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Conquest of New France (1758–1760)

Conquest of New France
Part of the Seven Years' War

Depiction of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, a decisive British victory that led to the British occupation of Quebec City
DateJune 1758 – September 1760
Location
Result British victory
Belligerents

 Kingdom of Great Britain

Iroquois Confederacy

 Kingdom of France

Commanders and leaders

The Conquest of New France (French: La Conquête) – the military conquest of New France by Great Britain during the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763 – started with a British campaign in 1758 and ended with the region being put under a British military regime between 1760 and 1763. Britain's acquisition of Canada became official with the 1763 Treaty of Paris that concluded the Seven Years' War.

The term is usually used when discussing the impact of the British conquest on the 70,000 French inhabitants, as well as on the First Nations. At issue in popular and scholarly debate ever since is the British treatment of the French population, and the long-term historical impact for good or ill.

Background

 
Although the military of New France saw early success during the Seven Years' War, a series of campaigns between 1758 and 1760 saw the British capture most of the French colony of Canada.

The Conquest represents the final episode of a long series of conflicts between Britain and France over their North American colonies. In the decades preceding the Seven Years' War and the Conquest of New France, both Britain's and France's interest toward their North American colonies rapidly grew and the region became an important source of tensions between the two powers. British America became a very lucrative export market during the first half of the 18th century and gained in importance in the eyes of British policymakers. The growing economic value of the North American colonies convinced many influential members of the British public that those colonies should be expanded and that France's territorial claims on the continent should not be allowed to stand in the way.[1]: 2–5  Furthermore, the nature of the British Empire fundamentally changed in the years following the War of the Austrian Succession; moving from a maritime and commercial empire to a more centralized and controlled empire. This change encouraged the British government to increase its commitments toward its North American colonies and their backcountry (for example, the Ohio Valley).[2]: 24 

In opposition to the British, France did not justify the defence of its colonies through economic interests. On the contrary, many French policymakers believed that the colony was an economic drain for France and argued that its value was mostly strategic. France's leaders felt it would be difficult to compete with the Royal Navy and were afraid that Great Britain's maritime superiority could threaten its profitable colonies in the West Indies as well as its standing in Europe.

Almost an afterthought for London and Versailles was the fact that these desired lands were already populated by Indigenous bands (different groups or tribes) that had a long history fighting each other. Each band was keen to have a strong ally that could provide sophisticated weapons and other desirable items, not least of which was alcohol. Alliances were finicky. The French had a better relationship based mainly on the fur trade. The English could be more generous with land treaties[citation needed] and weapons. Issues emerged about trust. Long before war was formally declared, violence throughout the region where French and English had overlapping interest was always a threat.

Opposing forces

From a numerical point of view, New France had always been at disadvantage when compared to the more populous thirteen American colonies of British America. When the hostilities began, New France could only claim a population of approximately 80,000 white inhabitants, 55,000 of whom lived in Canada. In opposition, the Thirteen Colonies could count on a population of 1,160,000 white inhabitants and 300,000 black ones, both free and enslaved.[3] Yet the number of regular troops available at the beginning of the conflict did not reflect this demographic inequality. In 1755, New France was defended by 3,500 professional soldiers, while the Thirteen Colonies relied on two Irish regiments – between 1,500 and 2,000 career soldiers – who were supported by two other regiments of New England conscripts. Thus, the balance of power on land was initially more or less equal. On the seas, the situation was much more one-sided in favour of the British Navy. In 1755, Britain had 90 warships against France's 50, a disparity that only widened with time. This maritime domination gave Britain a clear advantage in term of its ability to send reinforcements and supply to its North American colonies.[4]

The Conquest

 
Depiction of the burning of the French ship Prudent, and the capture of Bienfaisant during the Siege of Louisbourg.

What would later be dubbed "The Conquest" began in 1758, when, under the direction of statesman William Pitt, the British made a conscious effort to bolster their military efforts in the North American theatre.[5]: 171  That they would actually succeed in conquering the entire French colony of Canada was, at the time, entirely uncertain.

Louisbourg

In July, 1758, a British expedition led by Major-General Jeffery Amherst successfully captured the Fortress Port of Louisbourg in the French colony of Île Royale. Once the British Navy delivered the British Army to Île Royale, the siege was initiated. The siege of Louisbourg was the first major battle (and the first major British victory) of The Conquest. The siege took eight weeks, and the French surrendered on July 26, 1758.

After the triumph at Louisbourg, Amherst planned three fronts, all to be effected in the new year, to finally drive the French out of New France. Based in Albany, Major-General Jeffery Amhurst would move north against Fort Carillon and then to Montreal. A second force would attack Fort Duquesne, at the strategic confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which formed the Ohio River. The French had claimed the Ohio River Valley giving it the name la Belle Rivière.

First Quebec campaign

The third attack was assigned to General Wolfe. He had the task of capturing the fortress city of Quebec. Admiral Saunders was assigned the task of getting the British forces to Quebec and supporting Wolfe. Upon arrival, the army set up base five kilometres from Quebec City at the Île d'Orléans (whose French inhabitants had partially evacuated after the news of Louisbourg surfaced).[6]: 65  After the British base was firmly established, Wolfe ordered his artillerymen to begin bombarding Quebec City. Though the constant bombardment took its toll on civilian morale, it did not represent a real military threat for the French.[6]: 80 

From the beginning, Wolfe understood that British success hinged on being able draw the French army out of their fortifications and into in a decisive battle. The French army's principal commander, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, was, however, always hesitant to commit his troops to a single attack or position. Believing that the British campaign would eventually run out of supplies (or would be crushed by Canada's harsh winter), Montcalm's strategy focused primarily on defence.[7]: 167–8  As a result, French retaliations were often sporadic, and were sometimes carried out solely by untrained civilian volunteers.[6]: 79 

 
Schematic map of the French and Indian War

Initially and throughout the summer, all attention was to the east of Quebec City. Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Grozon, marquis de Montcalm de Saint-Veran was a master of Defence and secured the eastern flank of the city. By August 1759, both sides (especially the British) were weakened from a year of intermittent battles, and Wolfe had still not made significant headway. Aware that the British campaign was on its last legs, he mustered his remaining troops and resources for one last campaign.[8]: 267  Wolfe was convinced that his success would be to the east, but his subordinate Generals suggested attacking from the west. Surprise was essential. Wolfe landed his troops on the north-shore west of Quebec City and scaled the steep escarpment during the predawn hours of September 13. The most difficult aspect of this plan was to land 5,000 troops and supplies at night, from boats in a powerful river. Through rigorous training and with skilled naval support, this was effected between 4 AM and 7AM. The first troops to emerge atop the cliffs secured a foothold by deceiving and then overpowering the light guard. By the time the French realized the British were approaching the gates of the city, they were forced to charge the English in the European style, in Columns and Ranks deployed across the open ground known as the Plains of Abraham.

Wolfe deployed this troops across the entire battlefield while securing his flanks. This required him to abandon the traditional line three ranks deep. With a line two soldiers deep, he had his troops load their muskets with two balls. He then instructed them to hold firm until the French were 30 paces away ensuring a powerful deliver of that shot. Realizing that his troops were vulnerable, Wolfe had his troops lay on the ground during the initial stage of the French attack.

