British Colonies & Revolution

Question 1

Royal Proclamation: what is it? why does it matter?

Answer 1

• British document that established guidelines for settlement in their new territories after the 7 Years War/Treaty of Paris
• Described policies for governing their new land and managing relations with Aboriginal people
• Also established territory boundaries, including creating an “Indian Territory” (although these boundaries were largely ignored)

Question 2

Pontiac’s War: what is it? why does it matter?

Answer 2

• led by Chief Pontiac in 1763
• Aboriginal people, unsatisfied with Britain’s new policies in their colonies, rebelled against the British, but were unable to drive them away
• Led to eventual peace negotiations
• Reflected the divide between Aboriginal people and the British

Question 3

Effect of new British rule on Aboriginal people and French people

Answer 3

• Negative effects on Aboriginal people – they could no longer pit the French and British against each other, so fur prices dropped and people traded with them less -> This led to Pontiac’s war
• Negative effects on French people - elite seigneurs lost status, merchants struggled due to discounted French currency -> this led to Quebec Act

Question 4

Revolutionary War in the Colonies

Answer 4

• Quebec Act, British closing port of Boston, etc. led to raised tensions between Anglo-American colonists and Britain
• Ag-Ams attacked Quebec, Iroquois became British allies
• 13 colonies declared independence from Britian, and the war escaladed, bringing France and Spain into the war too
• Years later, a treaty negotiated in Paris recognized that the US was independent from Britain

Question 5

Effect of Revolutionary War on colonies

Answer 5

After revolutionary war, “Loyalists” moved out of the US to Nova Scotia and Quebec

Question 6

Loyalists: who where they? why were they important?

Answer 6

• American colonists who remained loyal to Britain during Revolutionary War
• After the war, they moved out of US and into Nova Scotia and Quebec
• Transformed demographic of British North America -> advanced its Anglicization and influenced its conservative politics

Question 7

Black loyalists

Answer 7

• Ran away from their owners to fight with the British and try to get their freedom
• While some Black Loyalists achieved freedom during revolutionary war, other black people remained slaves after migrating with their masters to Maritime Canada
• Those who did get freedom didn’t get equality -> many later resettled in Sierra Leone

Question 8

4 reasons why studying black slavery in the Maritimes is overlooked

Answer 8

• Black Loyalist history fits into paradigm of American enslavement and Canadian freedom
• American historians consider black migration to the Maritimes to be a movement towards freedom; Canadian historians don’t want to examine it because it conflicts with their image of Canada’s slavery-free history
• Study of Canadian slavery is underdeveloped; lack of knowledge
• Ambiguous documentary evidence – difficult to know whether they were actually enslaved