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Province of Quebec (1763-1791)

 

 
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Province of Quebec (1763-1791)
 
 
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The Province of Quebec was a colony in North America created by Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain

The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a country in North-West Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801....
 after the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War lasted between 1756?1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Kingdom of Prussia and Kingdom of Great Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Archduchy of Austria, Early Modern France, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Sweden, and Electorate of Sa...
. Great Britain acquired Canada
Canada, New France

Canada was the name of the French colonization of the Americas that once stretched along the Saint Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Colony of Newfoundland....
 by the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on February 10, 1763, by the kingdoms of Kingdom of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement....
 when King Louis XV
Louis XV of France

Louis XV ruled as List of French monarchs and of List of Navarrese monarchs from 1 September 1715 until his death on 10 May 1774. Coming to the throne at the age of five, Louis reigned until 15 February 1723, the date of his thirteenth birthday, with the aid of the R?gence, Philippe II, Duke of Orl?ans, his Cousin, thereafter taking formal p...
 of France and his advisors chose to keep the territory of Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an island group or archipelago located in the eastern Caribbean Sea at , with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres . It is an overseas department of France....
 for its valuable sugar crops instead of New France
New France

The Viceroyalty of New France was the area French colonization of the Americas by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Kingdom of Great Britain in 1763....
. By the Royal Proclamation of 1763
Royal Proclamation of 1763

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by George III of the United Kingdom following Kingdom of Great Britain's acquisition of New France in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War....
, Canada (part of New France) was renamed the Province of Quebec.

In 1774, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act
Quebec Act

The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec ....
 that allowed Quebec to maintain the French Civil Code as its judicial system and sanctioned the freedom of religious choice, allowing the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 to remain.






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The Province of Quebec was a colony in North America created by Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain

The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a country in North-West Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801....
 after the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War lasted between 1756?1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Kingdom of Prussia and Kingdom of Great Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Archduchy of Austria, Early Modern France, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Sweden, and Electorate of Sa...
. Great Britain acquired Canada
Canada, New France

Canada was the name of the French colonization of the Americas that once stretched along the Saint Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Colony of Newfoundland....
 by the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on February 10, 1763, by the kingdoms of Kingdom of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement....
 when King Louis XV
Louis XV of France

Louis XV ruled as List of French monarchs and of List of Navarrese monarchs from 1 September 1715 until his death on 10 May 1774. Coming to the throne at the age of five, Louis reigned until 15 February 1723, the date of his thirteenth birthday, with the aid of the R?gence, Philippe II, Duke of Orl?ans, his Cousin, thereafter taking formal p...
 of France and his advisors chose to keep the territory of Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an island group or archipelago located in the eastern Caribbean Sea at , with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres . It is an overseas department of France....
 for its valuable sugar crops instead of New France
New France

The Viceroyalty of New France was the area French colonization of the Americas by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Kingdom of Great Britain in 1763....
. By the Royal Proclamation of 1763
Royal Proclamation of 1763

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by George III of the United Kingdom following Kingdom of Great Britain's acquisition of New France in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War....
, Canada (part of New France) was renamed the Province of Quebec.

In 1774, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act
Quebec Act

The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec ....
 that allowed Quebec to maintain the French Civil Code as its judicial system and sanctioned the freedom of religious choice, allowing the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 to remain. The act also enlarged the boundaries of Quebec to include the Ohio Country
Ohio Country

The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie....
 and Illinois Country
Illinois Country

The Illinois Country was the name used in the 17th century and afterwards to refer to an undefined region centered around present day southwest Illinois that was explored and settled by the French beginning in 1673, when Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette explored the Mississippi River, and France claimed the Illinois Country....
, from the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
 on the east, south to the Ohio River
Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....
, west to the Mississippi River
Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
 and north to the southern boundary of lands owned by the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. The company was incorporated by British royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay; it is now domiciled in Canada and has adopted the mo...
, or Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land, also sometimes called "Prince Rupert's Land", was a territory in British North America, consisting of the List of Hudson Bay rivers, that was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870....
.

Through Quebec, the British Crown retained access to the Ohio and Illinois Countries even after the Treaty of Paris, which was meant to have ceded this land to the United States. By well-established trade and military routes across the Great Lakes, the British continued to supply not only their own troops but a wide alliance of
Western Confederacy

The Western Confederacy, also known as Western Indian Confederacy, was a loose confederation of North American Indians in the Great Lakes region following the American Revolutionary War ....
 Native American
Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
 nations through Detroit, Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara

Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France in North America. It is located near Youngstown, New York, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at its mouth, on Lake Ontario....
, Fort Michilimackinac
Fort Michilimackinac

Fort Michilimackinac was an 18th century France, and later Kingdom of Great Britain, fort and trading post in the Great Lakes of North America....
, and so on, until these posts were turned over to the United States following the Jay Treaty
Jay Treaty

The Jay Treaty, also known as Jay's Treaty and the Treaty of London of 1794, between the United States and Kingdom of Great Britain averted war, solved many issues left over from the American Revolution, and opened ten years of largely peaceful trade in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars....
 (1794).