Montcalm was not prepared for this attack from the west. During the entire summer, all had been focused on the Beauport defence east of the city. Montcalm had positioned a light guard along the western approaches, but at no time was there ever indication that the British would try to land along the rushing river shore and have an army climb up the cliffs. He believed he had sufficient force in place on the west to suppress any British attempt and the British never offered any clue to this being something they might do. Now that the threat was imminent, Montcalm rushed to position his troops. Regulars in the centre, Militia and Indigenous allies on the flanks. Montcalm was eager to crush the British before they could secure their position. After a short artillery bombardment, he ordered his three columns forward. Due to the rough nature of the terrain, his troops were not able to maintain the shape of the columns and his front began to look like one awkward body of men. Once the order to fire was given, the French volleys were ineffective. Suddenly they suffered a most terrible result. The first British volley was devastating. Now the British began to advance, while reloading. The second British volley struck before the shock of the first volley had been realized. The surviving French troops had no thoughts other than to find a safe place to hide. The battle was won. By the time the French fled, General Wolfe was dead. He had sustained a first wound when a ball hit his wrist while giving final instructions along the line. He was able to continue. He positioned himself in line among his beloved Grenadiers. Just as he was preparing to give the order to fire, he was struck twice more, one in the gut and one in the chest. The men beside him carried him back a short distance. When asked if he wanted the surgeon; he answered no, "all is over with me". When told that the French were on the run, he gave orders to try and prevent them from escaping across Saint-Charles River. His final words, "Now, God be praised, I die contented".

As the French retreated, if not completely routed, General Montcalm, on horse, tried to reorganize his troops. He suddenly slouched in his saddle. He was struct in the back by a musket ball. He was assisted by a couple of officers and hobbled into the city. He was taken before a surgeon, who announced Montcalm would not live through the night. He died at sunrise on 14 September 1759. The battle was over but the fate of Quebec was not certain until the next year. The British forced the surrender of the city and took possession within a week but the Navy had to return to England before the river iced over. The British had a most difficult winter, mainly because they had destroyed the city during months of siege and bombardment. Meanwhile, the French were much more comfortable planning a spring counter assault from warm buildings in Montreal.

Second Quebec campaign

The impact of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, especially the deaths of Montcalm and Wolfe, has sometimes been exaggerated.[6]: 8  Though a major victory, the epic battle did not, at the time, guarantee success for the British campaign. Likewise, though Montcalm's death was a huge blow to French morale, it was not the essential element of defeat. The Conquest, simply put, was more than the efforts of two men culminating in one battle. As Matthew Ward argues, the success of the British Conquest in fact hinged more on the safe arrival of the British relief fleet in May 1760.[6]: 8  After the Plains of Abraham, the French had regrouped in Montreal under the command of François Gaston de Lévis, leaving the under-supplied British to endure a harsh Canadian winter in a city they had already destroyed. Following the battle, on 18 September 1759, the Articles of Capitulation of Quebec was signed between British and French authorities.

In April 1760, in a final effort to reclaim Quebec City, the French army (now based in Montreal) launched an assault against the British at Sainte-Foy, just outside the walls of Quebec City. The battle, in sheer casualties, represented a French victory. Ultimately, however, the French were unable to retake Quebec City and were forced to retreat to Montreal.[9]

Montreal Campaign

 
The capitulation of Montreal in September 1760 to British forces under Jeffrey Amherst

After the failed siege of Quebec, the British commanders were eager to bring the Conquest to a close. In July British forces numbering around 18,000 men under the overall direction of Jeffery Amherst, advanced on Montreal from three separate directions. One under Amherst from Lake Ontario, the other under James Murray from Québec and the third under William Haviland from Fort Crown Point.

The three 'prongs' which lasted nearly two months eliminated all French forts and positions. In addition many Canadians deserted or surrendered their arms to British forces while the native allies of the French sought peace and neutrality. By September 6 all three forces had joined up and surrounded Montreal. Lévis tried to negotiate a surrender with 'Honours of War' but Amherst refused to accept this.[citation needed] Lévis however was overruled by Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal the French civilian Governor who persuaded him to surrender to avoid another bloodbath.

On 8 September 1760, Lévis and Vaudreuil surrendered the entire French colony of Canada.[8]: 307–8  Thus, with the capitulation of Montreal, the British had effectively won the war. The details of the Conquest, however, still had to be sorted out between England and France. As such, the region was put under a military regime while awaiting the results in Europe. During this time, in line with the Old World's "rules of war", Britain assured the 60,000 to 70,000 Francophone inhabitants freedom from deportation and from confiscation of property, freedom of religion, the right to migrate to France, and equal treatment in the fur trade.[10]: 491 

Treaty of Paris – 1763

The final details were worked out between British and French diplomats in Europe, an ocean apart from the actual battlefields. In February 1763, the Treaty of Paris made the northern portion of New France (including Canada and some additional lands to the south and west) officially a British colony.[10] Ultimately, Canada was transferred over to the British without much protest.[8]: 310  As I.K. Steele points out, the Conquest of Canada was only one part of the Seven Years' War, and France was willing to surrender Canada peacefully in exchange for their more profitable colonies in the West Indies, particularly Guadeloupe.[11]: 130  In addition, the deal struck between France and England allowed France to retain the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Newfoundland, securing their access to the lucrative Atlantic fisheries.[12]: 7 

Consequences

Britain's decision to retain Canada was the result of different strategic priorities. On the one hand, there was a need to appease the French, who – defeat in war notwithstanding – continued to present a major threat to British interests given their demographic advantage. This implied giving up either Canada or the French Caribbean islands. Ultimately, the decision was taken to forfeit the French sugar islands even though they were far more economically significant than the North American French colonies. This was in part because annexing the French Antilles would have been a blow to national pride that the French Monarchy would have been unable to accept, thus hampering the prospect of a rapid and mutually beneficial peace settlement. But more importantly, the retention of Canada was motivated by the argument that removing the French presence from North America would reinforce the security of Britain's Empire in the region.

Quebec Act

 
Map of British America after 1763. The Quebec Act saw the expansion of the Province of Quebec's borders to include a significant portion of the Indian Reserve.

The Quebec Act was voted in the Commons on 15 June 1774. It extended the frontier of the colony, giving control over the region exploited by Montreal fur traders to the Province of Quebec, it endowed Canadiens with freedom of worship and confirmed the continuance of the Coutume de Paris in Civil law and English practice in criminal law. It also abandoned the commitment to calling a legislative assembly, a belated recognition that the Irish model had failed in Quebec.

