The Quebec Experiment

Remarkably, considering the long struggle to remove the French imperial presence from North America, the British displayed some ambivalence about administering the former New France. A bloody struggle in 1763 with Native peoples led by Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa, presented a sobering reminder of the limitations of British control over the continents interior. The Royal Proclamation of that same year, which created the colony of Quebec, also angered British American settlers because it created a vast region for Amerindians west of the Alleghenies. While the Proclamation promised popular representation for Quebec, it provided the context for assimilation of the Canadiens. Roman Catholics were prohibited from holding offices, and lacking formal recognition, the Roman Catholic church and the seigneurial system were left to wither. Despite its intent, the Proclamation failed to achieve its goals on both the Canadian and American levels. The offensive Proclamation line added to a growing list of irritants that the American colonists used as rationales for breaking away from British control. In Quebec, the large number of anticipated anglophone settlers failed to materialize. Even Sir Guy Carleton, the colonys second governor, recognized the essential fact ofNew Frances legacy: Quebecwould forever remain the home of the Canadiens. Accepting the flaws in their original plan, the British responded with a statute that led to dramatic consequences in both Canadian and American history. The Quebec Act, passed in 1774, was an adjustment in British policies in Quebec and a reaction to growing disobedience in the American colonies. Hailed by many as the guarantor of French-Canadian survival, the statute dramatically

expanded the boundaries of Quebec to encompass the rich fur trading region of the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. In addition, it recognized the seigneurial system, permitted the continued operation of the Roman Catholic church, and accepted Quebecs distinct civil laws. This was an important moment in Quebecs history. A groups cultural survival rests in part on the retention of its systems of landholding, religion, and law. Finally, the Quebec Act ignored the promise of the Proclamation of 1763 and established governance by a legislative council that would be appointed, not elected. Thanks to a special loophole, elite French Canadians could hold appointed positions after taking an oath. As historians have long argued, the act both facilitated the cultural survival of a people and ensured that Britain would remain firmly in control of Quebec.