grew, until today whpae it represents about 24
percent of CanadØ total. The people live
throughout Caij,aa, and not)1Ist in Quebec.
Manitoba’s Fi1icophone p911ation, for exam
ple, can trØ its originØo the few migrants
from QupI5ec who set)d near StAonifac in
e
the e,rr days of tV Red Rivey’colony.
fpr a more det)1’ed descrip9In of the history
yk’New Francy’refer to ch,ppter 4.
ing or any way we could.
We lived in a tent at St. Annes until father
got a house ready. He went up through our
lot till he found a nice fresh spring of water.
He stooped down and pulled away the
fallen leaves and tasted it. It was very good
so there he built his house. We all had food
given us by the government flour, butter
and pork. Tools were given to the men also.
9
Qu
s
”i
est
nd
io Proj eyh
/
1. Why,4d the 1
popun
o
la,x of New Fice grow
so/lowly in the venteenth ceury?
2. ?he French are ØlIed one of Cada’s fund
/ing peoples. Vftiat does this ean?
I
,A. Imagine yoØre the officiagiven 1e
job of
attracting jiiimigrants to pd’ew
Devise
Frae.
an adverØing canipaign,4ncludi posters and
pamphlets, aimed at elling’.4he colony to
possible settlers.
Hannah Ingaham sailed from New York to
SaintJphn in 1783. Behind her she left a United
States that was exhausted and divided by years
of bloody warfare with Great Britain. Hannah’s
parents did not agree with the war, which was
fought to gain independence for the United
States, so the family fled north to Nova Scotia
to begin a new life. The Ingrahams joined a
flood of more than 50 000 Americans who mi
grated to British North America after the War
of Independence. .hey were the first sizeable
influx of English-speaking people into central
Canada. Known as the King’s Friends because
of their loyalty to George ifi, the British king,
they are called Loyalists today.
/“
The Loyalists
‘Q
Father said we were to go to Nova Scotia,
that a ship was ready to take us there. We
made all haste to get ready. We killed the
cow and sold the beef. A neighbour made
us a good parcel of candles and put plenty of
beeswax in them to make them hard and
good. Uncle came down and threshed our
wheat. Grandmother came and made bags
for the wheat. We packed up a tub of butter,
a tub of pickles, and a good store of pota
toes.
I was just eleven years old when we left
our farm to come here. It was the last ship of
the season and had on board all those who
could not come sooner. There were no deaths
on board, but several babies were born. It
was a sad sick time after we landed in Saint
John. We had to live in tents. The govern
ment gave them to us, and food too, it was
just at the first snow then. The melting
snow and rain would soak up into our beds
as we las’.
We came up the river at last in a schooner.
We were nine days getting to St. Annes
fFrederictonJ. We were brought as far as
Maugerville in a schooner ,but we had to get
the rest of the way, 12 miles /19 kmj, walk-
44
—
The American Revolution
The War of Independence had its roots in an
other, earlier war, the Seven Years’ War, which
ended in 1763. That victory for the British left
them in control of a long strip of territory run
ning down the Atlantic seaboard of North
America, from Quebec in the north to Georgia
in the south. Following its victory over the
French, Britain began to tighten its control over
the affairs of its American colonies. The Brit
ish took steps to stop smuggling and to enforce
the customs duties that Americans were ex
pected to pay on goods imported from Europe.
In general, the British wanted the colonies to
bear a larger share of their own expenses, par
ticularly defence from which the Thirteen
Colonies had benefited.
k From the point of view of the colonists, Brit
ain was making unacceptable demands. Cus
toms duties on imported goods were ruining
colonial trade, they said, driving merchants out
of business and forcing up prices in the colo
nies. Some colonists began to ask what right
the British Parliament had to make laws gov
erning the Thirteen Colonies when the cob-
-
•
nies were not represented in Parliament and
had no voice in the decisions. “No taxation
without representation” became a colonial
rallying cry.The decade from 1765 to 1775 was marked
by unrest and violence in the Thirteen Colo
nies. Crowds rioted against the British laws in
Boston. Merchants organized boycotts of Brit
ish goods, hoping to convince the home gov
ernment to change the laws. In New York
colonists refused to provide housing for British
soldiers. British officials were attacked and
their houses and offices burned to the ground.
