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Quebec Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 14 Geo. III c. 83) setting out procedures of governance in the area of Quebec.
Principal components of the act:
- Expansion of territory to take over the Canadian portions of the Indian Reserve (1763) that had separated Quebec from Rupert's Land including much of what is now southern Ontario
- Expansion of territory to take over land that is now in the United States (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota).
- Replaced the oath of allegiance so that it no longer made reference to the Protestant faith.
- Guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith.
- Upheld the continued use of Civil law (legal system) initially used by the French (as opposed to Common law used by the British).
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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 islands of Guadeloupe for their valuable sugar production instead of 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 Quebec by the British, after its capital.
The Canadians became British subjects, but to be admitted to any public office they were required to swear a test oath, rejecting their Catholic religion.
With unrest growing in the 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. At that time, French Canadians formed the vast majority of the population of the province of Quebec (more than 99%) and British immigration was not going well. 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.
The Quebec Act restored the former French civil tradition for private law, which had been ended in 1763, and allowed public office holders to practise the Roman Catholic faith. It replaced the oath to Elizabeth I and her heirs with one to George III which had no reference to the Protestant faith. This allowed for the majority of the population of Canada to participate in the public affairs of the colony. In other words, for the first time since becoming a colony, French Canadians were able to participate in the affairs of the colonial government. As a result of this Act, the American revolutionaries failed to gain the support of the Canadians during the American Revolution. Finally, the act annexed, to Quebec, the area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River.
While it is clear that the Quebec Act did much to secure the allegiance of the Canadians to Britain, it had other unforeseen consequences. It was termed one of the Intolerable Acts by the American colonists, further contributing to the American Revolution.
There were several American colonist concerns with the provisions of the act. For one, it guaranteed that residents of the Ohio Country were free to profess the religion of the Roman Catholic church. Settlers from Virginia and other colonies were already entering that area. Land development companies had already been formed to drive out the Indians and exploit the territory. Many of the leaders of the American Revolution, such as George Washington and Daniel Boone, were wealthy land speculators who had much to gain by establishing a new government that would not be bound by British treaties with the Indians, such as the Proclamation of 1763, that recognized Indian rights to these lands [1]. Americans denounced the Act for promoting the growth of Papism and cutting back on freedom and traditional rights.
Langston (2006) looked at press reaction in New England. Editors explained how it 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 that it angered the Americans, weakened the King's supporters (Loyalists) and sped the confrontation that became the American Revolution. (Miller 1943) When the war started an unsuccessful effort was made in Parliament to repeal the laws in hopes of mollifying the angry Americans, but it came too late.