The Lost Fourteenth Colony
The Patriot invasion of Canada
This continues my series marking the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution. Previously was "From Petition To Independence"; next is “Lord Dunmore’s Scheme”.
This week in 1775, the American Patriots' invasion of Canada won its first success. This was the beginning of a nine-month misadventure in Canada, in the first year of the Revolutionary War.
The goal wasn't to conquer Canada, but to liberate it from the tyranny of Parliamentary rule.
Canada was, like the other thirteen colonies, governed by Britain. Unlike most other colonies, it was garrisoned by a British army. On the one hand, that army was a threat to New England (solidly controlled by Patriots, outside the British army still besieged in Boston) and New York (where Patriots had a tenuous ascendancy over Loyalists). That was why New England had already seized Fort Ticonderoga at the gateway to Canada, to block that army from invading south. But on the other hand, to the American Patriots, Canada therefore needed freedom just like Boston or other parts of the colonies occupied by the British "ministerial army"1.
But unlike the other thirteen colonies, the fourteenth colony - Canada - wasn't rising up itself against Parliamentary rule. At least, it wasn't yet. The Continental Congress was convinced that it would do so when an invasion gave it the opportunity... and they weren't completely wrong.
But they weren't really right either. That was because of Canada's very different history and characteristics from the thirteen colonies who did fight the Revolution. And, that different history explains why the American army of liberation failed.
At the time, "Canada" meant, roughly, what's now the Canadian province of Quebec2. This had been settled by France, and fought several wars with (British) New England through the 1600's and 1700's. Finally, in 1759 during the French and Indian War, a British army (largely from New England) had conquered Canada and brought it under British rule. But the terms of the victory weren't what New Englanders had expected. To their surprise, Britain left most French laws in place, left the Roman Catholic Church just as prominent as it had been (the Bishop of Quebec was, I believe, the one legal Roman Catholic bishop anywhere in the British Empire), and kept governing it with a royally-appointed governor and council without any elected legislature.
From one perspective, this was only common sense. Britain didn't want to disturb the French colonists who were living there. The colonists were used to that government; they didn't want to change all their laws. Electing a colonial legislature would've been strange to them, even aside from how Roman Catholics (like most of them) were forbidden to hold any public office in the British Empire. What's more, as colonial legislatures became restless in first Massachusetts and then other colonies, Britain was happy not to have to deal with one more in Canada.
But from another perspective, by governing Canada like this, King George and his ministers were betraying British principles of liberty. Many new British settlers in Canada felt this way... and the Thirteen Colonies looking north at Canada absolutely did.
So, when the British Parliament in early 1774 finally regularized this form of Canadian government under the "Quebec Act", Patriots dubbed that one of the "Intolerable Acts." The same Quebec Act extended its border south to the Ohio River, covering modern Ohio and everything west, which made it worse. As Thomas Jefferson would later write in the Declaration of Independence, Parliament was "abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies."
But the Canadian people didn't mind the Quebec Act.
This was because things in the fourteenth colony were very different from the Thirteen Colonies.
Not only had Canada been settled from France, it had been settled in a way reminiscent of France's feudal system. Siegnors owned large land grants facing the St. Lawrence River, and they rented out parts of it to individual tenant families who paid them rent each year. These tenants were firmly fixed to the land; a trip to a town or anywhere besides your neighbors and the local parish church was extremely rare. Westward expansion was an orderly thing done under royal grant to new siegnors or not at all.
Even in town, there was only one newspaper in all Canada. Most farmers were illiterate. The Roman Catholic Church was firmly established by law.
So, when the Patriots sought to bring Canada into true British liberty, they were reaching out across cultures. On some level they understood this, which does make sense. But they also misunderstood the culture they were reaching out into, though perhaps they didn’t misunderstand it quite as badly as the journalist during the French and Indian War had done when he speculated that of course the Canadian settlers would abandon the Roman Catholic Church as soon as they got a taste of true British liberty3.
For instance, one of the Continental Congress's early open letters to Canada tried to explain what liberty was with extensive quotes from the philosopher Montesqueue. Perhaps they picked him because he was a French philosopher, but on the other hand his highly-theoretical reasoning made him far removed from the average illiterate Canadian farmer. From all we can tell, Canadians had hardly thought of liberty in theory. Like the medieval peasant revolts focusing on specific grievances much more often than the idea of kings and nobles, Canada wouldn't yet rise in arms for abstract ideals.
Although Congress enthusiastically endorsed the invasion in theory, when it actually happened, it was a local decision.
The Patriots had made several moves earlier. On April 29th, mere weeks into the war, Benedict Arnold of Connecticut had begged for and received orders from Massachusetts to seize Fort Ticonderoga. He and Ethan Allen of Vermont did so on May 10th, following which Arnold sailed up and down Lake Champlain destroying British supplies, capturing Fort Crown Point on May 11th and raiding Fort Saint-Jean (modern Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) on May 18th.
The Patriot army stayed in northern New York, with Congress's approval but supported by New England. On 19 June, four days after Washington was named overall commander, Philip Schuyler of New York4 was named Major-General in command of the "Northern Department". Shortly, Congress would follow with orders to "destroy or take" any British power on Lake Champlain, and if "practicable, and that it will not be disagreeable to the Canadians" to invade "any... parts of the country".
