So Close, Eh

 

Americans Take Montreal! That was the headline after the Continental army occupied Montreal on this day in 1775. It took an express rider a couple of weeks to get to Philadelphia so Congress didn't get the news until the end of the month. England had taken possession of Canada from France just twelve years earlier. Most of the people in Canada lived in Quebec in the St. Lawrence River valley and were overwhelmingly of French descent. When Congress authorized the invasion they were counting on the Canadians helping to liberate themselves from Britain and joining the Thirteen Colonies. 

Historians say about twenty percent of the Canadians favored the invasion. The rest were neutral or sided with Britain. There were around 100,000 people living in Quebec. The 20,000 people over in the Maritimes were mostly English settlers. The rest of what would become Canada was populated by a few traders and trappers along with many thousands of indigenous peoples. Quebec was lightly defended by the British Army. If only a thousand or so Canadians joined the Americans, Quebec could become the Fourteenth Colony. 

It was not to be. The Americans were defeated by bad weather and smallpox, and by the opposition of the Catholic Church which threatened to excommunicate anyone who joined the Americans. Since most of the French were Catholic, this was an effective threat. When the British had taken over Canada they granted freedom of religion to the French. The invading Americans failed to disguise their anti-Catholicism so God remained neutral in the fight.

Recent polls show that only ten percent of Canadians want to join the U.S., though the figure is higher in Alberta, the Texas of Canada. Twenty percent of young adults would like to join the U.S. if their assets would transfer at par. Analysts think those in favor of joining the U.S. are dissatisfied with the high cost of living and poor job prospects in Canada, but once they thought it through, they might decide Canada was not so bad.

After the recent election, there is little chance the U.S. will make serious efforts to take over Canada. The U.S.  has enough other problems to work on.

The King of Canada