Product Code Database
The Quebec Act 1774 (14 Geo. 3. c. 83) () was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which set procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. One of the principal components of the act was the expansion of the province's territory to take over part of the Indian Reserve, including much of what is now southern Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota.
The act removed the reference to the Protestant faith from the oath of allegiance, and guaranteed free practice of Catholicism and restored the Church's power to impose . Additionally, it restored the use of the French civil law for matters of private law, except for the granting of unlimited freedom of testation in accordance with English common law; which was maintained for matters of public law, including administrative appeals, court procedure, and criminal prosecution.
In Quebec, English-speaking immigrants from the Thirteen Colonies fiercely objected to a variety of its provisions, which they saw as a removal of certain political freedoms. The act was one of the many catalysts that led to the American Revolution. Meanwhile, French-speaking varied in their reaction, although the land-owning seigneurs and ecclesiastics were generally happy with its provisions.
In the Thirteen Colonies, the act had been passed in the same session of Parliament as a number of other acts designed as punishment for the Boston Tea Party and other protests, which the American Patriots collectively termed the Intolerable Acts or, in England, the Coercive Acts. Moreover, the act was seen by the colonists as a new model for administration, which would strip them of their self-elected assemblies, and appeared to void some of the colonies' land claims by granting most of the Ohio Country to the province of Quebec. The Americans also interpreted the Act as an "establishment" of Catholicism in the colony, as many Americans had participated in the French and Indian War, and they now saw the religious freedoms and land given to their former enemy as an affront.
Despite the Treaty of Paris permitting the free exercise of religion for French Catholics,Mills, 2024, p. 607. certain restrictions remained under British rule. Under the terms of the peace treaty, Canadiens who chose not to leave became British subjects. In order for them to serve in public offices, they were required to swear an oath to the King that contained specific provisions rejecting the Catholic faith. Given that many of the predominantly Roman Catholic Canadiens were unwilling to take such an oath, this effectively prevented large numbers of Canadiens from participating in the local governments. Furthermore, following the death of Henri-Marie Dubreil de Pontbriand, French Catholics lacked a bishop, as British ecclesiastical policy did not allow for new appointments prior to the passage of the Quebec Act. To temporarily address this leadership gap, vicar generals were appointed,Mills, 2024, p. 610. but the absence of a bishop posed challenges for the Catholic community in maintaining religious guidance and governance. These issues extended to Governor James Murray, who faced conflicts in executing his duties in the province. Initially tasked with enforcing Protestantism in Quebec, he was instructed “not to admit of any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the See of Rome, or any other foreign Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction whatsoever in the Province under your Government.” However, during his tenure, Murray’s stance shifted as he began to support the extension of religious rights to Catholics. His successor, Guy Carleton, received similar instructions regarding the enforcement of British ecclesiastical policy. Despite this, Carleton also demonstrated a degree of flexibility, allowing French Catholics to continue their religious practices as they had prior to British rule.
With unrest, which was growing into the American Revolution, increasing in the colonies to the south, the British were worried that the Canadiens might also support the growing rebellion. At that time, Canadiens formed the vast majority of the settler population of the province of Quebec (more than 99%) and there was little immigration from Great Britain.To secure the allegiance of the approximately 90,000 Canadiens to the British crown, Murray adopted his policy of local tolerance, which Carleton later advanced by bringing proposals for formal legal protections before Parliament.
A growing class of British merchants in Quebec "viewed with alarm and disgust the leniency manifested toward the French Canadians."Marie, 1944, p. 237 These merchants emerged as vocal opponents of Governor Carleton’s policy of religious tolerance, instead advocating for the establishment of Protestantism as the official religion of the province. The conflict extended to the legislative sphere, where Attorney General Francis Maseres, a representative of the British minority, expressed strong opposition to Catholic influence. He argued that the appointment of a Catholic bishop had reinforced loyalty among French Canadian clergy, preventing their conversion to Protestantism, and criticized the legalization of tithes and the expansion of Quebec’s territory as measures that strengthened "the Popish religion".Marie, 1944, p. 240 Maseres became one of Carleton’s main opponents in debates leading to the Quebec Act. Nonetheless, there was a need to compromise between the conflicting demands of the Canadien subjects and those of newly arrived British subjects. These efforts by the colonial governors eventually resulted in the enactment of the Quebec Act, 1774. Quebec Act, 1774, 14 Geo. III (UK), c. 83.
On June 7, after having received word of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, as well as the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and Benedict Arnold's subsequent raid on Fort Saint-Jean, he wrote to Colonial Secretary Dartmouth:
Less than a month later, on 28 June 1775, Chief Justice William Hey wrote to the Lord Chancellor from Quebec:
On 21 September 1775, Lieutenant-Governor Cramahé, who governed at Quebec while Carleton was in Montreal, wrote to Dartmouth on the failure to rally the people after word arrived of the impending invasion from the colonies to the south:
Frontiersmen from Virginia and other colonies were already entering the areas that the act transferred to Quebec. Land development companies such as the Ohio Company had already been formed to acquire ownership of large tracts and sell land to settlers and trade with the Indians. Americans denounced the act for promoting the growth of "Papism" (Catholicism) and cutting back on their freedom and traditional rights. In particular, the colonial governments of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia were angered by the unilateral assignment of the Ohio lands to Quebec, which had each been granted them in their royal charters. The George Rex protest flag was created in New York as a result.
Langston (2005) looked at press reaction in New England. Some colonial editors explained their views on how it reorganized Canadian governance, explaining how they felt it established direct rule by the Crown and limiting the reach of English law to criminal jurisprudence. Isaiah Thomas of the Massachusetts Spy drew links between the Quebec Act and legislation circumscribing American liberties, such as the Tea Act and the Coercive Acts. Editors shaped public opinion by writing editorials and reprinting opposition letters from both sides of the Atlantic. The First Continental Congress, which met from 5 September to 26 October 1774, addressed the inhabitants of Quebec, warning them of the perils of the supposedly arbitrary and tyrannical nature of Parliament.
The Quebec Act's main significance in the Thirteen Colonies was that it angered the Patriots, and dismayed the Loyalists who supported the Crown, and helped to accelerate the confrontation that became the American Revolution. The act is listed as one of the rebels' 27 colonial grievances in the Declaration of Independence:
The First Continental Congress petitioned Parliament to repeal the Intolerable Acts, which Parliament declined to do. Instead, in February 1775 Parliament passed the Conciliatory Resolution in an attempt to curry favour with the angry colonists. This was too little, too late, as the war broke out before news of its passage could reach the colonies. Although the Continental Congress did eventually receive this proposal, they ultimately rejected it.
In Quebec, the 1774 act was effectively superseded by the Constitutional Act 1791, which partitioned Quebec into two new provinces, Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
The Quebec Act 1774 is an important predecessor to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States by establishing religious freedom.
|
|
