Province of Quebec (1763–1791)

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Province of Quebec Province de Québec (French)
1763–1791
Flag
A portion of eastern North America in 1774 after the Quebec Act; Quebec extends all the way to the Mississippi River.
Status	British colony
Capital	Quebec
Common languages	French, English
Religion	Roman Catholicism, Protestantism
Government	Constitutional monarchy
King
Governor
History
• Royal Proclamation	7 October 1763
• Quebec Act	1774
• Treaty of Paris	1763
• Constitutional Act	26 December 1791
Currency	Canadian pound
ISO 3166 code	CA
Preceded by Succeeded by Canada (New France) Illinois Country Upper Canada Lower Canada Northwest Territory
Today part of	Canada United States

The Province of Quebec (French: Province de Québec) was a colony in North America created by Great Britain in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. During the war, Great Britain's forces conquered French Canada. As part of terms of the Treaty of Paris peace settlement, France gave up its claim to Canada and negotiated to keep the small but rich sugar island of Guadeloupe instead.^[1] By Great Britain's Royal Proclamation of 1763, Canada (part of New France) was renamed the Province of Quebec. The new British province extended from the coast of Labrador on the Atlantic Ocean, southwest through the Saint Lawrence River Valley to the Great Lakes and beyond to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Portions of its southwest (south of the Great Lakes) were later ceded to the young United States in the Treaty of Paris (1783) at the conclusion of the American Revolution, although the British maintained a military presence there until 1796. In 1791, the territory north of the Great Lakes was divided into Lower Canada and Upper Canada.

History[]

Under the Proclamation, Quebec included the cities of Quebec and Montreal, as well as a zone surrounding them, but did not extend as far west as the Great Lakes or as far north as Rupert's Land.^[2]

In 1774, the Parliament of Great Britain, Frederick North, Lord North, Prime Minister, passed the Quebec Act that allowed Quebec to restore the use of French customary law (Coutume de Paris) in private matters alongside the English common law system, and allowing the Catholic Church to collect tithes. The act also enlarged the boundaries of Quebec to include the Ohio Country and part of the Illinois Country, from the Appalachian Mountains on the east, south to the Ohio River, west to the Mississippi River and north to the southern boundary of lands owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, or Rupert's Land.

Through Quebec, the British Crown retained access to the Ohio and Illinois Countries after the Treaty of Paris (1783) ceded control of 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 Native American nations through Detroit, Fort Niagara, Fort Michilimackinac, and so on, until these posts were turned over to the United States following the Jay Treaty (1794).

Quebec retained its seigneurial system after the conquest. Owing to an influx of Loyalist refugees from the American Revolutionary War, the demographics of Quebec came to shift and now included a substantial English-speaking Protestant element from the former Thirteen Colonies. These United Empire Loyalists settled mainly in the Eastern Townships, Montreal, and what was known then as the pays d'en haut west of the Ottawa River. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the colony in two at the Ottawa River, so that the western part (Upper Canada) could be under the English legal system, with English speakers in the majority. The eastern part was named Lower Canada.

Governors of the Province of Quebec 1763–1791[]

Map of British America showing the original boundaries of the Province of Quebec and its Quebec Act of 1774 post-annexation boundaries

After the capitulation of Montreal in 1760, New France was placed under military government. Civil government was instituted in 1764. The following were the governors:

• James Murray 1760–1766
• Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester 1766–1778
• Sir Frederick Haldimand 1778–1786^[3]
• Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester 1786–1796

There were also "lieutenant governors", but these were merely the deputies of the governors, and should not be confused with the subsequent to 1791 Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec.

• Guy Carleton (lieutenant governor to James Murray) 1766–1768
• Hector Theophilus de Cramahé (lieutenant governor to Guy Carleton) 1771–1782
• Henry Hamilton (lieutenant governor to Frederick Haldimand) 1782–1785
• Henry Hope (lieutenant governor to the Lord Dorchester) 1785–1788
• Alured Clarke (lieutenant governor to the Lord Dorchester) 1790

Counsellors to the governor[]

The Province of Quebec did not have an elected legislature and was ruled directly by the governor with advice 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 from 1764 to 1766:

List of councillors under Carleton from 1766 to 1774:

Geography[]

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Around 1763 to 1764 the province was divided into two judicial districts:

• Montreal District – covering the western parts of Quebec along the St. Lawrence River including Montreal and much of Ontario (Eastern and Southern Ontario)
• – covering the eastern parts of Quebec along the St. Lawrence and Labrador

In 1790 the was formed out of part of Quebec District.

The Trois-Rivières and Quebec districts continued after 1791 when Lower Canada came into existence, while Montreal District west of the Ottawa River became Upper Canada and east of the Ottawa River was partitioned into many electoral districts.

See also[]

• Former colonies and territories in Canada
• Territorial evolution of Canada after 1867

References[]

Further reading[]

• 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.