Mutual adaptations

The consequences of the change of imperial regime are described by Donald Fyson as a system of mutual adaptations.[13]: 190  His conception of the relationship between the conquered and the conqueror implies that one must to do away with the idea that, as British identity and the English language came to underpin the mode of governance, the legislative, administrative and judicial branches of the old legal and social order collapsed and the Canadiens population was too passive to actively participate in this transformation for better or for worse. Instead, everyday practices and structures highlight the practical and utilitarian nature of the mutual adjustments that occurred between colonial administrators, British civilian population and Canadien inhabitants.[13]: 192 

Religious adaptation

A first example of mutual adaptation is the status of Catholics within the legal framework of the colony. Official policy following the incorporation of the first civil government of Quebec in 1763 mandated the imposition of all penal acts that formed the public law of Britain, including the 1558 Act of Supremacy which barred Catholics from holding remunerated government positions. This exclusionary sentiment is echoed in the Quebec grand jury presentment of October 1764, which objected to the presence of Catholic Jurors as an "open Violation of our most sacred Laws and Libertys, and tending to the utter subversion of the protestant Religion and his Majesty's power authority, right, and possession of the province to which we belong."[13]: 195  However, beyond this seemingly rigid religious ideology, the judicial framework presented ambiguities that permitted Governor Murray to make exceptions to accommodate practical realities. Nuanced language in the framing of the October 1764 presentment, which only excluded "papist[s] or popish recusant convict[s]"[13]: 195  and not papists in general, provided colonial administrators the leeway to account for the administrative necessities of running a country populated in majority by a foreign ethnic group. Indeed, the limited number of Protestant males in the colony (they numbered 200 in 1763 and crept to no more than 700 by 1775) meant that Carleton, and Murray before him, had to look elsewhere to staff the state apparatus, and the only available pool was the Canadien population.[13]: 196  The shifting legal definition of Catholicism in the Province of Quebec represents not an instance of British cultural domination and paternal enforcement, but rather a propensity for mutual adaptation in the face of regional circumstances and challenges.

Political adaptation

The political dimension of the colony under early British rule is also revelatory of a series of intertwined adaptive processes. Indeed, not only did the Canadiens have to adapt to unfamiliar power dynamics, but the British officials and civilian population were also forced to adjust in order to acclimate to new constructs of governance.[13]: 199  At the macro level, authoritarian political structures were retained under both the military regime and civil government. Murray presided over a "paternalistic, intrusive and controlling government," which was in many ways reminiscent of the French regime.[13]: 199  In this arrangement, it was incumbent upon the British civilian population to adapt to an unusual lack of parliamentary institutions. So, for example, many conflicts erupted between British merchants and colonial administrators, explaining in part why many of the former came to support American revolutionaries in 1775–1776.[13]: 200 

Colonial space

 
Satellite view of the St. Lawrence River and surrounding farmland. Rather than reorganise the properties of New France to a more traditional British set-up, the British adopted the seigneurial system of New France.

The continued use of French structures ran deeper than this flavour of authoritarianism: it also included a spatial and symbolic dimension. Rather than reorganise the division of property into the traditional English township, the British made do with the existing organisation of land.[13]: 200  The continued use of the French-Canadian parish as the basis of the administrative spatial conception of the colony's territory illustrates British adaptation to existing modes of land-ownership instead of imposing their own. Spatiality and political symbolism were also integral to the decision to continue using previously French loci of power. So, for example, the Chateau St-Louis, the Jesuit college and the Recollet church preserved their administrative functions under British rule. This was particularly disconcerting for British civilians who found themselves being tried in Catholic buildings.[13]: 201 

Economic effects

The economic outcome of the Conquest of New France is best understood within the larger context of the imperial economic structures in which it participated and thus in relation to the events and economic imperatives of the metropoles of France and Great-Britain. At the close of the Seven Years' War, both belligerents faced widely divergent economic outcomes.

Impact on the British economy

During the war, British territorial expansion and naval hegemony had proven a great boon for maritime commerce as well as for internal production. Military expenditure – and in particular spending on naval construction and armament – fuelled a burgeoning metal-working sector. There was also an expansion of the British textile industry, with the purchase of uniforms serving as catalyst. Overall, during the war, exports went up fourteen per cent and imports, eight per cent.[14]: 267  The return to peace brought two decades of quasi-depression. The government had contracted important sums in debt in order to wage war, and annual spending rose from a peacetime low of £6–7 million to a high of £21 million during the conflict.[14]: 268  The economic irrelevance of the war was compounded by the fact that the territory won in North America (i.e. Canada) was only valuable in that it provided security for the other British colonies in the Americas, its most important trade – the fur-pelt – having crumbled due to the recent conflicts, including Pontiac's War.[14]: 274  This fact, combined with the failure of the Irish solution for populating Quebec left the British with few options to alleviate their outstanding war debts except by raising taxes on its other colonies. The series of taxation methods implemented in the wake of the Seven Years' War participated in the mounting frustrations that climaxed in the American Revolution.[14]: 275  Furthermore, it can also be concluded that the absorption of Quebec directly contributed to the frustrations that boiled over in the American Revolution because it removed the reason for blocking the westward expansion of the thirteen colonies – i.e. the French threat. Indeed, without a basis for stopping western settlement that was acceptable to the colonies, the British decision to call western territories 'Indian land' frustrated colonial expectations of expansionism and gave legitimacy to complaints of metropolitan despotism.[14]: 278  In brief, the war of Conquest and by extension the Seven Years' War proved unprofitable to the British, bringing little economic reward and instead precipitating the dislocation of a profitable portion of the empire.

Impact on the French economy

The French situation was quite the opposite. During the war, the French Atlantic commerce suffered due to reduced trade with its Caribbean colonies: exports dropped by 75 per cent and imports dropped by 83 per cent.[14]: 267  French industry did not profit so radically from wartime expenditure, in part because its members failed to impose themselves as contenders on the high seas, but also because they did not have the same level of economic infrastructure as the British to begin with. The 1763 Treaty of Paris confirmed the British possession of the province of Quebec and the French retention of Caribbean colonies and Newfoundland fisheries. This arrangement explains why defeat was of little to no economic consequence to the French state: it had managed to rid itself of territory it had long considered excess weight, while holding on to the parts of the empire that were central to its commercial prosperity. Furthermore, given the lull in French economic activity that took place during the war, the return to peace meant a revival of French trade. The year following the peace agreement saw sugar production from the Caribbean surpass the 1753 high of 46 million livres, to 63 million livres. By 1770, the sugar trade was yielding 89 million livres; by 1777, it accounted for 155 million livres.[14]: 279 

Impact on the Canadian economy

As for the local economic consequences, it was established by Fernand Ouellet that once the direct damage of warfare was addressed, economic fallout was minimal. In fact, the outcome of British conquest was manifestly positive on the economic front. For example, the conquest of Canada formed the genesis of a logging trade that was non existent during the French regime. From 6000 barrels of pine per year, the colony under English dominion increased production to 64,000 barrels by 1809.[14]: 282  Furthermore, the British encouraged the immigration prerequisite to the economic expansion of Canada during the 19th century. Indeed, in 1769, Canadian exports were valued at 127,000 pounds sterling, and by 1850 they had grown to 2,800,000 pounds sterling.[14]: 283 

Historiography and memory

The Conquest is a central and contested theme of Canadian memory. Historical opinion remains divided over the ultimate legacy of the Conquest, particularly in Quebec. Much of the contention is between those that see it as having negative economic and political consequences for Quebec and French Canadians and those that see the Conquest as positive and integral to the survival of Quebec in North America. Much of the historiographical debate surrounding the Conquest is linked to the rise of Quebec nationalism and new schools of thought developed at the time of the Quiet Revolution.

