Download Chapter 6- The United States Breaks Away

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Read page 169
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjfrexe61
XI
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1763 - Britain was deeply in debt (to owe money)
after the Seven Years’ War and wanted to save $$
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(remember, Seven Years War ended with the treaty
of Paris◦ France kept Guadeloupe, a small base in N America for
cod, kept Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, can’t retaliate
against French, Catholic can practice)
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Wanted to keep troops stationed in 13
Colonies so decided to make 13 Colonies pay
for troops
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To do this, Britain raised taxes in the colonies
to make them pay for troops.
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13 Colonies refused to pay
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13 Colonies said Britain didn’t have a right to
and had NO authority to tax them because
Britain didn’t allow colonist to elect
representatives to the British parliament
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Slogan arose (protest):
 “No taxation without representation”
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In 1775 – protest turned into rebellion
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George Washington took command of an army
in the 13 Colonies to fight the British rule
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The American war of independence or the
American Revolution began!- 1775 – 1783
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Quebec and Nova Scotia didn’t join war, but was
affected by it
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In 1776, thirteen colonies decided to break away
from Britain and become Independent Country:
United States.
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The war lasted until 1783 when Great Britain
finally recognized the United States as its own
independent country.
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The war deeply divided communities in the Thirteen
Colonies.
 Supports of the rebellion were called “Patriots”
 Opposed to the rebellion were called “United Empire
Loyalists”
 they wanted to remain united to the British Empire and loyal
to Britain.
 These people included First Nations allies.
 They opposed the war for the following reasons:
 They did not want violence
 They engaged in commerce with the British
 The First Nations opposed the Americans who took their land
 George
Washington became the first
president of the U.S. in 1789
“ Loyalists, with their brats and wives,
Should flee to save their wretched lives.”
“A Loyalist is someone whose head is in
England
Whose body is in America
And whose neck should be stretched.”
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The American war of independence forced
people of Thirteen Colonies to choose sides:
 break away from British rule or
 remain under British rule?
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During and after the war, many people who
supported British rule left the thirteen colonies for
the British colonies of Quebec and Nova Scotia
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They were refugees, escaping to territories that
remained under British rule in North America
Most of these people called themselves British
descendant Loyalists
This wave included 3,000 black loyalists, it
also included 2,000 Haudenosaunee people,
(become allies of Britain during the war) and
3,000 German Mennonites (remained neutral)
 Tarring
and feathering (see article
on page 173) was used as a
punishment to those who were
viewed as siding with the British,
by supporters of thirteen colonies
(America)
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Left all their possessions behind: had to
start over
Faced exposure and starvation in some
cases
Black Loyalists faced discrimination
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Others who were part of the migration
(Haudenosaunee and Mennonites – who were not
called Loyalists because they had different
motivations) also faced discrimination.
 The Haudenosaunee had to demand land.
 The Mennonites had to pay fines to the British
government to exempt them from military service.
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Go to student handout- Meet the Loyalists
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Read profiles on pages 175-178
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Complete the handout
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The arrival of the Loyalists changed the makeup of
Quebec - Quebec became more English.
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The arrival of the Loyalists greatly increased the
number of British people in Quebec. Before the
arrival of the Loyalists, Quebec had very few
British settlers. By 1790, however, British people
made up about ten percent of Quebec’s
population.
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The Loyalists were not content to live a French
way of life in their new homeland
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The loyalists began to ask Britain for British laws
and customs in Quebec, because “they were
British born subjects and have always lived under
the government and laws of England.”
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What about their rights under the Quebec Act
of 1774- rights that protected French laws and
customs? Would the arrival of the Loyalists
endanger these rights?
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This concerned many Canadiens as they were
afraid of losing their French language and
Catholic religion
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The Loyalists were mostly farmers, they wanted
land.
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First Nations however, also needed that land, and
had rights to it, as recognized by the Royal
Proclamation of 1763.
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Loyalists arrival shifted the reason Britain
negotiated treaties or agreements with First Nations
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This brought about a significant shift in British and
First Nations’ relations  British now tried to
negotiate the land away from First Nations’ control.
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Before the Loyalists, Britain negotiated treaties of
“peace and friendship.”
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After the Loyalists arrived, Britain negotiated
treaties to take over land for settlement
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The Royal Proclamation of 1763- declared “Indian
Territory,”
 the proclamation recognized First Nations right
to land.
 The proclamation said First Nations had to
agree to give up their land before settlers could
move in but this did not always happen.
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In Nova Scotia
 They took over the land the Acadians once
farmed
 Many of the Loyalists who arrived in Nova
Scotia joined settlements that already existed
there.
