HIST 104

Question 1

What is a social formation?

Answer 1

A structure with specific characteristics that define how a society’s political, economic, and social systems function.

Question 2

What are the four social formations we studied this term?

Answer 2

Kin Ordered Social Formation, Seigneurial Social Formation, Merchant Capital Social Formation, and Liberal Capitalism.

Question 3

Why do we use social formations as a tool to look at Canadian History?

Answer 3

They help us understand and describe the contexts in which people lived. Each social formation shares specific ideals, goals, and logistics.

Question 4

What is presentism? Is it positive or negative?

Answer 4

Presentism is applying themes from modern day to historical events, or a “projection of how we understand something now back onto the past.” It is dangerous and to be avoided, as it can skew how one understands history. Ex. Calling historical figures homophobic even though there was no knowledge/respect of gay people at the time.

Question 5

What is the history of the present?

Answer 5

It is looking at today’s society and the way things are, then going back and studying how and why they are that way now.

Question 6

Euro-Canadian history began in what year?

Answer 6

1541

Question 7

What is the difference between colonialism and settler colonialism?

Answer 7

Colonialism is when a nation is completely taken over by another, and every aspect if affected. Ex. British and French conquest of North America. Settler Colonialism is when the settlers permanently form a society on someone else’s land. Some characteristics of this include asserting sovereignty, creating new government on the land, the goal of eliminating the current inhabitants of the land.

Question 8

Who was Michel Foucault? (Bonus points for stating how he connects to SOCY 122)

Answer 8

He was a historian and philosopher, and wrote about the History of the Present and was an important Queer Theorist.

Question 9

What year was the Royal Proclamation, and what did it do?

Answer 9

1763; Outlined where and how Europeans could settle in/around Indigenous territory.

Question 10

Which Act outlined the rules of land usage for Indigenous peoples in Lower Canada?

Answer 10

The 1850s Act to Protect Indian Lands

Question 11

What was the Gradual Civilization Act, and what year was it created?

Answer 11

1857, and it was designed to smoothly incorporate Indigenous peoples into Western society through enfranchisement (legal status of IP)

Question 12

What are the characteristics of a Kin Ordered Social Formation? (Hint: there are five)

Answer 12

• Economies determined by kinship
• Organized around collective needs, not competition
• Land is viewed as communal, and they have kinship with the land itself
• The goal of accumulation was to redistribute afterwards
• Women and Two-Spirit people tended to have more freedom and respect

Question 13

Define Two-Spirit people.

Answer 13

An Indigenous individual who identifies as both male and female, and can alternate between the two. Two-Spirit people can be chiefs and are respected in Indigenous culture.

Question 14

What were the Three Sisters?

Answer 14

Beans, corn, and squash. The beans would grow up the corn stalks, and the squash would fertilize the other two plants.

Question 15

What is an example of Settler Colonialism in Nova Scotia?

Answer 15

Prohibiting Indigenous peoples from lobster fishing, and allowing settlers to take over lobster fishing areas.

Question 16

What are ways the Europeans undermined Kin Ordered Social Formations?

Answer 16

1. Trade: Hudson’s Bay Company/Fur Trade
2. Disease: Europeans bringing foreign diseases to Canada like Smallpox and measles.
3. Drink: Europeans introducing Indigenous peoples to alcohol, creating short term issues with European traders taking advantage of incapacitated IP to cheat them, and long term issues with addiction.
4. Religion: The French and English using different tactics to impose their religions onto Indigenous peoples.

Question 17

How did the French and English differ with their attempts to impose their religion on Indigenous peoples?

Answer 17

The French had Jesuits, some of the most educated people in the world at the time (1600s-1900s). The Jesuits accepted Indigenous lifestyles and slowly integrated themselves. IP thought the Jesuits were just trying to enlarge their kin, so they accepted it. The Jesuits faked respect to be allowed into Indigenous society. The Jesuits scared IP into listening, by threatening Hell; they also hated two-spirit people, and began to separate them from Indigenous societies.

