O' Canada: The Unrealized State

On September 3rd, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by Great Britian and the newly recognized United States of America, thus officially ending the 6 year long American Revolutionary War. The 13 colonies of North America, from Massachusetts (which included what is now Maine) to Georgia, would be united as a independent country of sovereign states. But wait, aren't we missing something? What about the gigantic chunk of land to the north, the land of fur traders and maple syrup (or today hockey players and maple syrup, just kidding Canadians, you also gave us John Candy and Nathan Fillion so you guys rock in my book)? Why was this vast, resource rich territory not included in the birth of America? The plain and simple answer, they did not want to be, they were happy with British rule. But since the simple answer is not what I do here, lets step back and look.

 

Our story begins at the end of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Year War in Europe).  The North American theater of the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 (not to be confused with our 1783 treaty), where France lost all of its North American territories to Spain and England, included our subject matter Canada (France would regain those territories east of the Mississippi, north of Texas, from Spain thanks to the brow beating and hard hand diplomacy of one Napoleon Bonaparte about 50 years later). But while the fighting ended, the tensions between the French and English colonist would remain. The majority protestant English sneered at having to live in peace along side the papist French; and many blamed the French for goading the Indians into savagery during the war, while keeping their own hands clean in "acceptable and civil" warfare. Meanwhile, the French loathed the influx of English entrepreneurs they saw as just wanting to strip their homes for resources while leaving their own lands pristine; they also had a neighborly soft spot for the natives who they were worried the English would not treat as amicable and equitable as they did.

Once Britain received control of these territories they did not become certified colonies. Being "conquered" territory the entire area was a hodgepodge of military commands and outposts, some very localized administrative governments and semi-autonomous self ruled French communities. In fact the closest any part of Canada that could be some what recognized as a colony as we know them was Nova Scotia, sometimes dubbed by historians as the 14th colony, but their hated rivarly with the colonists of Massachusetts made reconciliation near impossible. The problem was the slow pace of trying to convert areas from military control to normal governance; and in creating normal governance, trying to integrate together both French and English systems. 

Quebec Act of 1774

The British could not risk re-igniting the war by alienating the vastly French population, especially at a time when their own colonists' malcontent was causing problems. In an effort to reconcile with their new French subjects the British Parliament instituted the Quebec Act of 1774; it was also thought by some that it would drive a further wedge between the English and French colonist to prevent the two groups from collaborating with each other against Parliament and the crown. The acts included several provisions that infuriated the people of the 13 English colonies.One of these provisions was giving more religious freedom to the French Catholics, allowing them to institute Catholic tithing systems without taxation and not requiring Catholics to swear allegiance to the Church of England. As stated before the highly protestant English colonist were already prejudice against the papists, to give them such leniency and tolerance was disturbing to all the colonies except Maryland. Maryland had a large population of Catholics, as one of the reasons the colony was formed was a place for disenfranchised British Catholics to settle (hence the colony's name Mary's Land; since unlike protestants, Catholics hold Mother Mary in reverence), they were happy for their fellow Catholics but felt it was unfair they were not given the same treatment. Another provision of the act prevented English colonists from expanding into any of the new territories until such time the British government resolved how they wanted to handle diplomacy with the natives, meanwhile the French could still operate as they always have utilizing their previous relations with the natives. Again the English colonist resented this policy for several reasons; first, they saw this area as theirs by right of conquest, it was by the blood of their militias aiding the Redcoats that this land was acquired and the natives needed to punished for the atrocities they committed against the people of the frontier. Second, they saw untapped wealth and farmland to be had in these areas, wealth that could help off set the costs of the French-Indian war instead of the heavy taxes they were now paying to replenish Britain's coffers; and farm land for the ever expanding population of the colonies. The last provision of the Quebec Act that was a point of contention for the English colonists was the application of law in the new territories. Criminal law and law involving public policies were to convert to English Common Law, but laws involving private citizens and business would stay with the French system, a system the French Canadians used their knowledge of to take advantage of the English colonist in matters of trade or personal disputes.