 The St. John River settlers were mostly NEW
colonist.
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In Nova Scotia
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They felt they had different needs and priorities then the
older more established British settlements.
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St. John River Colonist petitioned (to ask for something in
a formal way) Britain for their OWN colony, separate
from Nova Scotia.
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Britain’s Response: In 1784, Great-Britain divided Nova
Scotia in two, naming the second part New-Brunswick
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In Quebec
 In the late 1780’s the British government received
several petitions from Loyalist settlers in Quebec.
 They asked the British government to allow them
to use British laws and customs in place of French
laws and customs
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In Quebec
 PROBLEM?  Britain needed to keep Loyalists
happy in case America decided to invade.
 it owed something to the loyalists- Loyalists
fought with them against Americans, BUT
needed to secure goodwill of new Loyalists to
settlers, incase Americans decided to attack
British North America
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In Quebec:
 But Britain had already passed the Quebec Act in
1774 to secure the support of Canadiens living in
its colonies.
 How could Britain balance the demands of the
Loyalists and the Canadiens?
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In Nova Scotia:
 Britain divided Nova Scotia into 2 colonies:
New Brunswick
 They also created the separate colonies of Cape
Breton Island and St. John Island.
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In Quebec:
 Britain recognized Quebec by passing the
CONSTITUTIONAL ACT in 1791.
 The Constitutional Act of 1791 stated:
 This act established British laws and institutions
for Loyalists settlers west of Montreal.
 Divided Quebec into Upper and Canada and
Lower Canada.
 In
Quebec:
 The Constitutional Act of 1791 stated (Cont’d):
 Upper Canada: Established British
civil and criminal law
 Lower Canada: the act reaffirmed the
arrangements under the Quebec act
of 1774: British criminal law, but
French civil law
 In
Quebec:
The Constitutional Act of 1791
stated (Cont’d):
 Set aside lands for protestant
churches
 Guaranteed Canadiens rights to the
Catholic Church.
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In Quebec:
 The Constitutional Act of 1791 stated (Cont’d):
 Established officials and a legislative
council appointed by Britain in each
colony and an assembly elected by the
colonists.
 This meant Upper and Lower Canada
had “representative government.”
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Use the map handed out to you and the map
on page 186 of your textbook
Make yourself a copy(an exact copy!!) of this
map indicating the different areas owned by
British North America and the United States.
Be sure to label all parts of the map so yours
looks identical to the one on page 186.
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In 1812 Britain went to war with British North
America, why?
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Was a fight between the United States and British
North America
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Background of the War of 1812:
 1789- France has revolution, dethrones the
monarch (king / Queen rules) and becomes a
republic (voting)
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Background of the War of 1812 (Cont’d):
 Other Monarch ruled countries in Europe
worried they may be overthrown too and so
they went to war against the French republic
 Napoleon was a French general who
defended France and conquered a large part
of Europe. The war was named after him
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In 1812, the Napoleonic Wars triggered a conflict
in North America
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The Americans wanted BNA territory
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As part of war strategy, Britain shut down trade
between France and the US.
◦ --Think-Pair-Share– Why do you think they would do
this?
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It blocked America ships from landing at French ports. The
British Navy was also boarding ships to look for British
deserters.
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To retaliate (get revenge) the US declared war on BNA b/c it
was the nearest piece of British territory.
◦ --Think-Pair-Share– Do you think that this is a good idea? What
would you do?
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The Americans invaded British North America and
expected the BNA colonists to join in their fight against
British rule.
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Instead, the colonists fought back.
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In one of the key battles of the war, British troops
and Canadiens militia-the Voltigeurs-fought off an
American attack on Montreal.
◦ --Think-Pair-Share: Knowing what we do about
Montreal’s geography, why would the Americans think
of attacking Montreal?
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If the attack had succeeded, the Americans could
have won the war.
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Montreal was a crucial supply and communications
link between Upper and Lower Canada
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The Americans invaded and destroyed the town or
York (Toronto)
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In August 1814, BNA retaliated and invaded
Washington D.C and set fire to the White House
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Hh8W6
9cos
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Beginning at 6:00 A.M. on September 13, 1814, British
warships attacked Fort McHenry for 25 hours.
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The American defenders had 18, 24, and 38 pound cannons
with a maximum range of 2.4 km.
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The British had a range of 3 km with their cannons, and
their rockets had a 2.8-km range, but they were not very
accurate.
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The British ships were unable to pass Fort McHenry and
penetrate Baltimore Harbor because of American defenses:
 chain of 22 sunken ships
 the American cannon.
