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Canada in the 1800s. War of 1812. Remember the invasion of Canada in 1775? This left the Canadians with a bitter memories In the late 1700s/early 1800s relations between Britain and the US were PAS BON
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War of 1812 • Remember the invasion of Canada in 1775? This left the Canadians with a bitter memories • In the late 1700s/early 1800s relations between Britain and the US were PAS BON • The British were at war with France and often interrupted American trading vessels (remember the French supported the Americans) and the British thought the US was a threat to “their” fur trade • The United States had more than 8 million people but the entire population of BNA was under 500 000 • BNA was a tres tempting target – “let’s get back at Britain!”
Mistaken assumptions… • “The army under my Command has invaded your Country, and the standard of the United States waves on the territory of Canada. I come to find enemies not to make them, I come to protect not to injure you.” • The American general, General Hull’s, experience in the American Revolution had taught him to hate the British and believe in the idea of the American freedoms. He was convinced that being an American citizen was better than being a British citizen and assumed others would quickly fall in line. • “You will be emancipated from Tyranny and oppression,” he assured Canadians, “and restored to the dignified station of freemen.” • The British responded…we don’t think so!
The nitty gritty of the war this is not… • The battles went back and forth. The British won some. The Americans won some. • Two notable battles: • The US forces captured the capital at York (now Toronto), although they then retreated • The British invaded Washington DC and burned the White House in 1814 (then called the Presidential Mansion) • The American military officials and the president fled to Brookville, in Maryland, today known as the “United States capitol for a day” • The British were in Washington for all of 26 hours: a thunderstorm came and put out the fires they had started
Results… • The Americans had expected the largely American population of Upper Canada to throw off the “British yoke” as soon as its army crossed the border. This did not happen. Lured northwards by free land and low taxes, most settlers wanted to be left alone. • As a result, the British and Loyalist elite were able to set Canadians on a different course from that of their former enemy. • The ruling classes of Upper and Lower Canada had wanted to keep American-style government out of British North America. Britain had tried to copy its own society in Canada, complete with the gentry and large estates. • However, the immigrants from the United States believed in equal opportunity for all and many immigrants had left Britain precisely to escape this kind of class society. • Some of these feelings were eventually to lead towards rebellion
Results...continued • Several units of the Canadian militia actively participated in the war; this included the Coloured Corps, a small corps of Black Canadians that fought at the Battle of Queenston Heights. • Although the majority of the fighting was done by British regulars and First Nations warriors, a myth developed that civilian soldiers had won the war, and this helped to germinate the seeds of nationalism in the Canadas. • The war — or the myths created by the war — laid the early foundation for Canada’s future nationhood.
On the other side of the border… • For the Americans, the outcome was more ambiguous. • Since the issues of maritime rights were not resolved in the peace treaty, the war could be considered a failure; however, the Americans had some spectacular victories at sea, which were indicators of the future potential of American power. • The war was certainly a failure for those Americans who wanted to annex, or take over, Canada — the war proved that this was not militarily feasible.
The end of the war • This was the lasts major invasion of Canadian territory by an enemy • It changed no boundaries, and had little effect beyond confirming the existence of Canada • The people of Upper Canada became more loyal to the British crown, and even less like the Americans • The population of Canada greatly increased with the arrival of immigrants from Europe and the US looking for cheap land • The First Nations people made great contributions to the war effort (Tecumseh), although these efforts would eventually be forgotten
British North America in the 1800s • There are 6 colonies by this time: Upper Canada (southern + eastern Ontario) Lower Canada (Quebec along the St Lawrence), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland • In 1820, probably fewer than a dozen people lived west of the Great Lakes who were not Metis or First Nations, or who didn't work in the fur trade. • These fur traders, the Metis and First Nations were determined to prevent settlement, as pioneers wanted: boundaries, surveys, roads, canals, schools, and most important, land of their own. • These goals conflicted with the culture and lifestyle of the 'westerners'
What was life like? • While the First Nations had lived here for years, to the newly arrived Canadians who wanted to farm the land, Canada was considered a wilderness • First you had to clear the land, and this took time! A family could clear about 1 hectare a year • Trafalgar Square in London is about one hectare; so is a typical track • It would take a family about 20 years to clear a 25 hectare farm (a bit bigger than a city block) • It took years to raise a crop that would not be entirely consumed by the family or sold to pay off their debts • Almost everyone was in debt and had to mortgage their crops
Levelling of the classes • Unfortunately for the aristocracy, cheap labour and servants were hard to come by so they had to do most of the labour of building and maintaining their farms by themselves • In Upper Canada you needed your neighbours, so living apart from people, no matter what their social class, was not done • Upper Canada had a way of changing people's priorities • Still – cliques existed. The "Family Compact" is an example of this: a small group of officials who helped run Upper Canada. They were descended from the Loyalists and believed in the aristocracy and the importance of ties to Britain • William Lyon Mackenzie eventually takes them on in the rebellions, but until then...