Quebec retained its seigneurial system after the conquest. Owing to an influx of Loyalist
Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during and after the American Revolutionary War. They were often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men by the Patriot , those that supported the American cause....
 refugees from the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , also known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Thirteen Colonies on the North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers....
, the demographics of Quebec came to shift and now included a substantial English-speaking, Anglican or Protestant element from the former Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the original thirteen United States of America in 1783....
. These United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists

The name United Empire Loyalists is a honorific name which has been given after the fact to those Loyalist who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to George III of the United Kingdom after the Kingdom of Great Britain defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris ....
 settled mainly in the Eastern Townships
Eastern Townships

The Eastern Townships is a historical region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former Seigneurial system of New France south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border....
, Montreal
Montreal

Montreal, or Montr?al, is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population....
, and what was known then as the pays d'en haut (high country) west of the Ottawa River
Ottawa River

The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It defines for most of its length the border between these two provinces....
. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the colony in two at the Ottawa River, so that the western part (Upper Canada
Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a British colony located in what is now the southern portion of the Province of Ontario in Canada. Upper Canada officially existed from 26 December 1791 to 10 February 1841 and generally comprised present-day Southern Ontario and, until 1797, the Upper Peninsula of what is now part of the U.S....
) could be under the British legal system, with English speakers in the majority. The eastern part was named Lower Canada
Lower Canada

The Province of Lower Canada was a British colonization of the Americas on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence ....
.

Governors of the Province of Quebec 1763-1791


After the capitulation of Montreal in 1760, New France was placed under military government. Civil government was instituted in 1764.

  • Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst
    Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst

    Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Montreal Order of the Bath served as an officer in the British Army and as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces....
     1760-1763
  • James Murray 1764-1768
  • Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester
    Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester

    Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, Order of the Bath , known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Ireland-Great Britain soldier who twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec , from 1768–1778 , and from 1785–1795....
     1768-1778
  • Sir Frederick Haldimand
    Frederick Haldimand

    Sir Frederick Haldimand, Order of the Bath was a United Kingdom army officer and governor.Haldimand was born, baptised and died in Yverdon-les-Bains as Fran?ois-Louis-Fr?d?ric Haldimand and spent his early military career, from 1740 to 1756, in Europe; in the army of the King of Sardinia, the Prussian Army, and then with the Swiss Mercen...
     1778-1786
  • Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester
    Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester

    Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, Order of the Bath , known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Ireland-Great Britain soldier who twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec , from 1768–1778 , and from 1785–1795....
     1786-1796


Counsellors to the Governor

The Province of Quebec did not have an elected legislature and was ruled directly by the Governor with advise from counsellors. A Council responsible to advise the Governor (then James Murray) on all affairs of State was created in 1764. In 1774, the Quebec Act created a Council for the Affairs of the Province of Quebec to advise the Governor on legislative affairs. The Legislative Council served as an advisory council to the Governor until a legislative assembly was established after 1791.

The individuals James Murray called into the Council in 1764:

  • Chief Justice William Gregory
    William Gregory

    William Gregory may refer to:* William G. Gregory , NASA astronaut* William Gregory , American governor* William Gregory , English MP for Hereford and Weobley, Speaker of the House of Commons...
  • Chief Justice William Hey
  • Attorney General George Suckling
    George Suckling

    George Suckling was a lawyer who was appointed to be the first Chief Justice of the British Virgin Islands in 1776. Suckling's appointment was not popular in the islands, which were at the time a notorious haunt for the lawless and for those seeking to evade their creditors elsewhere....
  • Attorney General Francis Maseres
    Francis Maseres

    Francis Maseres , lawyer, attorney general of the Province of Quebec , judge, mathematician, historian, member of the Royal Society, cursitor baron of the Exchequer of pleas....
  • Paulus Aemilius Irving - acting President of the Council
  • Hector Theophilus de Cramahé
    Hector Theophilus de Cramahé

    Hector Theophilus de Cramah? , born Th?ophile Hector Chateigner de Cramah?, was Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec , and titular Lieutenant Governor of Detroit....
  • Adam Mabane
    Adam Mabane

    Adam Mabane was a physician, judge and political figure in the early Province of Quebec .He was born in Scotland around 1734. He was a surgeon's assistant in the Kingdom of Great Britain army led by Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst and came to Quebec in 1760....
     - 1775; physician and judge
  • Walter Murray
    Walter Murray

    Walter Murray may refer to:*Walter Charles Murray, president of the University of Saskatchewan, 1908–1937*Walter Murray Collegiate Institute, high school in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada...
  • Samuel Holland
    Samuel Holland

    Samuel Johannes Holland was a Royal Engineer and first Surveyor General of British North America....
     - served as first Surveyor General of British North America
  • Thomas Dunn
    Thomas Dunn

    Thomas Dunn was Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada, from 1805 to 1807.He was born in Durham, England and came to the Quebec City shortly after its surrender in 1760....
     - colonial administrator and soldier
  • François Mounier
  • James Cuthbert


Bibliography

  • Burt, Alfred LeRoy. The Old Province of Quebec. Toronto: Ryerson Press; Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1933. Reprinted Toronto : McClelland and Stewart, 1968.
  • Lahaise, Robert and Vallerand, Noël. Le Québec sous le régime anglais : les Canadiens français, la colonisation britannique et la formation du Canada continental. Outremont, Québec : Lanctôt, 1999.
  • Neatby, Hilda. Quebec : the revolutionary age 1760-1791. Toronto : McClelland and Stewart, 1966.