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After an initial exchange of fire, the British fleet withdrew to
just beyond the range of Fort McHenry’s cannons
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Although 1,500 to 1,800 cannonballs were launched at the
fort, due to the poor accuracy of the British weapons at
maximum range and the limited range of the American guns,
very little damage was done on either side
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At one point during the bombardment, a bomb crashed
through the fort's powder magazine (where ammunition is
stored). Fortunately for the Americans, either the fuse was
extinguished by the rain or the bomb was merely a dud.
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Only one British warship, a bomb vessel, received a
direct hit from the fort's return fire which wounded
one crewman.
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Americans did suffer casualties: four killed and 24
wounded, including one African American soldier and
a woman who was cut in half by a bomb as she carried
supplies to the troops.
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British ceased their attack on the morning of
September 14, 1814, and the naval part of the British
invasion of Baltimore had been stopped.
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On the morning of September 14, the 30 ft × 42 ft
oversized American flag, which had been made a few
months before by local flagmaker and her 13-year-old
daughter, was raised over Fort McHenry (replacing the
tattered storm flag which had flown during battle).
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The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking
song composed by John Stafford Smith for a mens social
club in London.
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"The Anacreontic Song" was already popular in the United
States. Set to Francis Scott Key's poem and renamed "The
Star-Spangled Banner", it would soon become a well-known
American patriotic song.
Francis Scott Key’s
original manuscript
copy of his "StarSpangled Banner"
poem. It is now on
display at
the Maryland
Historical Society
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=i426pbQJZ_g
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The war ended in 1814 with no definitive winner
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Each side kept their own land and both countries
were separated along the 49th parallel (the
Canada/U.S. border)
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Both countries signed the peace treaty, known as
the Treaty of Ghent, on December 24, 1814.
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Agreements could not be reached about land,
waterways or where First Nations were to live
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The settlement simply ended hostilities and
restored pre-war conditions, but under the
circumstances American negotiators believed they
had triumphed.
The Position of the Canadiens:
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Some Americans thought the Canadiens might rise up
against British rule, once the American attack began.
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This didn’t happen, partly because the Catholic Church
opposed:
 republican government (i.e people thinking for
themselves)
 Government elected by the people and without a
monarch- encouraged Canadiens to fight for Britain
and its monarchy
Upper Canada’s Position:
 American attacks centered on Upper Canadawhere some of the Loyalists had settled after the
American war of independence
 Most Upper Canadians sided with Britain, and
opposed American plans
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By 1812 many people in Upper Canada were
American born settlers
 They came to UC as immigrants, not refugees like
the Loyalists
 They’d come seeking land to farm
 Some supported the American’s invasion, most did
not take sides
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Most hoped the war would end quickly, with as
little damage to their farms as possible.
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After the war, Britain ordered settlers who had
supported the American cause to leave Upper
Canada, and it discouraged further American
immigration.
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At the same time it encouraged immigrants from
Britain to settle in UC.
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Also, it offered plots of land to Br soldiers to
defend UC if the US tried to invade again
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Tecumseh- a leader of the Shawnee First
Nation
Organized First Nations to support British
against the Americans
Gave speech to Osages First Nations during
winter of 1811-1812
Osages located in Great Lakes Region, were
allied of Tecumseh and British during war
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His speech:
 When white men first came, we shared freely with them
whatever Great Spirit had given us
 They were weak and we made them strong
 Now they want to kill us or drive us back
 White men are not our friends
 1st- they asked us for land for their wigwam
 Now: they want it all
 They want to make us enemies so they can extinct our
hunting grounds
 King of England is angry with Americans: he will send
troops against them and send us rifles
 Unite. Fight each others battles and love Great Spirit- he
will destroy our enemies and make us happy.
YES
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United diverse people
(Canadiens, Br. Canadians,
and FN) to fight a common
cause- to prevent an
American takeover of their
lands
If the US had won the war
of 1812, Canada may not
exist today
The treaty that ended the
war established a boundary
between Canada and the US
that is still respected today
NO
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The war of 1812 affirmed Br
identity in Canada, but not
Canadien or FN identity
The end of the war meant that
Br didn’t need its allies as
much
Br began to ignore the FN in
making decisions about the
future of Canada. It sought to
isolate FN peoples on
reserves.
Br began to advocate
assimilation for Non-British
peoples including FN and
Canadiens.
Copy down the following questions:
 What was the role of Chief Tecumseh in the War
of 1812?
 How did the War of 1812 contribute to British
identity in Canada?
 How did the War of 1812 contribute to defining
Canada’s political boundaries?
 How was the Great Migration of 1815–1850 in
Upper Canada and Lower Canada an attempt
to confirm British identity in the Province of
Canada
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