The Quebec school of history, originated from Université Laval in Quebec City, posits that the Conquest was ultimately essential to the survival and growth of Quebec. The Laval school includes those Francophone historians such as Fernand Ouellet and Jean Hamelin who see the positive benefit of the Conquest as enabling the preservation of language, and religion and traditional customs under British rule in a hostile North America.[15] They argue that the Conquest exposed the Canadiens to constitutional government and parliamentary democracy and with the Quebec Act, guaranteed the survival of French customs in an otherwise Anglo-Protestant continent. Scholars such as Donald Fyson have pointed to the Quebec legal system as a particular success, with the continuation of French civil law and the introduction of liberal modernity.[16]

The Montreal school, originating at the Université de Montréal and including historians such as Michel Brunet, Maurice Séguin, and Guy Frégault, posits that the Conquest is responsible for the economic and political retardation of Quebec. These historians tried to explain the economic inferiority of the French Canadians by arguing that the Conquest "destroyed an integral society and decapitated the commercial class; leadership of the conquered people fell to the Church; and, because commercial activity came to be monopolized by British merchants, national survival concentrated on agriculture."[17]

A major figure of the Montreal school was the nationalist priest and historian Lionel Groulx. Groulx promoted the view that the Conquest began a long legacy of underdevelopment and discrimination. It was only the tenacity of the Canadiens in opposition to the alien rule of the British, Groulx argued, that had helped the French Canadians survive in a hostile North America.[18]

Before the growth of Quebec nationalism, much of elite opinion saw the Conquest as positive. For example, one Canadien politician and future Father of Confederation, Étienne-Paschal Taché, stated that "The last cannon which is shot on this continent in defence of Great Britain will be fired by the hand of a French Canadian."[19] French–Canadian debates have escalated since the 1960s, as the Conquest is seen as a pivotal moment in the history of Quebec nationalism. Even the "pro-Conquest" Laval school is part of the larger trend of renewed Quebec scholarship during the Quiet Revolution. Historian Jocelyn Létourneau suggested in the 21st century, "1759 does not belong primarily to a past that we might wish to study and understand, but, rather, to a present and a future that we might wish to shape and control."[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Baugh, Daniel (2011). The Global Seven Years War 1754–1763: Britain and France in a Great Power Contest. Routledge. ISBN 978-0582092396.
  2. ^ Rapp, Paul (2007), "British Culture and the Changing character of the Mid-Eighteen-Century British Empire", in Warren R. Hofstra (ed.), Cultures in Conflict: The Seven Years' War in North America, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-0742551305
  3. ^ Borneman, Walter R. (2007), The French and Indian War: deciding the fate of North America, Harper Perennial, p. 94, ISBN 978-0060761851
  4. ^ Guelton, Frederick (2011), "La Guerre de Sept Ans: le context français", La Guerre de Sept Ans en Nouvelle-France (in French), P U DE PARIS-SORBONNE, pp. 67–8, ISBN 978-2840507772
  5. ^ Bird, Harrison (1965), Battle for a Continent (1st ed.), Oxford University Press, ASIN B0007DMVCK
  6. ^ a b c d e Ward, Matthew C. (2009), The Battle for Quebec 1759: Britain's Conquest of Canada, The History Press, ISBN 978-0752452203
  7. ^ Stacey, C.P. (2007), Donald E. Graves (ed.), Quebec, 1759: The Siege and the Battle (1st ed.), Robin Brass Studio, Inc., ISBN 978-1896941509
  8. ^ a b c Carrier, Roch (2014), Montcalm & Wolfe: Two Men Who Forever Changed the Course of Canadian History, translated by Donald Winkler, HarperCollins
  9. ^ Manning, Stephen (2009). "Hold at All Costs". Quebec: The Story of Three Sieges. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press. ASIN B01182SL7W.
  10. ^ a b Miquelon, Dale (1988). "Conquest". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers.
  11. ^ Steele, Ian Kenneth (1969). Guerillas and Grenadiers; the Struggle for Canada, 1689-1760. The Frontenac Library. Ryerson Press. ISBN 978-0770002725.
  12. ^ Buckner, Phillip; Reid, John G. (2012). Revisiting 1759: The Conquest of Canada in Historical Perspective. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. ISBN 978-1442644076.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fyson, Donald (2012). "The Conquered and the Conqueror". In Buckner, Phillip; Reid, John G. (eds.). Revisiting 1759: The Conquest of Canada in Historical Perspective. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. ISBN 978-1442644076.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Poussou, Jean-Pierre (2015). "Les conséquence économiques de la guerre de Sept Ans". In Fonck, Bertrand; Veyssière, Laurent (eds.). La chute de la Nouvelle-France: De l'affaire Jumonville au traité de Paris (in French). Quebec: Serpentrion. ISBN 978-2894488287.
  15. ^ Jaenen, p.40.
  16. ^ Donald Fyson, "Between the Ancien Régime and Liberal Modernity: Law, Justice and State Formation in colonial Quebec, 1760–1867," History Compass (2014), 1#5 pp 412–432
  17. ^ Carl Berger (1986). The writing of Canadian history: aspects of English-Canadian historical writing since 1900. U of Toronto Press. pp. 185–86. ISBN 9780802025463.
  18. ^ Trofimenkoff, Susan Mann. "Lionel-Adolphe Groulx". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  19. ^ Andrée Désilets and Carolyn Harris, "Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché", Canadian Encyclopedia, January 20, 2008; last edited April 16, 2015.
  20. ^ Phillip Buckner and John G. Reid, eds., Remembering 1759: The Conquest of Canada in Historical Memory (U of Toronto Press, 2012), p.279.

Further reading

  • Brunet, Michel. "The British Conquest: Canadian social scientists and the fate of the Canadiens." Canadian Historical Review 40.2 (1959): 93–107.
  • Buckner, Phillip and John G. Reid, editors. Revisiting 1759: The Conquest of Canada in Historical Perspectiv. (University of Toronto Press, 2012).
  • Cook, Ramsay. "Some French-Canadian Interpretations of the British Conquest: une quatrième dominante de la pensée canadienne-française." Historical Papers/Communications historiques 1.1 (1966): 70–83. online
  • Dewar,Helen. "Canada or Guadeloupe? : French and British Perceptions of Empire, 1760–63." Canadian Historical Review 91 (2010).doi: 10.3138/chr.91.4.637
  • Frégault, Guy. Canada: the War of the Conquest (Oxford University Press, 1969).
  • Fyson, Donald. "Between the Ancien Régime and Liberal Modernity: Law, Justice and State Formation in colonial Quebec, 1760–1867," History Compass (2014), 1#5 pp 412–432
  • Gagnon, Serge. Quebec and its Historians, 1840 to 1920 (Vol. 1. Harvest House Limited Pub, 1982).
  • Gagnon, Serge. Quebec and Its Historians: The Twentieth Century (Vol. 2. U of Ottawa Press, 1985).
  • Miquelon, Dale. "Conquest", in The Canadian Encyclopedia, Volume 1, pp. 491–2. (1988) online.
  • Miquelon, Dale, ed. Society and Conquest: The Debate on the Bourgeoisie and Social Change in French Canada, 1700–1850 (Copp Clark Pub., 1977); Exurbs from primary sources and historians
  • Parkman, Francis (2009). France and England in North America: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV A half-century of conflict. Montcalm and Wolfe. BiblioLife. ISBN 978-1117791340.