In retaliation, Great Britain closed the port of
Boston, bringing all business to a halt. Troops
were moved in, and the government of Mas
sachusetts was suspended. With neither side
willing to back down, anger and violence in
creased until, in April 1775, the first shots of
the American Revolution were fired. A year
later, on July 4, 1776, representatives of the
Thirteen Colonies met as the Continental
Congress in Philadelphia and agreed to the
Declaration of Independence, which stated that
the colonies no longer behnged to Great Brit
ain. The fight for economk freedom was now
a struggle for political independence.
The Americans hoped that Quebec, Nova
Scotia, and Newfoundland would join their fight
against Great Britain. They invited Quebec to
become a fourteenth colony and to send
delegates to meetings at Philadelphia, where
the war was being planned. But neither Que
bec, Nova Scotia nor Newfoundland joined the
rebels. In Quebec the French saw no advantage
to becoming part of an independent American
federation. Under British rule the French
formed the majority in Quebec, and the Quebç
Act (1774) had just recently guaranteed their
•religiqus and legal rights. So far the British had
been kindly rulers. There was no reason for the
French to risk losing their identity by throw
ing in their lot with a new federation that
would be overwhelmingly English-speaking and
Protestant.
45
In Nova Scotia and Newfoundland residents
also rejected the revolution. Their reasoning
had more to do with economics. Both colonies
were veiy dependent on Great Britain, for their
survival. Trade was in British hands, and most
of the money that supported the colonies came
from across the Atlantic. It must have seemed
to the colonists that asking them to become
independent was the same as asking them to
commit suicide.
Who Were the Loyalists?
The American Revolution was in many ways
a civil war. About one-fifth of the colonists
opposed it. Many of these Loyalists had a gen
uine love for Great Britain and respect for Brit
ish institutions, but there were several other
reasons why people chose to remain loyal:
• Some Loyalists agreed with the criticisms of
British policy, but they did not believe that
armed rebellion was the way to bring about
change.
• Some Loyalists relied on British ties to do
business and could not afford to join the
rebellion.
•1
The ruins of Fort Frontenac at Cataraclul, 1783.
Before the arrival of the Loyaists in what is now On
tario, the French had established several forts and
trading posts in the area. One of these was Fort
Frontenac, buit on the site of what is now Kingston,
Ontario, in 1673. Abandoned during the Seven Years’
War, it is seen in this partng as it ooked in ‘783. The
painter, James Peachey, was a member of the survey
ng party that was preparing and on the St. Lawrence
river for the arrival of the royalists. The surveyors are
seen here seated around a camp-fre The fort was
rebji!t and formed the nuceus of the viage of
46
Cataraqui, later Kingston,
In 1984 New Brunswick and Ontario celebrated the
two-hundredth anniversary of their founding. The
coming of the Lcyaists was identified as the begnning
of these two provinces because, it was argued, they
were the irst real settlers, as opposed to transient
soldiers and traders. Some Francophones objected,
arguing that the French were in Ontario ong before
the Loyalists. And, of course, the irst Nations people
were the originai inhabitants. What do you thrk? sit
fair to cal the Loyasts the founders of Dnta’lo and
ew Brnswck?
• Some Loyalists were recent immigrants to
America who as yet did not feel a part of the
community and feared that they might not
enjoy equal rights in an independent nation.
• Aboriginal people feared the expansion of
American settlers into their territory and re
lied on the British to protect their interests.
They remained loyal to Britain:
• Some Loyalists did not want to get involved
on either side but found themselves perse
cuted because of their neutrality.
During the war American society was bit
terly divided. People accused of loyalism were
considered traitors to the new United States.
They were beaten by mobs, driven from their
homes, robbed of their possessions, tarred and
feathered, and even put in dismal, dank jails
to wait out the war. Where Loyalists had the
upper hand, they were similarly cruel to sup
porters of the revolution.
While armies clashed, those loyal to Britain
fled north to Canada in a steady stream. They
came from all walks of life farmers, mer
chants, tradespeople, and labourers. Many were
foreign-born and had only been in America for
a brief period. Arriving on foot or by horseback,
they gathered in camps to wait for the war’s
end. When the fighting finally stopped, in 1783,
they found themselves on the losing side and
realized that they would not be going back.