In their own words... • Possessing farms which render them independent of the better classes of society they can, within limits, be as bold, unconstrained, and obtrusive as they please, in their behaviour towards their superiors.... • These emigrants, having generally been of the lowest class of society...begin to assume an appearance of importance...they are tireless in acquiring a knowledge of the Rights of Man...and in a word, of everything which characterizes and American; ...and they quickly become divested of common manners and common civility...
Some things never change... • They dress well and expensively, and are very particular to have their clothes cut in the latest fashion. Men and women adopt the reigning mode so universally that they look all dressed alike...If green was the prevailing colour, every lady would adopt it, whether is suited her complexion or not; and, if she was ever so stout, that circumstance would not prevent her from wearing half-a-dozen more skirts than was necessary, because that absurd and unhealthy practice has for a long period prevailed. • --Susanna Moodie
Coming to Canada...the early immigrant experience • The first immigrants came from the United States and Britain, but some also came from European countries, attracted by widespread advertising campaigns • However...there was a bit of a rude awakening in store for them
Coming to Canada • The first rude awakening was the journey across the Atlantic • It took more than a month to travel to Canada, and many did not survive the journey • "Coffin Ships": the owners crammed the ships so tightly, and provided the people on board with the minimum of food and water that it is said the sharks would follow the boats as so many bodies were being dumped over board – up to 30% mortality rate • These are particularly infamous in Ireland where thousands were forced to flee the Great Irish Famine
Immigration, continued… • Most of the early writings from this time were written by relatively well-to-do English immigrants. • However, most settlers in Upper Canada were not English • Many Americans arrived, but also many Scottish and Irish speakers of Gaelic, and later immigrants from different (initially) European nations • This has led to some of the distinct culture of the Maritime provinces – think Celtic music • However, as we all know, history tends to be written by the (traditionally male) upper class. • So – whose stories are not being told?
Some East Coast culture with roots in the Gaelic immigrantshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzP_kIXsuvA
The duty to ‘civilize’ • In another half-century, therefore, the predominance of the Anglo-Saxon race, terming it in a general way, will be a thing to admire beyond all common admiration. There will be the British Isles with their family of fifty millions or so, and our Northern Continent, with eighty millions or thereabouts, and this South Pacific branch of the English-speaking household-say thirty millions at least; and these three branches of mankind working away in the illumination upwards of the nations—taking the lead in all things, by sea and by land, and lugging the civilization of the world with them! Owen Sound Comet newspaper: June 1851
African Americans in Canada • Fact: slavery existed in New France during the late 1700s and 1800s. • Also, many Loyalists had brought African slaves with them to Canada during the American Revolution • However, slavery did stop working in Canada long before it did anywhere else in North America • Slavery was abolished everywhere in the British Empire in 1833, but courts in Lower and Upper Canada refused to support slavery long before that • One major factor was that most Black Canadians were free, in fact, many had fled the slave states south of the border to find freedom in Canada • As well, during the Loyalist wave of immigration, many Black Americans came to Canada as free men and women, and as subjects of the British throne • Also, recall that the Black Militia fought against the rebels in Upper Canada, led by William Lyon Mackenzie. Most felt that a victory for the rebels would result in American domination of Canada, and slavery.