conquest, france, 1758, 1760, conquest, francepart, seven, years, wardepiction, battle, plains, abraham, 1759, decisive, british, victory, that, british, occupation, quebec, citydatejune, 1758, september, 1760locationnew, franceresultbritish, victorybelligeren. Conquest of New FrancePart of the Seven Years WarDepiction of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 a decisive British victory that led to the British occupation of Quebec CityDateJune 1758 September 1760LocationNew FranceResultBritish victoryBelligerents Kingdom of Great Britain Thirteen Colonies Iroquois Confederacy Kingdom of France Colony of CanadaCommanders and leadersJames Wolfe Jeffrey Amherst James Murray William HavilandLouis Joseph de Montcalm Francois de Levis Marquis de Vaudreuil The Conquest of New France French La Conquete the military conquest of New France by Great Britain during the Seven Years War of 1756 1763 started with a British campaign in 1758 and ended with the region being put under a British military regime between 1760 and 1763 Britain s acquisition of Canada became official with the 1763 Treaty of Paris that concluded the Seven Years War The term is usually used when discussing the impact of the British conquest on the 70 000 French inhabitants as well as on the First Nations At issue in popular and scholarly debate ever since is the British treatment of the French population and the long term historical impact for good or ill Contents 1 Background 1 1 Opposing forces 2 The Conquest 2 1 Louisbourg 2 2 First Quebec campaign 2 3 Second Quebec campaign 2 4 Montreal Campaign 3 Treaty of Paris 1763 4 Consequences 4 1 Quebec Act 4 2 Mutual adaptations 4 2 1 Religious adaptation 4 2 2 Political adaptation 4 2 3 Colonial space 4 3 Economic effects 4 3 1 Impact on the British economy 4 3 2 Impact on the French economy 4 3 3 Impact on the Canadian economy 5 Historiography and memory 6 See also 7 References 8 Further readingBackground EditThis Section has an unclear citation style The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation and footnoting April 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message Although the military of New France saw early success during the Seven Years War a series of campaigns between 1758 and 1760 saw the British capture most of the French colony of Canada The Conquest represents the final episode of a long series of conflicts between Britain and France over their North American colonies In the decades preceding the Seven Years War and the Conquest of New France both Britain s and France s interest toward their North American colonies rapidly grew and the region became an important source of tensions between the two powers British America became a very lucrative export market during the first half of the 18th century and gained in importance in the eyes of British policymakers The growing economic value of the North American colonies convinced many influential members of the British public that those colonies should be expanded and that France s territorial claims on the continent should not be allowed to stand in the way 1 2 5 Furthermore the nature of the British Empire fundamentally changed in the years following the War of the Austrian Succession moving from a maritime and commercial empire to a more centralized and controlled empire This change encouraged the British government to increase its commitments toward its North American colonies and their backcountry for example the Ohio Valley 2 24 In opposition to the British France did not justify the defence of its colonies through economic interests On the contrary many French policymakers believed that the colony was an economic drain for France and argued that its value was mostly strategic France s leaders felt it would be difficult to compete with the Royal Navy and were afraid that Great Britain s maritime superiority could threaten its profitable colonies in the West Indies as well as its standing in Europe Almost an afterthought for London and Versailles was the fact that these desired lands were already populated by Indigenous bands different groups or tribes that had a long history fighting each other Each band was keen to have a strong ally that could provide sophisticated weapons and other desirable items not least of which was alcohol Alliances were finicky The French had a better relationship based mainly on the fur trade The English could be more generous with land treaties citation needed and weapons Issues emerged about trust Long before war was formally declared violence throughout the region where French and English had overlapping interest was always a threat Opposing forces Edit See also Military of New France From a numerical point of view New France had always been at disadvantage when compared to the more populous thirteen American colonies of British America When the hostilities began New France could only claim a population of approximately 80 000 white inhabitants 55 000 of whom lived in Canada In opposition the Thirteen Colonies could count on a population of 1 160 000 white inhabitants and 300 000 black ones both free and enslaved 3 Yet the number of regular troops available at the beginning of the conflict did not reflect this demographic inequality In 1755 New France was defended by 3 500 professional soldiers while the Thirteen Colonies relied on two Irish regiments between 1 500 and 2 000 career soldiers who were supported by two other regiments of New England conscripts Thus the balance of power on land was initially more or less equal On the seas the situation was much more one sided in favour of the British Navy In 1755 Britain had 90 warships against France s 50 a disparity that only widened with time This maritime domination gave Britain a clear advantage in term of its ability to send reinforcements and supply to its North American colonies 4 The Conquest Edit Depiction of the burning of the French ship Prudent and the capture of Bienfaisant during the Siege of Louisbourg What would later be dubbed The Conquest began in 1758 when under the direction of statesman William Pitt the British made a conscious effort to bolster their military efforts in the North American theatre 5 171 That they would actually succeed in conquering the entire French colony of Canada was at the time entirely uncertain Louisbourg Edit Further information Siege of Louisbourg 1758 In July 1758 a British expedition led by Major General Jeffery Amherst successfully captured the Fortress Port of Louisbourg in the French colony of Ile Royale Once the British Navy delivered the British Army to Ile Royale the siege was initiated The siege of Louisbourg was the first major battle and the first major British victory of The Conquest The siege took eight weeks and the French surrendered on July 26 1758 After the triumph at Louisbourg Amherst planned three fronts all to be effected in the new year to finally drive the French out of New France Based in Albany Major General Jeffery Amhurst would move north against Fort Carillon and then to Montreal A second force would attack Fort Duquesne at the strategic confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers which formed the Ohio River The French had claimed the Ohio River Valley giving it the name la Belle Riviere First Quebec campaign Edit Further information Battle of the Plains of Abraham The third attack was assigned to General Wolfe He had the task of capturing the fortress city of Quebec Admiral Saunders was assigned the task of getting the British forces to Quebec and supporting Wolfe Upon arrival the army set up base five kilometres from Quebec City at the Ile d Orleans whose French inhabitants had partially evacuated after the news of Louisbourg surfaced 6 65 After the British base was firmly established Wolfe ordered his artillerymen to begin bombarding Quebec City Though the constant bombardment took its toll on civilian morale it did not represent a real military threat for the French 6 80 From the beginning Wolfe understood that British success hinged on being able draw the French army out of their fortifications and into in a decisive battle The French army s principal commander Louis Joseph de Montcalm was however always hesitant to commit his troops to a single attack or position Believing that the British campaign would eventually run out of supplies or would be crushed by Canada s harsh winter Montcalm s strategy focused primarily on defence 7 167 8 As a result French retaliations were often sporadic and were sometimes carried out solely by untrained civilian volunteers 6 79 Schematic map of the French and Indian War Initially and throughout the summer all attention was to the east of Quebec City Louis Joseph de Montcalm Grozon marquis de Montcalm de Saint Veran was a master of Defence and secured the eastern flank of the city By August 1759 both sides especially the British were weakened from a year of intermittent battles and Wolfe had still not made significant headway Aware that the British campaign was on its