—
Loyalists in Nova Scotia
Joseph Durfee was a shipowner and merchant
living in the seaside town of Newport, Rhode
Island, when the American Revolution began.
His business was carrying goods back and forth
across the Atlantic, and perhaps that is why
he did not sympathize with the movement for
independence. Whatever his reason, in 1776
Durfee joined a Loyalist regiment to fight
against the revolution.
By the end of the war Durfee, his wife, and
their five children were living in New York
City. Their property in Newport was seized by
rebels and so were Durfee’s merchant ships.
Not sure that it would be safe to remain in the
United States after peace was restored, Durfee
made plans to leave. He joined a group of Loy
alists who were arranging to settle at a harbour
called Port Roseway on the southwest coast
New Brunswick Loyalists. All Loyalists did not
share the same background, nor did they receive
the same compensation, This beautiful estate on
the St. John River in New Brunswick beonged to
.ohn Coffin, who cafled it Alwington Manor A mer
chant from Boston, Coffin was a general in a Loyalist
regiment during the revolution, and he received the
and because of his service. After coming to New
Brunswick, he belonged to the small coterie of lead
ing Loyalist businessmen and politicians. In 1797 he
fought a duel with James Clenie, a vocal critic of the
colony’s Loyalist leaders, shooting him through the
thigh Three of his sons became officers in the Brit
ish armed forces. The Ingrahams and the Coffins
were the two extremes of the Loyalist experience.
of Nova Scotia. The Port Roseway Associates,
as they were called, sent delegates to Halifax
to arrange for transportation and supplies, and
in April 1783 over 4700 Loyalists sailed out of
New York harbour bound for Port Roseway.
Joseph Durfee received a plot of land in the
new townsite and a larger tract around the shore
of the harbour. Along with his fellow Loyalists
he also got two years’ worth of provisions to
tide his family over while they established
themselves in their new home. In August the
governor of Nova Scotia arrived and renamed
the place Shelburne, after Lord Shelburne, the
Prime Minister of Great Britain during the
American Revolution. It was only a half-built
village of canvas tents, rude log huts, and muddy
47
streets with the stumps still showing, but the
Loyalists expected that soon it would be a
thriving port. Refugees continued to arrive from
New York, and by the next year Shelburne had
a population exceeding 15 000, making it the
largest centre in British North America.
Around the harbour from Shelbume another
small town sprang up in 1783. Called Birchtown, it was home to about 1400 Black people.
About 10 percent of the Loyalists who came to
Nova Scotia were Black slaves who came with
their masters or ex-slaves who came seeking
freedom. These people received rations of pork
and flour, but their land grants were delayed,
and many took jobs in Shelburne.
Shelburne did not achieve the hopes of its
founders. The land nearby was not fertile
enough to support a large population. Settlers
began to drift away to other Loyalist settle
ments around Nova Scotia. Many of the Black
immigrants left the province altogether and
went to Africa. The population of Shelburne
dropped to a few hundred. Among those who
stayed was Joseph Durfee and his family. Joseph
had become one of the town’s first justices of
the peace, appointed to keep order in the con
fusion of the early days. Later he was respon
sible for the new lighthouse built at the
entrance to the harbour. He died in Shelburne
in 1801.
Unlike Joseph Durfee, there were many Loy
alists who came to Nova Scotia and could not
settle there happily. Some of them resented
Nova Scotians for remaining neutral during
the war, for carrying on their businesses and
not suffering any hardships. In Nova Scotia,
an established colony, much of the best land,
government positions, and business opportun
ities were already taken. The Loyalists be
lieved that they deserved a reward for their
losses and suffering during the war. Some of
them demanded their own colony, in which
-they would be the leaders. The British govern
ment agreed, and in 1784 the colony ofv
Ri-iincwiiç was created on the northhore of
the Bay of Fundy. This was the country where
Hannah Ingraham and her family came to live.
