Two hundred and fifty years ago, as 1775 drew to a close, the fate of what would become Canada hung in the balance. From his headquarters at Montreal's Château Ramezay, American Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery ordered a decisive assault on Quebec City. Had it succeeded, Quebec might have been absorbed as the 14th state of a nascent United States, irrevocably altering North American history.
The Pivotal Attack and Its Backdrop
This military campaign was a direct extension of the growing revolutionary fervour in the Thirteen Colonies. By the early 1770s, unrest was brewing against British rule. Meanwhile, the former French territory, conquered by Britain in 1759, was governed under the 1763 Royal Proclamation. This policy aimed to assimilate the French-Canadian, Catholic majority through British law and language, while denying civil rights to Catholics.
The assimilation project was faltering. Facing a more pressing threat from the rebellious American colonies to the south, British authorities pragmatically shifted course. On June 22, 1774, King George III gave royal assent to the Quebec Act, which took effect on May 1, 1775.
The Revolutionary Quebec Act: A Grant of Liberty
The Quebec Act was a landmark piece of legislation for its time. Acting on advice from Governors James Murray and Guy Carleton, it guaranteed freedom of worship for Catholics and restored French civil law and property rights. In an era where the state religion was typically imposed, this was extraordinary.
In 1775, a Catholic in Quebec possessed religious freedoms and civil rights that were still denied to Catholics in Britain and Ireland. The act effectively suspended the harsh anti-Catholic "penal laws," which philosopher Edmund Burke had condemned as a machine for the "oppression, impoverishment and degradation of a people."
American Reaction and Lasting Consequences
Paradoxically, this grant of liberty in Quebec helped fuel the revolution to the south. The American colonists viewed the Quebec Act as one of the "Intolerable Acts," perceiving it as a threat to their security and Protestant ideals. It became a direct catalyst for war.
The attack on Quebec City on December 31, 1775, was a bold gamble to win over the region. It failed decisively. General Montgomery was killed, and the invading forces were forced into a full retreat. This military failure, coupled with the political savvy of the Quebec Act, ensured the territory's loyalty to the British Crown during the Revolution.
While the United States celebrated the 250th anniversary of its Continental Army with major events, this seminal chapter in Canada's origin story has received less attention. Yet, the events of 1775-76 were decisive. They ensured a separate political destiny for Canada and established an early, remarkable precedent for religious liberty and cultural accommodation at the heart of its foundation.
