Chapter 6 The United States Breaks Away

1. Chapter 6The United States Breaks Away The Loyalists

2. The Beginning • 1763, Britain is in debt because of the Seven Years’ War • Wanted troops in the Colonies to ensure security • Did not want to pay for them • Raised taxes in the colonies to pay for the troops

3. “Taxation Without Representation” • The colonists were not allowed to elect representatives to the British Parliament • They felt that a government they had no choice in had no right to tax them • They refused to pay these taxes • Boston Tea Party

4. Rebellion • George Washington took control of an army to fight British rule and the United States declared its independence in 1776 • The war has started and lasts until 1783

5. War Divides the People • Two groups in the colonies: • Patriots, supported the rebellion • United Empire Loyalists, were loyal to the British Empire • The Patriots harass the Loyalists with a variety of techniques • Loyalist abuse • Tarred Feathered and Ridden out on a Rail • Read History Happens page 173

6. Loyalist Migration • Loyalists from the United States fled to Canada as refugees from the persecution that was taking place there • Besides British subjects there were also Black and Mennonite refugees • Racism and religious tolerance

7. Challenges of Loyalist Migration • Increased the British population in Quebec to about 10% • The British wanted to live under British laws and customs • Is this their right at 10% of the population? • The French still had the grantee of their rights to French law and customs under the Quebec Act

8. Impacts on the First Nations • The loyalists were mostly farmers and this caused a shift in the reason for negotiating treaties. • At first treaties were about “peace and friendship”; treaties of relationship • Now they were for land • The Royal Proclamation of 1763 said the Aboriginals had rights to the land in the Indian Territories so agreements had to be made to take this territory

9. The Treaties • The Aboriginals were supposed to agree to give up their land before settlers moved on to it • There were problems of language and the treaties were not always fair or just

10. Nova Scotia • Most Loyalists went to Nova Scotia • From the map can you tell why the Loyalists would have gone to Nova Scotia? • These Loyalists are encroaching on Mi’kmaq territory the government said the Mi’kmaq were not in Indian territory and so did not have the right to a treaty.

11. Loyalists Want Change • Many of the Loyalists took over land the Acadians had farmed before their deportation • Another group settled along the St. John river, they felt separate from the other colonists • They felt they had their own needs and petitioned for a colony separate from Nova Scotia

12. Change in Quebec • Loyalists are petitioning the British government to allow them to have British laws and customs • Britain has to make a decision: • It owes the loyalists for supporting them in the American revolution • It also has to follow the Quebec Act it passed

13. Britain's Response • Britain decided to separate Nova Scotia and created New Brunswick as well as colonies on Cape Breton Island and St. John island • They also created the Constitutional Act in 1791 which allowed British laws and customs for those Loyalists who were west of Montreal

14. The Constitution Act 1774 • Divided Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada • Established British civil and criminal law in Upper Canada and kept the French laws in Lower Canada from the Quebec Act • Set aside land for the Protestant Church and guaranteed the right of the French to be Catholic • Established a legislative councilappointed by Britain in each colony, now they both had representative governments

15. Representative Government • Representative government was important because the loyalists were used to it from being in the United States also the French had been promised it in the Quebec act • How representative is this? • The council is appointed and the elected officials can only advise it.