Loyalists in Quebec
Over 50 000 Loyalists came to British North
America during and immediately after the
48
American Revolutionary War. The majority set
tled in Nova Scotia because it was accessible
to the Thirteen Colonies by sea, but about 9500
made their way overland to Quebec. There they
gathered in refugee camps, a mixed lot o peo
ple from various backgrounds. Some were back
woods farm families whose land had been
overrun during the fighting. Others were Ger
man, Dutch, and Swiss mercenaries who had
fought for the British. Still others were
Mohawk who had lost their territory iü the war
and were promised by Great Britain that new
lands would be found for them in Canada.
The problem was how to deal with so many
immigrants. The person responsible for find
ing a solution was Frederick Haldimand, the
governor of Quebec. Lile their fellow refugees
in Nova Scotia, the Quebec Loyalists were not
happy with the situation in which they found
themselves. Once again, much of the best land
was occupied, but, more importantly, they were
uncomfortable in a province where the French
language and French laws and customs were
dominant. Governor Haldimand did not want
the Loyalists moving into the western interior,
which he hoped to preserve for the First
Nations people, but the newcomers insisted,
and he changed his mind. In May 1783 Major
Samuel Holland was sent to scout the upper St.
Lawrence River and the north shore of Lake
Ontario to discover the best places for settle
ment to begin.
The Loyalists arrived in the new territory in
1784. For the most part they settled along the
southern edge of what is now the province of
Ontario, from Detroit in the west to the upper
reaches of the St. Lawrence (see the map on
page 45). This area had long been occupied by
Aboriginal peoples, but the British made agree
ments to buy the land, in most cases for sup
plies of ammunition and clothing or for as little
as one fifth of a penny per hectare.
The Loyalists came up the river from Mon
treal in flat-bottomed batteaux, which had to
be hauled by ropes against the current. At night
the weary travellers slept on the banks of the
river. The government provided each family
with basic farm implements, food, clothing,
seed, and livestock. When they arrived at base
camps in the interior, they were assigned their
land according to lot numbers they drew from
mili
. This painting by the
A LoyaUst encampment
e
bas
t
y shows a Loyalis
tary surveyor James Peache er at Johnston in the
ce Riv
camp cn the St. Lawren
that you are a planner of
e
gin
Ima
spring of 1784.
your
. Prepare a report for
the settlement operation
the
p,
state of the cam
supervisor, describing the
and the daily activities
up,
e
gon
buildings that have
o
ks remain before the pe
of the Loyalists. What tas
s?
land
ple are settled on their
eived 40 ha, plus
a hat. Heads of families rec er of the family.
mb
20 ha more for each me fought in the war
lly
tua
ac
had
o
wh
Loyalists
from 40 ha for an
received more, anywhere for officers. By late
ordinary soldier to 2000 ha newcomers were
in the summer of 1784 many d, clearing trees
already at work on their langh shelter before
and hurrying to erect a rou
winter.
e an easy time.
The Loyalists did not hav was scarce; the
d
Supplies were delayed; foo led off the crops.
kil
r
extreme cold of winte
rnment, believing
After three years, the gove icient, cut off the
that the settlers were self-suff ine swept the
free rations. As a result, famto rely on wild
country, and the Loyalists hadsurvive. Eventu
animals and forest plants to’ived, and the peo
ally emergeicy supplies arr
producing, but
ple were able to get their farmsembered the suf
forever after the Loyalists rem ungry Years.”
fering they endured in the “H treated gener
All in all, the Loyalists were They received
ously by the British government. provisions for
free land, free transport, and
received com
several years. Later some that they had lost
pensation for the possessions soldier-settlers
and
when they fled their homes, British army con
the
who had fought with
. It is estimated
tinued to receive half their pay
alent of over two
that Britain spent the equiv
Loyalists in British
billion dollars settling the s sum of money.
ou
North America, an enorm ht who said that
rig
s
wa
Perhaps the historian
so well by losing a
e
don
seldom had a people
war.
The Impact of the Loyalists
on Canada was
The impact of the Loyalists l of almost 10 000
profound. In Quebec the arriva e a whole new
English-speaking people gav g a place where
kin
character to the country. See laws and govern
ar
they could enjoy famili d to the west and
ment, most Loyalists settle ir territory cre
the
in 1791 succeeded in having
Canada (later
per
Up
ated a separate colony,
n present in Que
Ontario). The French had bee ing English pop
bec for 150 years; now a -grow upper province.
ulation was established in the a was set.
nad
The bilingual nature of Ca
rth America re
No
The Loyalists in British
Britain. After
th
wi
affirmed the colony’s ties ve these ties, and
ser
all, they had fought to pre
British institutions
they brought this respect for north. They also
e
with them when they cam n hatred, of the
eve
t,
brought their resentmen
y had lost so much.