last legs he mustered his remaining troops and resources for one last campaign 8 267 Wolfe was convinced that his success would be to the east but his subordinate Generals suggested attacking from the west Surprise was essential Wolfe landed his troops on the north shore west of Quebec City and scaled the steep escarpment during the predawn hours of September 13 The most difficult aspect of this plan was to land 5 000 troops and supplies at night from boats in a powerful river Through rigorous training and with skilled naval support this was effected between 4 AM and 7AM The first troops to emerge atop the cliffs secured a foothold by deceiving and then overpowering the light guard By the time the French realized the British were approaching the gates of the city they were forced to charge the English in the European style in Columns and Ranks deployed across the open ground known as the Plains of Abraham Wolfe deployed this troops across the entire battlefield while securing his flanks This required him to abandon the traditional line three ranks deep With a line two soldiers deep he had his troops load their muskets with two balls He then instructed them to hold firm until the French were 30 paces away ensuring a powerful deliver of that shot Realizing that his troops were vulnerable Wolfe had his troops lay on the ground during the initial stage of the French attack Montcalm was not prepared for this attack from the west During the entire summer all had been focused on the Beauport defence east of the city Montcalm had positioned a light guard along the western approaches but at no time was there ever indication that the British would try to land along the rushing river shore and have an army climb up the cliffs He believed he had sufficient force in place on the west to suppress any British attempt and the British never offered any clue to this being something they might do Now that the threat was imminent Montcalm rushed to position his troops Regulars in the centre Militia and Indigenous allies on the flanks Montcalm was eager to crush the British before they could secure their position After a short artillery bombardment he ordered his three columns forward Due to the rough nature of the terrain his troops were not able to maintain the shape of the columns and his front began to look like one awkward body of men Once the order to fire was given the French volleys were ineffective Suddenly they suffered a most terrible result The first British volley was devastating Now the British began to advance while reloading The second British volley struck before the shock of the first volley had been realized The surviving French troops had no thoughts other than to find a safe place to hide The battle was won By the time the French fled General Wolfe was dead He had sustained a first wound when a ball hit his wrist while giving final instructions along the line He was able to continue He positioned himself in line among his beloved Grenadiers Just as he was preparing to give the order to fire he was struck twice more one in the gut and one in the chest The men beside him carried him back a short distance When asked if he wanted the surgeon he answered no all is over with me When told that the French were on the run he gave orders to try and prevent them from escaping across Saint Charles River His final words Now God be praised I die contented As the French retreated if not completely routed General Montcalm on horse tried to reorganize his troops He suddenly slouched in his saddle He was struct in the back by a musket ball He was assisted by a couple of officers and hobbled into the city He was taken before a surgeon who announced Montcalm would not live through the night He died at sunrise on 14 September 1759 The battle was over but the fate of Quebec was not certain until the next year The British forced the surrender of the city and took possession within a week but the Navy had to return to England before the river iced over The British had a most difficult winter mainly because they had destroyed the city during months of siege and bombardment Meanwhile the French were much more comfortable planning a spring counter assault from warm buildings in Montreal Second Quebec campaign Edit Further information Battle of Sainte Foy and Siege of Quebec 1760 The impact of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham especially the deaths of Montcalm and Wolfe has sometimes been exaggerated 6 8 Though a major victory the epic battle did not at the time guarantee success for the British campaign Likewise though Montcalm s death was a huge blow to French morale it was not the essential element of defeat The Conquest simply put was more than the efforts of two men culminating in one battle As Matthew Ward argues the success of the British Conquest in fact hinged more on the safe arrival of the British relief fleet in May 1760 6 8 After the Plains of Abraham the French had regrouped in Montreal under the command of Francois Gaston de Levis leaving the under supplied British to endure a harsh Canadian winter in a city they had already destroyed Following the battle on 18 September 1759 the Articles of Capitulation of Quebec was signed between British and French authorities In April 1760 in a final effort to reclaim Quebec City the French army now based in Montreal launched an assault against the British at Sainte Foy just outside the walls of Quebec City The battle in sheer casualties represented a French victory Ultimately however the French were unable to retake Quebec City and were forced to retreat to Montreal 9 Montreal Campaign Edit Main articles Montreal Campaign and Articles of Capitulation of Montreal The capitulation of Montreal in September 1760 to British forces under Jeffrey Amherst After the failed siege of Quebec the British commanders were eager to bring the Conquest to a close In July British forces numbering around 18 000 men under the overall direction of Jeffery Amherst advanced on Montreal from three separate directions One under Amherst from Lake Ontario the other under James Murray from Quebec and the third under William Haviland from Fort Crown Point The three prongs which lasted nearly two months eliminated all French forts and positions In addition many Canadians deserted or surrendered their arms to British forces while the native allies of the French sought peace and neutrality By September 6 all three forces had joined up and surrounded Montreal Levis tried to negotiate a surrender with Honours of War but Amherst refused to accept this citation needed Levis however was overruled by Pierre Francois de Rigaud Marquis de Vaudreuil Cavagnal the French civilian Governor who persuaded him to surrender to avoid another bloodbath On 8 September 1760 Levis and Vaudreuil surrendered the entire French colony of Canada 8 307 8 Thus with the capitulation of Montreal the British had effectively won the war The details of the Conquest however still had to be sorted out between England and France As such the region was put under a military regime while awaiting the results in Europe During this time in line with the Old World s rules of war Britain assured the 60 000 to 70 000 Francophone inhabitants freedom from deportation and from confiscation of property freedom of religion the right to migrate to France and equal treatment in the fur trade 10 491 Treaty of Paris 1763 EditThe final details were worked out between British and French diplomats in Europe an ocean apart from the actual battlefields In February 1763 the Treaty of Paris made the northern portion of New France including Canada and some additional lands to the south and west officially a British colony 10 Ultimately Canada was transferred over to the British without much protest 8 310 As I K Steele points out the Conquest of Canada was only one part of the Seven Years War and France was willing to surrender Canada peacefully in exchange for their more profitable colonies in the West Indies particularly Guadeloupe 11 130 In addition the deal struck between France and England allowed France to retain the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Newfoundland securing their access to the lucrative Atlantic fisheries 12 7 Consequences EditBritain s decision to retain Canada was the result of different strategic priorities On the one hand there was a need to appease the French who defeat in war notwithstanding continued to present a major threat to British interests given their demographic advantage This implied giving up either Canada or the French Caribbean islands Ultimately the decision was taken to forfeit the French sugar islands even though they were far more economically significant than the North American French colonies This was in part because annexing the French Antilles would have been a blow to national pride that the French Monarchy would have been unable to accept thus hampering the prospect of a rapid and mutually beneficial peace settlement But more importantly the retention of