Transcript Dossier 3 – British Regime (part 1)

Chapter 3 – Culture and Currents
of Thought
Mr. Wilson – History 404
 Johann Von
Goethe – German Philosopher.
 Joseph Hadyn – Classical Composer.
 Thomas Hobbes – Political Philosophy.
 Thomas Jefferson – American Statesman.
 Immanuel Kant – German Philosopher.
 John Locke – English Political Philosopher.
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 Thomas Paine – American Political Activist.
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Swiss Political Philosopher.
 Adam Smith – Scottish Economist.
 Imperialism, defined
by The Dictionary of
Human Geography, is "the creation and
maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural
and territorial relationship, usually between
states and often in the form of an empire, based
on domination and subordination." Imperialism
has been described as a primarily Western
concept that employs "expansionist – capitalist
and latterly communist – systems.“
Johnston, Ronald John (2000). The Dictionary of Human Geography (4th ed.).
Wiley-Blackwell. p. 375.
 Because of the Enlightenment Era of the
18th Century, many Western Societies
were looking at issues like “Individual
rights” instead of Absolutism or
Imperialism.
 This kind of thinking eventually led to the
French Revolution and the American War
of Independence.
 Writing
in Quebec mirrored these
individualist ideals – thus the idea of
political and economic liberalism started
to grow in Canada.
 The ideas proposed were things like
democracy, individual freedoms, equality
and the right to own private land
(essentially the opposite of the
seigneurie system).
 After
the American War of Independence
(1775-1783) and the arrival of the British
Loyalists in Canada, citizens started to
ask for a legislative Assembly.
 The first Canadian Legislative Assembly
was create din 1791 – it have very limited
powers.
 The Assembly started asking for more
power, which in turn led to the Rebellions
of 1837-1838.
 After
the Rebellions, the Governor of
Canada Lord Durham, wrote his famous
recommendation to the King that the
French should be assimilated into
English culture.
 In 1840, Great Britain passed the Act of
Union, an attempt to assimilated the
French Canadians.
 After
the Treaty of Paris and the British
Conquest, Quebec and the Canadian
became another part of the very large
British Empire.
 This Duality began as the Loyalists began
settling in Canada and keeping their
heritage and connection with the King of
England.
 The
French colonists, however, were
worried about the future of their schools,
their language and their cultural heritage
(specifically their Religion!)
 As a result, journalist Ludger Duvernay
set up the first French-Canadian
“nationalist” association to promote
French-Canadian Culture: it was called
the St-Jean Baptiste Association (June 24th
1834).
 The
St-Jean Baptiste
Association was
responsible for the
following:
 Adopting the maple leaf
as the Canadian Symbol
 The creation of the
national Hymn “O
Canada”
 Erecting monuments in
memory of French
Canadians
 Founding the Montreal
Chamber of Commerce
 French
Canadian Nationalism had
another big uprising during the
Rebellions of 1837-1838.
 The Legislative Assembly was largely
made up of French Canadians (because
they were the majority) and they formed
the Parti Patriote – demanding more
control of the Colony’s finances.
 When the Crown refused their demands,
fighting broke out in both Upper and
Lower Canada.
 After
the Rebellion, the head of the
Colonial office, Lord Durham, was asked
to present his report on the matter.
 Durham’s report focused on two things:
the lack of responsible government in
Upper Canada and the racial tensions
between Upper and Lower Canadians.
 He suggested an assimilation of the
“people with no literature and no history”
into one, large English speaking group.
 The
Durham report led to the Act of
Union (1840) which united Upper and
Lower Canada into one unit and under
one government.
 The French language was banished from the
government
 Education and civil law regarding the French
Canadians was suspended.
 The creation of one parliament to oversee all of
Canada.
 Francois-Xavier
Garneau published his
Histoire du Canada in 1845, as an attempt
to promote the demise of the French
Culture.
 In his book he tried to tell the story of the
French colonists in a patriotic way, in
order to bring them back into favour with
the Crown.
 What Garneau`s book did do was make
the French Canadians realize they had
 Thus, the
French
Canadian population
was inspire to begin
writing.
 And subsequently the
Quebec culture
began to grow.
 Economic
Liberalism was the British way
of thinking at the time.
 This meant individual business freedom
and very little government intervention.
 This business philosophy was also the
driving force behind the modernization
of the Education system.
 Most notably, the business community
wanted a school for professionals!
 Two
main groups supported this type of
liberalism:
 The French Canadian middle-class or the Petit
Bourgeoisie, which made up parties like the Parti
Patriote and the Parti Rouge
 The English Business-Class or the Bourgeoisie
d`Affairs, they profited most from the capitalist system
and were represented by the Tory party.
 The
main venue for the transmission of ideas
during the British Regime was Newspapers.
• The Quebec Gazette (1764) English and French
• The Montreal Gazette (1775) Liberalism – criticized the
•
•
•
•
•
clergy, demanded a Legislative Assembly and became
the voice of Canadian intellectuals.
The Quebec Mercury
The Montreal Herald
Le Canadien
La Minerve
La Presse (1884)
 What
did you know about the Age of
Enlightenment before this lecture?
 Although many of the Enlightenment
ideas came from the Italian Renaissance –
why did they take so long to spread?
 What do you think of the Durham Report?
Describe what you think Quebec would
be like (culturally) if the Act of Union had
been successful?
Pages 118 - 119