in winning Canada lost America. The colonists of the 13 colonies also disliked heavily the appeasement policies it perceived in the Quebec Act of 1774 and it disliked seeing a ban on elected government and most of all disliked being taxed. All of that came out of winning against France.

It gets far more interesting. The Americans spent 1774 and 1775 trying to convince Canadians to join them. At that point there was no appetite to get into war with Britain. The Maritimes had been given many advantages and Quebec had it’s appeasement.

On June 27, 1775 the Continental Congress decided on an invasion of Canada, planning a Montreal and Quebec City strike simultaneously.

Now it gets interesting. It took the Patriots 55 days to take Fort Saint-Jean, then they began their advance on Montreal with Montgomery in charge. Carleton learned that Benedict Arnold was attacking Quebec City. Montgomery occupied Montreal, then headed to Quebec City. This might have been a mistake…..

Montreal was left in the hands of David Wooster of Connecticut. I think this guy really dropped the ball with Montreal (from the Patriots perspective). He was a rabid anti-Catholic. Now from the French’s perspective what is the difference between being a British colony ruled by protestants and a ruled by Patriots which were also mostly of British protestant ancestry? Swaying them shouldn’t have been hard. What loyalty did they have to the British? I mean talk about a negotiation primed in your favor.

Ok so Wooster ran around encouraging his men to urinate in their churches and on their shrines, and attack their Priests. If he had any kind of strategy whatsoever he would have seen this territory as important. The French could easily have switched sides and accepted their new occupiers. But they were going from appeasement policies from Britain allowing them to hold office etc. to having to witness pissing in their churches. Ultimately by July 19 all Canadian territory had been returned. It was a failed campaign.

Did the Patriots lose Canada because Wooster was pissing in Quebec?

Did the British lose the US because the English tried to force taxes to pay for the war with the French in the ‘new world’?

Did the British lose America when the British won Quebec?

Did the British lose America when they set out the 1774 Quebec Act?

From Quebec’s point of view what would be the difference from the mostly British neighbors in Canada, vs the then 13 colonies.

Religious tolerance might have been expected of the Patriots, so many of them having migrated to the US fleeing religious persecution in Europe.

The next irony was that France ultimately backed the 13 colonies.

When I was discussing all this with the kids I was most fascinated by the dynamics back then. Did winning Quebec cause the British to lose America. Did pissing in Montreal cause the Patriots to lose Canada. Was the systematic forced secularization part of the assimilation that the British intended for Quebec?

I am asked to opine on some complicated things lately which I reserve not to do. Mostly because I am building slowly my base of understanding of the historical events of dating back a few hundred years. I intend to examine various peace treaties and documents.

I share this and my theories only because we are being forced to discuss such things as the annexation of Canada. If it happens be sure not to piss in certain places. I jest, but I also see new dynamics at play that I haven’t got my mind around it all just yet. Is the new regionalizing in North America a desire for a stronger US Canadian relationship or the next regionalization before final globalization?

How about you? What are your thoughts?