United States, where the
reinforced two ten-.
As a result, the Loyalists
49
•
•.,
2:
:
,•‘p_•c
Th
4
I derties in th Canadian point of view an
affection for Britain and a wary suspicion of the
United States.
Perhaps most importantly, the Loyalists gave
a boost to the economic development of British
North America. The sudden arrival of 50 000
people, most of them capable farmers, trades
people, merchants, and professionals, injected
new life into the colonies. Vast areas of land
were cleared and brought under cultivation;
vigorous new towns such as Kingston, Saint
John, and Fredericton appeared; labour was now
available to develop the colonies’ raw resources.
(For a more detailed description of life in British
North America, refer to chapter 4.)
The Loyalists were later submerged in much
larger waves of immigration to Canada. Their
number was small when compared, for ex
ample, with the hundreds of thousands of
people who arrived in western Canada after
1896. However, because their impact was great,
they continue to be given a special place in the
history of the country, and many Canadians
today still proudly trace their ancestry to the
coming of the Loyalists.
‘
—
Questions
1. How did the British government assist the
Loyalists to settle in Canada?
2. Why did the Iroquois support the British?
3. Explain the reasons for the tension between
the Loyalists and the colonists already resi
dent in British North America.
4. What was the impact of the Loyalists on Ca
nadian development?
1815 the situation chiaed dramatically. In
Europe a long perif warfare ended, opening
the sea lanes}docean-going traffic and cre
ating greatlocation in the economy. In Brit
ish Nd America, 1815 also marked the end
of fl6var, the War of 181wrfIi the United
Sf’ates. The colonies were4er to develop their
resources and to opeijtheir backwoods areas
to agricultural sejiment. As a result, the pe
riod from 18lt6 1850 saw a rapid expansion
of populatri in all of the colonies. Unlike
today, wn immigrants to Canada cme from
manythuntries and have differentethnic back
6nds, almost all of the nebmers in this
period came from Britain.fiere were excep
tions; for instance, the M00 American Black
refugees from the Wa 1812 who settled near
Halifax. Buç by anThrge the sudden influx of
what
people into Brh North America
historians ca1Yhe “Great Migration” origi
nated in the British Isles.
—
—
Table 2 Population of Briid North America,
1806—51
•,/ 1806
1851
1831
71 000 237 000 952 000
Upper Canada ,Z
250 000 553 000 890000
Lower Cana
68000 168000 277000
9
Nova Sc
35 000 94 000 194 000
New )c1nswick
Pr!e Edward Island 10 000 } 000 70 000
76 000 102 000
27 00
?(ewfoundland
round
The European Ba
To understandyriy so many people left Britain
to seek a ney(life in America, it is necessary
to underid the forces of changetbat were
affectj.n Britain at the time,4iist as the
The G(iigration:
Imnjiation to 1itish North
4erica, 1815O
llowing the a4’al of the LoyaJA’(immi
,,,
o
4
grants, the popyl’ation of the colos of British
North Amea continued to w slowly but
steadily. 1ere were pocke’of sudden, rapid
expansipti, for example, in)ova Scotia between
l800pfid 1815 with thefrival of 10 000 Scots.
However, for the mo$’ part the growth of the
colonies before l8l’was unspectacular. After
Loya1ist were refugees fromyfevolution, Brit
ish immigrants were refu from a revolution
of a different kind. T)i1rs was an economic
revolution that wa)ansforming their world,
,many cases so,pfofoundly that they np-longer
could find a ce in it. And so they*ft home
for CanadiAustralia, New ZeaJ,afid and South
7
Africa. A’
Thd of the NapoleoiTh Wars, which had
embroiled Europe for 2èars, was one immed
iate cause of the cri. Warfare had provided
vast numbers of m with work as soldiers and
had created a coritant demand for weapons and