The English missionaries were very different, as they thought they were the best. They forcefully tried to convert everyone.

Question 18

How did treaty-making differ between Indigenous cultures and European societies?

Answer 18

Indigenous peoples built their treaties (wampum belts) around trust, as they didn’t document every single clause of the treaty, unlike European ones that are built without respect, and solely based on the rules written in the legal documents.

Question 19

What was the Seigneurial social formation?

Answer 19

It involved the creation of small plots of land up and down the St. Lawrence.

Question 20

______ brought in this new social formation to New France: ______

Answer 20

The French Settlers, the Seigneurial system

Question 21

Who were the Habitants? Who were the Coureurs du bois?

Answer 21

French farmers; like hobbits. Fur traders; like lumberjacks

Question 22

Who owned the plots of land in the Seigneurial social formation?

Answer 22

1. The King
2. The Habitants who lived on the land
3. Seigneurs (they could revoke the Habitants of their land if they did not pay rent or make improvements to the land)

Question 23

Who were the seigneurs?

Answer 23

Nobles, merchants, and religious congregators from France who moved to New France.

Question 24

Why were women crucial to the Seigneurial social formation?

Answer 24

They made sure it stayed functioning, specifically in the household.

Question 25

Why was the rate of growth so fast in New France?

Answer 25

“Les Filles due Roi,” a plot by the French government to send young women to the colonies so they could get married and have children.

Question 26

Canada was a failed _____ society.

Answer 26

Feudal

Question 27

The Acadians lived peacefully in the beginning of the _______.

Answer 27

1600s

Question 28

What did Britain do in 1713?

Answer 28

Took control over the Acadians, who stayed neutral with New France.

Question 29

Explain the Grand Dérangement.

Answer 29

Also known as the Acadian Deportation, in 1755, Britain relocation the Acadians to the 13 colonies and burned down their houses.

Question 30

Why was the 1759 Military Battle between the British and the French historically significant?

Answer 30

It was a clash of two social formations and showed the first signs of liberal capitalism.

Question 31

Who was General Wolfe?

Answer 31

Leader of the British. He was tall and lanky, and was in charge of capturing Quebec.

Question 32

How did trading dried cod work? What system allowed it to be so successful?

Answer 32

Newfoundland would fish the cod then ship it to plantations in the south and the slave would manufacture goods to be sent back to Europe. This worked because of merchant capitalism.

Question 33

_____ became a form of currency in Canada because of its high demand in Europe.

Answer 33

Beaver pelts

Question 34

Hudson’s Bay Company ruled over _________.

Answer 34

Rupert’s Land

Question 35

What are the features of merchant capitalism?

Answer 35

Moving goods from somewhere were the demand was low to where it was high.

Question 36

What was Upper Canada?

Answer 36

Modern day Ontario

Question 37

What was Lower Canada?

Answer 37

Modern day Quebec

Question 37

What were the first provinces to join confederation in 1867?

Answer 37

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick Nova Scotia.

Question 38

Who was Robert Baldwin?

Answer 38

A politician for Upper Canada.

Question 38

Who was Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine?

Answer 38

A politician for Lower Canada.

Question 39

Why was the political relationship of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine historically significant?

Answer 39

• Helped heal French and English relations
• Established a responsible government
• Symbol of unity between Upper and Lower Canada

Question 40

What Act created the United Province of Canada?

Answer 40

Union Act of 1841

Question 40

Who were the first Governor Generals of the UPC?

Answer 40

Lord Sydenham and Sir Charles Bagot. They both died very early on into their term.

Question 41

What is the historical significance of immigration to Canada throughout the 19th century?

Answer 41

Loyalists who supported Britain after the War of Independence, Scots through the Earl of Selkirk, and the Irish because of the potato famine all came to Canada. This meant that more people needed land, property, and food. This boosted economic activity, and pushed Indigenous peoples off their land.