Canada was motivated by the argument that removing the French presence from North America would reinforce the security of Britain s Empire in the region Quebec Act Edit Map of British America after 1763 The Quebec Act saw the expansion of the Province of Quebec s borders to include a significant portion of the Indian Reserve The Quebec Act was voted in the Commons on 15 June 1774 It extended the frontier of the colony giving control over the region exploited by Montreal fur traders to the Province of Quebec it endowed Canadiens with freedom of worship and confirmed the continuance of the Coutume de Paris in Civil law and English practice in criminal law It also abandoned the commitment to calling a legislative assembly a belated recognition that the Irish model had failed in Quebec Mutual adaptations Edit The consequences of the change of imperial regime are described by Donald Fyson as a system of mutual adaptations 13 190 His conception of the relationship between the conquered and the conqueror implies that one must to do away with the idea that as British identity and the English language came to underpin the mode of governance the legislative administrative and judicial branches of the old legal and social order collapsed and the Canadiens population was too passive to actively participate in this transformation for better or for worse Instead everyday practices and structures highlight the practical and utilitarian nature of the mutual adjustments that occurred between colonial administrators British civilian population and Canadien inhabitants 13 192 Religious adaptation Edit A first example of mutual adaptation is the status of Catholics within the legal framework of the colony Official policy following the incorporation of the first civil government of Quebec in 1763 mandated the imposition of all penal acts that formed the public law of Britain including the 1558 Act of Supremacy which barred Catholics from holding remunerated government positions This exclusionary sentiment is echoed in the Quebec grand jury presentment of October 1764 which objected to the presence of Catholic Jurors as an open Violation of our most sacred Laws and Libertys and tending to the utter subversion of the protestant Religion and his Majesty s power authority right and possession of the province to which we belong 13 195 However beyond this seemingly rigid religious ideology the judicial framework presented ambiguities that permitted Governor Murray to make exceptions to accommodate practical realities Nuanced language in the framing of the October 1764 presentment which only excluded papist s or popish recusant convict s 13 195 and not papists in general provided colonial administrators the leeway to account for the administrative necessities of running a country populated in majority by a foreign ethnic group Indeed the limited number of Protestant males in the colony they numbered 200 in 1763 and crept to no more than 700 by 1775 meant that Carleton and Murray before him had to look elsewhere to staff the state apparatus and the only available pool was the Canadien population 13 196 The shifting legal definition of Catholicism in the Province of Quebec represents not an instance of British cultural domination and paternal enforcement but rather a propensity for mutual adaptation in the face of regional circumstances and challenges Political adaptation Edit The political dimension of the colony under early British rule is also revelatory of a series of intertwined adaptive processes Indeed not only did the Canadiens have to adapt to unfamiliar power dynamics but the British officials and civilian population were also forced to adjust in order to acclimate to new constructs of governance 13 199 At the macro level authoritarian political structures were retained under both the military regime and civil government Murray presided over a paternalistic intrusive and controlling government which was in many ways reminiscent of the French regime 13 199 In this arrangement it was incumbent upon the British civilian population to adapt to an unusual lack of parliamentary institutions So for example many conflicts erupted between British merchants and colonial administrators explaining in part why many of the former came to support American revolutionaries in 1775 1776 13 200 Colonial space Edit Satellite view of the St Lawrence River and surrounding farmland Rather than reorganise the properties of New France to a more traditional British set up the British adopted the seigneurial system of New France The continued use of French structures ran deeper than this flavour of authoritarianism it also included a spatial and symbolic dimension Rather than reorganise the division of property into the traditional English township the British made do with the existing organisation of land 13 200 The continued use of the French Canadian parish as the basis of the administrative spatial conception of the colony s territory illustrates British adaptation to existing modes of land ownership instead of imposing their own Spatiality and political symbolism were also integral to the decision to continue using previously French loci of power So for example the Chateau St Louis the Jesuit college and the Recollet church preserved their administrative functions under British rule This was particularly disconcerting for British civilians who found themselves being tried in Catholic buildings 13 201 Economic effects Edit The economic outcome of the Conquest of New France is best understood within the larger context of the imperial economic structures in which it participated and thus in relation to the events and economic imperatives of the metropoles of France and Great Britain At the close of the Seven Years War both belligerents faced widely divergent economic outcomes Impact on the British economy Edit During the war British territorial expansion and naval hegemony had proven a great boon for maritime commerce as well as for internal production Military expenditure and in particular spending on naval construction and armament fuelled a burgeoning metal working sector There was also an expansion of the British textile industry with the purchase of uniforms serving as catalyst Overall during the war exports went up fourteen per cent and imports eight per cent 14 267 The return to peace brought two decades of quasi depression The government had contracted important sums in debt in order to wage war and annual spending rose from a peacetime low of 6 7 million to a high of 21 million during the conflict 14 268 The economic irrelevance of the war was compounded by the fact that the territory won in North America i e Canada was only valuable in that it provided security for the other British colonies in the Americas its most important trade the fur pelt having crumbled due to the recent conflicts including Pontiac s War 14 274 This fact combined with the failure of the Irish solution for populating Quebec left the British with few options to alleviate their outstanding war debts except by raising taxes on its other colonies The series of taxation methods implemented in the wake of the Seven Years War participated in the mounting frustrations that climaxed in the American Revolution 14 275 Furthermore it can also be concluded that the absorption of Quebec directly contributed to the frustrations that boiled over in the American Revolution because it removed the reason for blocking the westward expansion of the thirteen colonies i e the French threat Indeed without a basis for stopping western settlement that was acceptable to the colonies the British decision to call western territories Indian land frustrated colonial expectations of expansionism and gave legitimacy to complaints of metropolitan despotism 14 278 In brief the war of Conquest and by extension the Seven Years War proved unprofitable to the British bringing little economic reward and instead precipitating the dislocation of a profitable portion of the empire Impact on the French economy Edit The French situation was quite the opposite During the war the French Atlantic commerce suffered due to reduced trade with its Caribbean colonies exports dropped by 75 per cent and imports dropped by 83 per cent 14 267 French industry did not profit so radically from wartime expenditure in part because its members failed to impose themselves as contenders on the high seas but also because they did not have the same level of economic infrastructure as the British to begin with The 1763 Treaty of Paris confirmed the British possession of the province of Quebec and the French retention of Caribbean colonies and Newfoundland fisheries This arrangement explains why defeat was of little to no economic consequence to the French state it had managed to rid itself of territory it had long considered excess weight while holding on to the parts of the empire that were central to its commercial prosperity Furthermore given the lull in French economic activity that took place during the