John Dickinson (PA), Thomas Cushing (MA), Richard Henry Lee (VA)

When the First Continental Congress was being assembled to discuss how to respond to the stack of unjust policies and taxes the British Parliament were implementing against the colonies, what they dubbed as the Intolerable Acts, the Quebec Act was included among them. Three members of Congress, John Dickinson of Pennsylvanian, Thomas Cushing of Massachusetts, and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, drafted a letter on behalf of Congress to "the People of Quebec" (BTW Quebec was what the British called all of Canada). Thousands of copies were made in French and English and distributed throughout Canada. The letter invited the Canadians to be a part of the Continental Congress to convene on May 10th, 1774, and send a delegation to represent them just as the all 13 colonies committed to. The letter went on to explain the concepts of freedom and democracy. By many experts accounts it could be viewed, and probably was viewed, as very heavy handed and condescending , as if the French were children that needed to be held by the hand to what was good for them. The letter was received with lackluster enthusiasm, most Canadians, including the newly arriving English settlers saw no grand abuse. Sure there were some issues in the equity of the fur trade, but nothing to warrant the smear campaign many of the members of the Congress were engaged in against the homeland. The delegates out of Boston sent John Brown to gauge the Canadian response before the start of Congress, but he reported back that the French were very neutral in their opinions of Parliament, especially in comparison to the colonial governments. No Canadian delegation would come.

John Jay (NY), Samuel Adams (MA), Silas Dean (CT)

After the battles at Lexington and Concord a second Continental Congress is called up to convene in Philadelphia, on May 10, 1775. On May 17 in was reported to Congress that elements from the Massachusetts and Connecticut colonial militias under the command of Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen's radical Vermont separatist group, the Green Mountain Boys, had captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British. From there a mixed force of rebel colonialists under Richard Montgomery had started an invasion of Canada (known as the Invasion of Quebec) by laying siege to Fort St. Jean just outside of Montreal. Despite it being militarily good news, many in Congress were not happy by the escalation before they even had a chance to discuss the possibility. Never the less the revolution agitating Samuel Adams saw it as an opportunity to draw the Canadians to their cause and advocated for a second letter to be sent to Canada to convince them to join with Congress. It was written by Samuel, John Jay (who would become the 1st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), a representative from Connecticut, Silas Dean, and signed by John Handcock, as President of Congress.

The letter, again, but in a less hostile tone, explained the virtues of liberty the colonists were fighting for and why it was in the Canadians' best interest to join with them. Among a small minority of the English colonists the letter had a small impact, and 2 small regiments were formed to fight alongside the colonial rebel force. But again, the vast French population seemed to care less, in fact many seemed to be swayed by Royal Governor Carlton's call to resist the invasion, if not physically, to at least not to give any financial or material aid to the colonial invaders.

 Sir Guy Carlton Military Governor of Quebec

With time before the bulk of rebel colonialist forces would arrive, preparations were made to withstand the siege, including seeking the help of the Iroquois Nation. Carlton reminded them of their collaborative efforts with English, being the only natives on British side of the French-Indian War, hoping to reignite the alliance. But representatives of the Congress had also sent overtures to them as well resulting in the Iroquois to declare neutrality in the coming conflict. This did not stop a small band of 100 natives ambushing the first wave of colonials arriving at a swamp within eyesight of the fort. General Montgomery and Schuyler's forces engaged in a small skirmish that saw light casualties on both sides before the colonists pulled back and built defensive works. Artillery from the fort destroyed those defenses and the colonists pulled back a mile further. A second attempt was made to approach the fort by way of the river banks but the colonial expedition was again turned back with the arrival of the British warship Royal Savage whose cannon's Montgomery refused to get in range of. When the warship moved on toward Montreal the colonials made another attempt, this time transporting themselves by a make shift fleet up the river, thinking the British would not be looking there since the warship was still in the area. On September 17 the siege had finally begun, Montgomery's forces had captured several supply trains heading for the fort, strengthening their own supplies. The opening days of the siege proved extremely difficult, especially because of the swampy nature of the terrain, Montgomery discribing his forces as, "half drowned rats, crawling through the marsh."