The war had only just begun; the Northern Department was still forming. When Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga in mid-July, he had two regiments drawn up, another forming in Vermont around Ethan Allen of the Green Mountain Boys5, and more promised. What's more, Schuyler was distracted by negotiations with American Indians.
So, it was Schuyler's subordinate, Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery of New York, who learned that the British were preparing a new navy on Lake Champlain. Montgomery then decided, on his own authority, to take Congress up on their broad permission. He launched the invasion on 30 August.
The Continental troops were ill-prepared, but the British were also unready for the invasion. In weeks, the Patriots had advanced well into Canada. Ethan Allen defeated the British detachments outside Fort Chambly on 13 September; Montgomery put Fort St. Jean under siege on 17 September; on 25 September Ethan Allen advanced to Montreal and tried to seize the city with the help of local supporters.
But Allen's strike on Montreal failed.
There were local Canadian Patriots eager to join the Revolution. Many British immigrants who'd come to Canada after the British conquest sympathized with the Patriots' cause. A number of French-Canadian farmers dissatisfied with the British government and their own landlords also sympathized with them, and some even joined them. They'd begged the Patriots from the Thirteen Colonies to invade. Allen attacked Montreal on 25 September thanks to promises that local Patriots would open the city gates for him
But they didn't open the gates to Allen. Not enough joined the Patriot army to make a difference yet. In fact, many other Montreal citizens formed an impromptu militia that helped repel the attack and captured Allen himself6.
The Canadian Campaign would continue... but it would be more than just a quick march to spark a rising of Canadian patriots. Thanks to Canada's different history and different way of life, the fourteenth colony wasn't as pro-Patriot as the other thirteen.
So, the Canadian campaign would require more Patriot soldiers from other colonies. The Revolution would not come to Canada as it had to the Thirteen Colonies. But, Congress and General Montgomery were determined to try to bring it there.
The Canadian Campaign of 1775 would fail. As the first year of the Revolutionary War closed, it would have solidified the Patriots' power in thirteen colonies... but the fourteenth would never again come so close to falling into their grasp.
But the dream of bringing Canada into American liberty would take ages to die. The Articles of Confederation (written in 1777) had a clause that Canada would automatically gain admission to the Union if it chose to join. In the War of 1812, both factors from the Revolution showed up again: concerned about a threat from British armies in Canada, America promptly chose to invade first and free Canada.
But once again, the 1812 invasion bogged down and failed. It might've failed at bringing Canada into the United States even had it militarily succeeded. Between 1775 and 1812, Canada had greatly changed. Thanks to immigration, Canada was now divided between French and English, in a division that persists to the present day. But worse for the American plans, many of the English-Canadians were Tories who'd moved there from the United States after the Revolution specifically to stay under King George's rule. Ever since then, Canada has founded much of its national identity specifically in not being American.
1812 was the latest military invasion of Canada, but the American dream of annexing it did pop up several more times. The Canada Annexation Bill of 1866, prompted by British behavior in the Civil War7, died in Congress but had garnered some support. A late 1800's war scare with Britain brought it back, and even though it slumbered after then it has lately resurfaced.
The 1775 invasion of Canada was a sensible-sounding and even idealistic idea. Looking back from the present day, it can seem hopeless - but at the beginning, Montgomery and Allen won some significant successes, came close to seizing Montreal, and had made a very promising beginning.
Over the next months, as the American Revolution anniversary continues, we'll check back to see how it turned out.
As I've mentioned before, terminology is awkward here in the first year of the Revolutionary War. The Patriots still considered themselves British, and loyal to the King, so "British" could technically describe either side. Similarly, "American" could describe the Loyalists, who at this point were a very significant force in several colonies. I'm generally using the term "Patriot" for clarity.
The southeastern region of Ontario ("Upper Canada") was added under the Quebec Act of 1774 but remained largely unpopulated till the 1780's; the Atlantic provinces would be added at Confederation in 1867; the rest of modern Canada was added in stages finishing with Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949. This's another interesting story which I hope to tell someday.
Unfortunately I can't remember where I encountered this contemporary newspaper speculation.
Major-General Schuyler, from the prominent Schuyler family, would step down from his post due to ill health, survive the war, become father-in-law to Alexander Hamilton, and later serve both in the United States House and Senate.
Officially under the auspices of New York, but named merely "Green Mountain Continental Rangers" as the Green Mountain Boys were hostile to New York.
Allen would stay in prison through the Canadian Campaign, eventually be released on parole in November 1776, and be exchanged in May 1778. Afterwards, he rejoined Vermont politics, but not the Continental Army.
Primarily, helping Confederate blockade runners and commerce raiders.
A solid overview (and I learned some things), but a couple of side notes.
1. One of the other reasons the colonists didn't like the Quebec Act was because it further enshrined the Proclamation Line of 1763, cutting off westward expansion, while also messing with Massachusetts' and Connecticut's land claims in the Ohio country, which were based on their initial colonial charters which gave them land from sea to sea.
2. Canada was also the base for the Confederates who raided St. Albans, Vermont, in October 1864, though it is unlikely that Canadian authorities knew about what they were planning beforehand, and when the raiders fled back across the border the Canadian authorities arrested them. However, they were released after a Canadian court ruled that they could not be extradited to the United States.