war the return to peace meant a revival of French trade The year following the peace agreement saw sugar production from the Caribbean surpass the 1753 high of 46 million livres to 63 million livres By 1770 the sugar trade was yielding 89 million livres by 1777 it accounted for 155 million livres 14 279 Impact on the Canadian economy Edit As for the local economic consequences it was established by Fernand Ouellet that once the direct damage of warfare was addressed economic fallout was minimal In fact the outcome of British conquest was manifestly positive on the economic front For example the conquest of Canada formed the genesis of a logging trade that was non existent during the French regime From 6000 barrels of pine per year the colony under English dominion increased production to 64 000 barrels by 1809 14 282 Furthermore the British encouraged the immigration prerequisite to the economic expansion of Canada during the 19th century Indeed in 1769 Canadian exports were valued at 127 000 pounds sterling and by 1850 they had grown to 2 800 000 pounds sterling 14 283 Historiography and memory EditThe Conquest is a central and contested theme of Canadian memory Historical opinion remains divided over the ultimate legacy of the Conquest particularly in Quebec Much of the contention is between those that see it as having negative economic and political consequences for Quebec and French Canadians and those that see the Conquest as positive and integral to the survival of Quebec in North America Much of the historiographical debate surrounding the Conquest is linked to the rise of Quebec nationalism and new schools of thought developed at the time of the Quiet Revolution The Quebec school of history originated from Universite Laval in Quebec City posits that the Conquest was ultimately essential to the survival and growth of Quebec The Laval school includes those Francophone historians such as Fernand Ouellet and Jean Hamelin who see the positive benefit of the Conquest as enabling the preservation of language and religion and traditional customs under British rule in a hostile North America 15 They argue that the Conquest exposed the Canadiens to constitutional government and parliamentary democracy and with the Quebec Act guaranteed the survival of French customs in an otherwise Anglo Protestant continent Scholars such as Donald Fyson have pointed to the Quebec legal system as a particular success with the continuation of French civil law and the introduction of liberal modernity 16 The Montreal school originating at the Universite de Montreal and including historians such as Michel Brunet Maurice Seguin and Guy Fregault posits that the Conquest is responsible for the economic and political retardation of Quebec These historians tried to explain the economic inferiority of the French Canadians by arguing that the Conquest destroyed an integral society and decapitated the commercial class leadership of the conquered people fell to the Church and because commercial activity came to be monopolized by British merchants national survival concentrated on agriculture 17 A major figure of the Montreal school was the nationalist priest and historian Lionel Groulx Groulx promoted the view that the Conquest began a long legacy of underdevelopment and discrimination It was only the tenacity of the Canadiens in opposition to the alien rule of the British Groulx argued that had helped the French Canadians survive in a hostile North America 18 Before the growth of Quebec nationalism much of elite opinion saw the Conquest as positive For example one Canadien politician and future Father of Confederation Etienne Paschal Tache stated that The last cannon which is shot on this continent in defence of Great Britain will be fired by the hand of a French Canadian 19 French Canadian debates have escalated since the 1960s as the Conquest is seen as a pivotal moment in the history of Quebec nationalism Even the pro Conquest Laval school is part of the larger trend of renewed Quebec scholarship during the Quiet Revolution Historian Jocelyn Letourneau suggested in the 21st century 1759 does not belong primarily to a past that we might wish to study and understand but rather to a present and a future that we might wish to shape and control 20 See also Edit Canada portal History portal War portalMilitary history of the Acadians Military history of Canada Second Hundred Years War Seven Years War North AmericaReferences Edit Baugh Daniel 2011 The Global Seven Years War 1754 1763 Britain and France in a Great Power Contest Routledge ISBN 978 0582092396 Rapp Paul 2007 British Culture and the Changing character of the Mid Eighteen Century British Empire in Warren R Hofstra ed Cultures in Conflict The Seven Years War in North America Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 978 0742551305 Borneman Walter R 2007 The French and Indian War deciding the fate of North America Harper Perennial p 94 ISBN 978 0060761851 Guelton Frederick 2011 La Guerre de Sept Ans le context francais La Guerre de Sept Ans en Nouvelle France in French P U DE PARIS SORBONNE pp 67 8 ISBN 978 2840507772 Bird Harrison 1965 Battle for a Continent 1st ed Oxford University Press ASIN B0007DMVCK a b c d e Ward Matthew C 2009 The Battle for Quebec 1759 Britain s Conquest of Canada The History Press ISBN 978 0752452203 Stacey C P 2007 Donald E Graves ed Quebec 1759 The Siege and the Battle 1st ed Robin Brass Studio Inc ISBN 978 1896941509 a b c Carrier Roch 2014 Montcalm amp Wolfe Two Men Who Forever Changed the Course of Canadian History translated by Donald Winkler HarperCollins Manning Stephen 2009 Hold at All Costs Quebec The Story of Three Sieges Montreal McGill Queens University Press ASIN B01182SL7W a b Miquelon Dale 1988 Conquest The Canadian Encyclopedia Vol 1 Edmonton Hurtig Publishers Steele Ian Kenneth 1969 Guerillas and Grenadiers the Struggle for Canada 1689 1760 The Frontenac Library Ryerson Press ISBN 978 0770002725 Buckner Phillip Reid John G 2012 Revisiting 1759 The Conquest of Canada in Historical Perspective University of Toronto Press Scholarly Publishing Division ISBN 978 1442644076 a b c d e f g h i j Fyson Donald 2012 The Conquered and the Conqueror In Buckner Phillip Reid John G eds Revisiting 1759 The Conquest of Canada in Historical Perspective University of Toronto Press Scholarly Publishing Division ISBN 978 1442644076 a b c d e f g h i Poussou Jean Pierre 2015 Les consequence economiques de la guerre de Sept Ans In Fonck Bertrand Veyssiere Laurent eds La chute de la Nouvelle France De l affaire Jumonville au traite de Paris in French Quebec Serpentrion ISBN 978 2894488287 Jaenen p 40 Donald Fyson Between the Ancien Regime and Liberal Modernity Law Justice and State Formation in colonial Quebec 1760 1867 History Compass 2014 1 5 pp 412 432 Carl Berger 1986 The writing of Canadian history aspects of English Canadian historical writing since 1900 U of Toronto Press pp 185 86 ISBN 9780802025463 Trofimenkoff Susan Mann Lionel Adolphe Groulx The Canadian Encyclopedia Retrieved 22 February 2016 Andree Desilets and Carolyn Harris Sir Etienne Paschal Tache Canadian Encyclopedia January 20 2008 last edited April 16 2015 Phillip Buckner and John G Reid eds Remembering 1759 The Conquest of Canada in Historical Memory U of Toronto Press 2012 p 279 Further reading EditBrunet Michel The British Conquest Canadian social scientists and the fate of the Canadiens Canadian Historical Review 40 2 1959 93 107 Buckner Phillip and John G Reid editors Revisiting 1759 The Conquest of Canada in Historical Perspectiv University of Toronto Press 2012 Cook Ramsay Some French Canadian Interpretations of the British Conquest une quatrieme dominante de la pensee canadienne francaise Historical Papers Communications historiques 1 1 1966 70 83 online Dewar Helen Canada or Guadeloupe French and British Perceptions of Empire 1760 63 Canadian Historical Review 91 2010 doi 10 3138 chr 91 4 637 Fregault Guy Canada the War of the Conquest Oxford University Press 1969 Fyson Donald Between the Ancien Regime and Liberal Modernity Law Justice and State Formation in colonial Quebec 1760 1867 History Compass 2014 1 5 pp 412 432 Gagnon Serge Quebec and its Historians 1840 to 1920 Vol 1 Harvest House Limited Pub 1982 Gagnon Serge Quebec and Its Historians The Twentieth Century Vol 2 U of Ottawa Press 1985 Miquelon Dale Conquest in The Canadian Encyclopedia Volume 1 pp 491 2 1988 online Miquelon Dale ed Society and Conquest The Debate on the Bourgeoisie and Social Change in French Canada 1700 1850 Copp Clark Pub 1977 Exurbs from primary sources and historians Parkman Francis 2009 France and England in North America Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV A half century of conflict Montcalm and Wolfe BiblioLife ISBN 978 1117791340 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Conquest of New France 1758 1760 amp oldid 1141025961, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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