When it seemed impossible to creak the Forts defenses, colonial forces received two spots of great news. First, Fort Ticonderoga was sending up reinforcements, including a large cannon named "Old Sow". And Second, elements of the New York militia and the newly created 1st Canadian Regiment (one of the 2 from the result of the earlier discussed letter) under the command of James Livingston, in a surprise attack, captured the nearby lightly garrisoned Fort Chambly and were ready to assist in the capture of Fort Jean. On the opposite side, Governor Carlton received not only these bits of bad news, but also that a regiment of Scottish mercenaries he sent for from Quebec city to help break the siege were repelled and before a second attempt could be made, most of them deserted. Even more militia troops from Connecticut and New York arrived and with that the Fort surrendered. The rebel's forces had a clear path to Montreal which they took without firing a shot, and Governor Carlton escaped just hours before.

After taking the city Montgomery made efforts to ingratiate himself with the locals and wind the propaganda machine up in favor of the colonial cause. Besides trying to live in relative peace with the mostly neutral Canadians he was hoping to add some recruitment for when he marched on Quebec City. Meanwhile Benedict Arnold convinced Washington of the need for a second expeditionary force into Canada, but this time with members of their newly formed Continental Army. His goal, too, was to take Quebec City, attacking from the east as Montgomery attacked from the west, and bring a swift end to British presence in the north. His plan was to sail from Newburyport, Massachusetts to the mouth of the Kennebec river (in modern day Maine) and from there march to Fort Western (Augusta, Maine) on the Canadian border, and from there launch his attack. But his travel turned into a mess; from leaky boats that damaged many supplies including water-logging much of the gunpowder to disease and desertion. By the time they made the 400 mile trek, Arnold's fighting force of 1,100 Continental Army regulars was reduced to 600 cold and starving men. He abandoned the rest of his march and waited for Montgomery to come with fresh supplies to save his men and assimilate them into his force.

On December 2, 1775, Montgomery, leaving General David Wooster in command of Montreal, marched for Quebec city; and during a snowstorm on December 31, began his attack. Finding no way to gain a tactical advantage, Montgomery, Arnold, and James Livingston committed their combined forces on an all out attack on the city. It was a disaster! The colonials were soundly defeated by a force of Governor Carlton's redcoats and Canadian militia. With Montgomery laying dead on the field and over half of the colonial forces dead or captured (including famed folk hero Daniel Morgan), a wounded Arnold lead a retreat back to Montreal, while Livingston took his forces back to Ticonderoga. But Arnold would return to a much more hostile Montreal then what Montgomery left. Turns out all that good will the commander had built up before his march on Quebec city was destroyed by the heavy handed administration of David Wooster. Wooster was committing the same abuses the colonists were rebelling against; gun confiscation, quartering troops in on private property, throwing suspected loyalists in the brigg without trial. So upset the citizens of Montreal at Wooster treatment of them that they even convinced local native tribes to harass colonial traffic coming in and out of the city. Arnold relieved Wooster of command and implored Congress to send a delegation up to Montreal to smooth things over with the locals. Benjamin Franklin (PA), Charles Caroll (MD), and Samuel Chase (MD) came to try and improve relations but to no avail. The local leaders, the natives, and the Catholic clergy (who were enjoying some autonomy under the Quebec Act) had let it be known that they felt like Montreal was being dragged into a war they wanted no part in, and that while they would not actively fight against colonial military occupation, they would not aid them in anyway. The Continental Army and all its associated militias were not welcome. To try and salvage any good will, or at least keep the residents of Montreal from attacking their troops, the delegates recommended to Arnold that the majority of the army be placed just east outside the city walls.

Wooster and Arnold

It is then that Carlton made his counter attack, utilizing riverboats fitted with cannons and reinforcements redcoats from England. The colonials were chased out of Montreal were they would make a last stand to salvage the colonial Canadian expeditionary force on Valcour Island, in Lake Champlain. But Arnold's make shift fleet was no match for the forces of the British Navy and so all forces retreated to Ticonderoga. Carlton would pursue no further, not risking to engage the now heavy fortified post of famed General Horatio Gates, who would assume Arnolds forces into his own. Thus ends America's forays into Canada forever.

Canada represents a missed opportunity for early America, mostly do to poor PR. Congress's heavy handed diplomacy and Wooster's abusive command reinforced the French Canadians distrust and dislike of the colonials. The old prejudices played more of a role in defeating the Americans then any battle, for the defeats could have easily been avoided if they would have had the support the people; men and material, and the cooperation of the natives could have gone along way to preventing this military disaster. So bungled an effort which turned the French Canadians to view the colonials with more disgust then their long time traditional enemies, the British.