Loyalist Settlement in the Maritimes and Quebec

January 8, 2011

Loyalist Escape Routes 1781• Britain• British Territory in the Caribbean• Quebec and Nova Scotia

Loyalists in the Maritimes• Nova Scotia had a population of about 20,000• In 1783, this more than doubled because of

the loyalist settlements• Some 14,000 settled along the Bay of Fundy

into the St. John River region in 1783 alone.

Why do you think they would choose the Maritimes over ‘Ontario’?

Closer to home!

Map of Canada 1774

Map of Canada 1791

Loyalists helped create…

• New Brunswick 1784• Cape Breton Island 1784– Rejoined to Nova Scotia in 1820

• St. John’s Island– Renamed as Prince Edward Island in 1798

• Upper and Lower Canada

Britain’s Land Promise 1783

• one hundred acres of free land to every Loyalist household head;

• an additional 50 acres of free land for each extra family member;

• even more land to those who held a military rank.• The British government also provided free food

rations for many years to these Nova Scotia settlers. That's not to mention free tools and building materials to help clear and settle their land.

• In the 1760’s, Britain gave land to soldiers, couriers, politicians etc.

• The agreement was that they would settle the land like the seigneurial system

• The landlords in PEI tricked loyalists into living there.– These loyalists were ‘stuck’ renting land from these

British landlords– This was not solved until 1873 when PEI joined

Confederation• This was not the same case in Nova Scotia

because the land was not settled

Absentee Landlords

Loyalists to Quebec

• Loyalists expected to find:– British laws, Protestant churches, and freehold

land tenure• What they actually found:– Catholic churches and unfamiliar French-language

political institutions

What did they do?

Loyalists to Quebec

• British authorities dealt with this problem in two ways:– sending most of these Loyalists into the more west

rural part of the province that would become known as Upper Canada;

– creating new law and governmental institutions beside the French ones to benefit the English Loyalists.

Constitution Act 1791

• Divided the land into French and English Settlements– Upper Canada (English) in the West– Lower Canada (French) in the East• The names Upper and Lower Canada were given

according to their location on the St. Lawrence River.

• Representative Government was formed in each colony– Upper Canada (English) in the West

Constitution Act 1791 (II)

• Neither the English nor French liked the act because:

• The French Canadians felt they might be overshadowed by English settlement and increased rights for Protestants

• The new English-speaking settlers felt the French Canadians still had too much power.

• However, both groups preferred it to the Quebec Act it replaced.

Map of Canada 1791

John Graves Simcoe

• First Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, 1791–1796

• He founded York (now Toronto)

• He ended slavery in Upper Canada

Simcoe’s Campaign for Settlers• People Simcoe wanted:– former military officers living in the Maritimes

who were loyal to Britain.– Americans living in the United States, particularly

from New York and Pennsylvania.– People who were unhappy with life in the newly-

created United States;– People who wanted to obtain inexpensive land in

Canada.

‘Late Loyalists’ or ‘Simcoe’s Loyalists’

They were:1. U.S. immigrants remained sympathetic to the ideals of American was of life. 2. They came not out of loyalty to Britain, but out of forwarding their own self-interests.

Does this make them true "Loyalists”?

By 1800, Upper Canada's population had grown to 50,000 from about 12,000 in 1791. By 1815, the population grew to 95,000. About 80 per cent of those living in the colony around this time had been born in America.

While a great deal of attention is given to United Empire Loyalists in Upper Canada, a small but significant amount of immigrants to the region - about 10 per cent - were actually….

GERMAN!!