Erc
Junior Chimp
Posts: 5,823
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« on: March 11, 2005, 09:33:35 PM » |
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If I remember, one of the (many) causes of the Revolution was the Quebec Act of 1774 (which was passed by Parliament to prevent the problems in the Colonies from spreading to Quebec).
The Quebec Act guaranteed the right of the Quebecois to use the French language, French law, and Catholicism. These were seen in the US as concessions to the French (who they had just spent 7 years defeating)--and they were justifiably annoyed, especially considering that the Quebec Act also gave Quebec what later became the Northwest Territories, as well.
So if they had joined willingly, there would have been problems...although I'm certain that eventually the rest of the country would have given up on the code/religion/language issue--leaving only the land issue, which was contentious enough as it is. They'd have had to have given it up, like everyone else...but it would have been messy.
If Canada had been conquered, we wouldn't have been so generous. They'd be speaking English today.
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