Province of Quebec (1763–1791)

Québec
Province of Quebec British colony ←
1763 – 1791 →

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A portion of eastern North America in 1775 after the Quebec Act; Quebec extends all the way to the Mississippi River. Capital Quebec Language(s) French, English Religion Roman Catholicism, Protestantism Government Constitutional monarchy King George III Governor See list of Governors History - Royal Proclamation October 7, 1763 - Quebec Act 1774 - Treaty of Paris 1783 - Constitutional Act December 26, 1791 Currency Canadian pound

The Province of Quebec was a colony in North America created by Great Britain after the Seven Years' War. Great Britain acquired Canada by the Treaty of Paris (1763) when King Louis XV of France and his advisors chose to keep the territory of Guadeloupe for its valuable sugar crops instead of New France. By the Royal Proclamation of 1763, Canada (part of New France) was renamed the Province of Quebec.

In 1774, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act that allowed Quebec to maintain the French Civil Code as its judicial system and sanctioned the freedom of religious choice, allowing the Roman Catholic Church to remain. The act also enlarged the boundaries of Quebec to include the Ohio Country and 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 even after the Treaty of Paris (1783), which was meant to have ceded 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, Anglican or 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 (high country) west of the Ottawa River. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the country in two at the Ottawa River, so that the western part (Upper Canada) could be under the British legal system, with English speakers in the majority. The eastern part was named Lower Canada.

Governors of the Province of Quebec 1763-1791

After the capitulation of Montreal in 1760, New France was placed under military government. Civil government was instituted in 1764.

Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst 1760-1763
James Murray 1764-1768
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester 1768-1778
Sir Frederick Haldimand 1778-1786
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester 1786-1796

Counsellors to the Governor

The Province of Quebec did not have an elected legislature and was ruled directly by the Governor with advise from counsellors.

The Legislative Council served as an advisory council to the Governor until a legislative assembly was established after 1791.

A partial list of advisors from both Councils:

Chief Justice William Gregory
Chief Justice William Hey
Attorney General George Suckling
Attorney General Francis Maseres
Paulus Aemilius Irving - acting President of the Council
H. T. Cramahé
Adam Mabane - 1775; physician and judge
Walter Murray
Samuel Holland - served as first Surveyor General of British North America
Thomas Dunn - colonial administrator and soldier
François Mounier
James Cuthbert

Bibliography

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.

v • d • eFormer Coloniesand Territories in Canada Norse: Helluland• Markland• Vinland Portuguese: Labrador• Newfoundland• Nova Scotia French: New France (Acadia • Canada • Terre Neuve) Scottish: Nova Scotia• Cape Breton• Red River Colony Spanish: Nootka Sound (Fort San Miguel) English and British: Newfoundland• Rupert's Land• Nova Scotia• Quebec• Lowerand Upper Canada• New Brunswick• Prince Edward Island• Cape Breton• United Canada• New Caledonia• Columbia District• Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands• Colony of Vancouver Island• Colony of British Columbia• Stikine Territory• United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia• North-Western Territory

v • d • e British Empireand Commonwealth of Nations

Legend
Current territory · Former territory
* now a Commonwealth Realm · now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations

Europe

18th century
1708-1757 Minorca
since 1713 Gibraltar
1782-1802 Minorca

19th century
1800-1964 Malta
1807-1890 Heligoland
1809-1864 Ionian Islands
1878-1960 Cyprus

20th century
since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia

North America

16th century
1583-1907 Newfoundland

17th century
1607-1776 Thirteen Colonies
since 1619 Bermuda
1670-1870 Rupert's Land

18th century
Canada (British Imperial)
   1763-1791 Quebec
   1791-1841 Lower Canada
   1791-1841 Upper Canada

19th century
Canada (British Imperial)
   1841-1867 Province of Canada
   1849-1866 Vancouver Island
   1858-1871 British Columbia
   1859-1870 North-Western Territory
   1862-1863 Stikine Territory
*Canada (post-Confederation)
   1867-1931 Dominion of Canada1

20th century
*Canada (post-Confederation)
1907-1934 Dominion of Newfoundland2

1 In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. 'Dominion' remains Canada's legal title; see Canada's name.
2 Remained a de jure dominion until 1949 (when it became a Canadian province); from 1934 to 1949, Newfoundland was governed by the Commission of Government.

