I am not without hopes, however, that later some one may assume this task, and cause the social and literary activities of those days, and the participants therein, to live over again. – Prosper Bender, Quebec Daily Telegraph, June 29, 1907 As the son of a prominent attorney in Quebec City, young Prosper Bender could […]
Continue readingCategory: Canada-U.S. Relations
History and the Intangibles of Canada–U.S. Relations
Today marks the 176th anniversary of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, a defining yet often overlooked moment in Canada–U.S. relations. In 1842, after years of border disturbances and legal controversies, British and American statesmen renewed their commitment to peaceful intercourse. They understood the necessity of restraining passions on both sides of the border, as it was in […]
Continue readingA Confederate in Canada
Gentlemen: I thank you most kindly for this hearty British reception, which I take as a manifestation of your sympathy and good-will for one in misfortune. It bespeaks the true instincts of your race. I trust you may ever remain as free a people as you now are, and that under the union of your […]
Continue readingAn American General in Quebec (Part II)
See Part I here. Part II: Canada or Mexico? The cordiality of British officers in Canada and Grant’s gestures of good will were not enough to quell larger suspicions. The Journal de Québec noted that three Union generals had preceded Grant in Quebec City—Rosecrans, Thomas, and Dix. The newspaper surmised that these officers were coming […]
Continue readingAn American General in Quebec
Part I: Welcoming the Victor The American conqueror stopped to look up and down the St. Lawrence, then went on to survey the area surrounding Quebec City. The figure was neither a colonial officer accompanying James Wolfe in 1759, nor one of Richard Montgomery’s men at the dawn of the American Revolution. The conqueror was […]
Continue readingAmerican Annexation of Canada: The Case in 1845
In his last few years in office, U.S. President John Tyler (1841-1845) devoted considerable attention to—and spent a great deal of political capital promoting—the annexation of Texas. The election of James Polk to the presidency on the same platform in November 1844 attested to the American public’s support for annexation and the Senate acted on […]
Continue readingFrench Canadians and the American Political Promise
In recent decades, Quebec scholars have paid special attention to the américanité of French Canadians—the extent to which they have been culturally, economically, and politically American, whether they be on Canadian soil or in the United States. This conceptual lens has proven its worth not merely in studies of recent Quebec history. When projected over […]
Continue readingMignault and Son: A Transnational Story
Revolutionary War veteran Clément Gosselin was not alone. Basile Mignault, too, fought in the ranks of the Continental Army. Both would spend the better part of the post-war period in Canada, although Mignault could claim a more settled existence. Indeed, while Gosselin travelled as far as Yorktown, where he was injured, his counterpart’s war was […]
Continue readingThe Canadians of Clinton County: The First Franco-Americans
Some six years after the end of the American War of Independence, Clement Gosselin, a veteran, sought the support of President George Washington. Appeals to the highest executive office were not usual, but Gosselin’s letter, written in French and alluding to a “common enemy,” merits special attention. The veteran, born on l’Ile d’Orléans near Quebec […]
Continue readingKing George III as a Late Stuart (Part V)
Part V: The Exigencies of War See Part IV here. Beyond 1776, it became more difficult for disgruntled colonists to sustain the rhetoric of anti-Catholicism in their claims for emancipation. The reaction to the act of 1774 found an uneasy place in the context of war, especially as Congress sought to woo Catholic Quebec and […]
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