Question 42

What is the significance of kin ordered social formations?

Answer 42

Shows how much Westerners disrupted in Indigenous society, how they changed the economy, political system, social values and religion. Shows how harmful anti-Indigenous acts were, like the Royal Proclamation, which divided up Indigenous land for settlers. The system of redistribution in Kin ordered social formations is also significant because it highlights what IP valued, and their lack of greed.

Question 43

What is the historical significance of the Hudson’s Bay Company?

Answer 43

They contributed to trade, and played a huge role in Canada’s economy. They set up trading posts and shifted from seigneurial to merchant capitalist to liberal capitalist sfs. Negatively affected Indigenous peoples.

Question 43

Historical significance of settler colonialism?

Answer 43

Displacement of IP, changes in political and economic systems in Canada, “erosion of Indigenous sovereignty”

Question 43

What was the significance of trade in pre-confederation Canada?

Answer 43

Changed over time, starting with mutual benefits, ended with IP being taken advantage of. IP played a crucial role in fur trade, helping to catch a lot of the animals, which led to an increase in the supply and demand. This affected the merchant capital social formation, as the Europeans had high demand for beaver pelts. Settlers taking advantage of IP through trade left the IP at a disadvantage, and the negative effects of this are still seen today as we continue to strive for reconciliation.

Question 44

What is the historical significance of two-spirit people?

Answer 44

Their treatment by Europeans is significant because it was a crucial way in which Europeans imposed their ways of life onto those of Indigenous peoples, and how much they valued gender norms, something which did not exist in the same way in Indigenous culture. This is also historically significant because presentism is commonly used in this case, and applying homophobia and transphobia to the horrific treatment of two-spirit people, who were denied of their rights to be themselves. This is not necessarily true, as the Europeans just saw it as gender norms.

Question 45

Historical significance of disease and drink?

Answer 45

Wiped out a huge % of the Indigenous population, damaging their societies as they lost key members like chiefs, mothers, children, etc. The introduction of alcohol allowed them to be taken advantage of during trade, and began cycles of alcohol abuse as a way of dealing with trauma, which still occurs today. Also was the seed of Indigenous peoples being alcoholics who dont deserve to be helped, ex. Brian Sinclair in the early 2000s who was sick in the hospital waiting room but was not admitted because people believed he was just drunk. Hugely negative impacts. Also in terms of population, IP had less of their kin to fight back against the British and the French.

Question 46

Historical significance of Religion/English and French Missionaries?

Answer 46

They erased elements of Indigenous culture (like two-spirit people) and set the stage for residential schools. Goal of missionaries was to convert IP to Christianity, and so they upped the stages and created residential schools. English missionaries had a certain style where they would just impose themselves onto Indigenous communities and attempt to convert them. French missionaries on the other hand, Jesuits, slowly integrated themselves into Indigenous societies by listening and learning until they could be trusted. Then they started to hate on Two-Spirit people, threaten hell in an attempt to “civilize” IP.

Question 47

What was the historical significance of Lower Canada’s financial situation pre-confederation?

Answer 47

Bad agriculture made people hungry, they relied solely on wheat for their economic gain, they were angry and there was tension between the French and the English, and their shitty financial situation is partly why Lower Canada was interested in confederation, as it would bring financial stability and better trade through the maritimes.

Question 48

Historical significance of the Union Act?

Answer 48

Brought Upper and Lower Canada together into the United Province of Canada. Bilingual, Responsible government, paved the way to confederation.

Question 49

Historical significance of the creation of the police force, prison, and education system in Kingston?

Answer 49

Beginnings of Liberal Capitalism and liberal order. Police weren’t created to counter an increase in crime, but to instill order for the wage workers who frequently rioted and got drunk/didnt go to work. The prisons reinforced this, and making education consistent across the nation also played a role in liberal order.