Latin America and the Caribbean

17th century
1605-1979 *Saint Lucia
1623-1883 Saint Kitts (*Saint Kitts & Nevis)
1624-1966 *Barbados
1625-1650 Saint Croix
1627-1979 *St. Vincent and the Grenadines
1628-1883 Nevis (*Saint Kitts & Nevis)
1629-1641 St. Andrew and Providence Islands3
since 1632 Montserrat
1632-1860 Antigua(*Antigua & Barbuda)
1643-1860 Bay Islands
since 1650 Anguilla
1651-1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname)
1655-1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate)
1655-1962 *Jamaica
since 1666 British Virgin Islands
since 1670 Cayman Islands
1670-1973 *Bahamas
1670-1688 St. Andrew and Providence Islands3
1671-1816 Leeward Islands

18th century
1762-1974 *Grenada
1763-1978 Dominica
since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands

19th century
1831-1966 British Guiana (Guyana)
1833-1960 Windward Islands
1833-1960 Leeward Islands
1860-1981 *Antigua and Barbuda
1871-1964 British Honduras (*Belize)
1882-1983 *St. Kitts and Nevis
1889-1962 Trinidad and Tobago

20th century
1958-1962 West Indies Federation

3 Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia.

Africa

18th century
1792-1961 Sierra Leone
1795-1803 Cape Colony

19th century
1806-1910 Cape Colony
1816-1965 Gambia
1856-1910 Natal
1868-1966 Basutoland (Lesotho)
1874-1957 Gold Coast (Ghana)
1882-1922 Egypt
1884-1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana)
1884-1960 British Somaliland
1887-1897 Zululand
1888-1894 Matabeleland
1890-1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
1890-1962 Uganda
1890-1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania)
1891-1964 Nyasaland (Malawi)
1891-1907 British Central Africa
1893-1968 Swaziland
1895-1920 British East Africa
1899-1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

20th century
1900-1914 Northern Nigeria
1900-1914 Southern Nigeria
1900-1910 Orange River Colony
1900-1910 Transvaal Colony
1906-1954 Nigeria Colony
1910-1931 South Africa
1911-1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)
1914-1954 Nigeria Protectorate
1915-1931 South West Africa (Namibia)
1919-1960 Cameroons (Cameroon) 4
1920-1963 Kenya
1922-1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania) 4
1954-1960 Nigeria

4 League of Nations mandate.

Asia

18th century
1757-1947 Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh)
1762-1764 Philippines
1795-1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
1796-1965 Maldives

19th century
1819-1826 British Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore)
1826-1946 Straits Settlements
1839-1967 Colony of Aden
1841-1997 Hong Kong
1841-1941 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia)
1858-1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma)
1882-1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia)
1885-1946 Unfederated Malay States
1891-1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate
1892-1971 Trucial States protectorate
1895-1946 Federated Malay States
1898-1930 Weihai Garrison

20th century
1918-1961 Kuwait protectorate
1920-1932 Iraq4
1921-1946 Transjordan4
1923-1948 Palestine4
1946-1948 Malayan Union
1946-1963 Sarawak (Malaysia)
1948-1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory

4 League of Nations mandate.

Oceania

18th century
1788-1901 New South Wales

19th century
1803-1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania
1807-1863 Auckland Islands6
1824-1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
1824-1901 Queensland
1829-1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia
1836-1901 South Australia
since 1838 Pitcairn Islands
1840-1907 *Colony of New Zealand
1850-1901 Victoria (Australia)
1874-1970 Fiji5
1877-1976 British Western Pacific Territories
1884-1949 Territory of Papua
1888-1965 Cook Islands6
1888-1984 Sultanate of Brunei
1889-1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)6
1892-1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands7
1893-1978 British Solomon Islands8

20th century
1900-1970 Tonga (protected state)
1900-1974 Niue6
1901-1942 *Commonwealth of Australia
1907-1953 *Dominion of New Zealand
1919-1949 Territory of New Guinea
1949-1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea9

5 Suspended member.
6 Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand.
7 Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu.
8 Now the *Solomon Islands.
9 Now *Papua New Guinea.

Antarctica and South Atlantic

17th century
since 1659 St. Helena (On African Continent)

19th century
since 1815 Ascension Island9
(On African Continent)

since 1816 Tristan da Cunha9
(On African Continent)

since 1833 Falkland Islands11
(South America)

20th century
since 1908 British Antarctic Territory10
since 1908 South Georgia and
the South Sandwich Islands10, 11

9 Dependencies of St. Helena since 1922 (Ascension Island) and 1938 (Tristan da Cunha).
10 Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).
11 Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April-June 1982.