Module 2 - THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY
Founding of VILLE MARIE -1642
Holy City found for purpose of converting Natives
St. Lawrence Valley – fertile land, access to continent
Good weather
ROYAL GOVERNMENT
Bishop
Intendant
1663
Governor B.I.G. 3
Sit on
SOVEREIGN COUNCIL
CAPTAIN
THE MILITIA
Was courtOF
of appeals
ROYAL GOVERNMENT:
King takes over running colony
Tells COLBERT, Minister of Marine to form
GOVERNOR –
INTENDANT –
BISHOP –
PEOPLE
boss. In charge of trade, defense, diplomacy answers only to King
inside man, runs the colony- handles all the $$$, head of the Sovereign Council
Holy man, in charge of religion, the CHURCH:
JEAN TALON 1ST INTENDANT
Immigration – (les Filles du Roi) ,
Soldiers, engages,
Needed to make colony grow
Incentives: wedding gifts, baby bonuses, family allowance
***Farming and fur trade were two main occupations for New France population***
SEIGNEURIAL SYSTEM
- an organized system of farming designed to help settle the St. Lawrence Valley
Seigneur (landlord) & Censitaire (tenant) had their rights and duties.
SEIGNEUR’S RIGHTS:
to be granted his land
To have the front seat in church
To receive: rent (cens et rentes) and
free labour several days a year
CENSITAIRE’S RIGHTS
to work his land
To live on what he grew
To leave the land to his heirs
To use the Seigneur`s mill and oven
SEIGNEUR’S DUTIES
To build a mill
To build a church
To be loyal to the King
To protect his seigneury and all living on it
The ROLE OF THE CHURCH
CENSITAIRE’S DUTIES
to clear and care for his land
to pay homage to the seigneur
to pay the cens et rentes
to give the corvee (free labour)
POLITICAL: Bishop sat on Sovereign Council
RELIGIOUS: Church services, Mass, weddings, baptisms, funerals, etc.
Conversion of the Natives, etc.
SECULAR/SOCIAL: education, the sick and the poor: charities, social services
CLASS SYSTEM IN NEW FRANCE :
aristocracy (B.I.G. 3, government officials) wealthy merchants
Bourgeoisie
shopkeepers, small merchants,
Peasants
farmers, tradesmen, coureurs du bois, etc.
The Seigneur lived on the same land as his Censitaires
There was more interaction and less class division than there was in France.
Life was hard, but people had relative freedom.
Things were better in New France than in the mother country.
NEW FRANCE AT THE END OF THE FRENCH REGIME (1759)
Due to the search for furs, the colony kept expanding its territory.
By the end of the French Regime, the territory occupied by New France:
West
south
east
towards the Rockies
to Louisiana and the Mississippi River
to Port Royal and the maritime coast
THE ENGLISH COLONIES prevented the French from expanding to the Atlantic in
the southeast.