1774 Quebec Act

1774 Quebec Act

1774 Quebec Act passed by the British Parliament to institute a permanent administration in Canada replacing the temporary government created at the time of the Proclamation of 1763. It gave the French Canadians complete religious freedom and restored the French form of civil law. The Thirteen Colonies considered this law one of the Intolerable Acts , for it nullified many of the Western claims of the coast colonies by extending the boundaries of the province of Quebec to the Ohio River on the south and to the Mississippi River on the west. The concessions in favor of Roman Catholicism also roused much resentment among Protestants in the Thirteen Colonies. Although it thus helped to bring on the American Revolution, the act, for which Sir Guy Carleton was largely responsible, was very influential in keeping Canada loyal to the crown during the Revolution. It was replaced by the Constitutional Act of 1791.

Bibliography: See studies by R. Coupland (1925) and H. B. Neatby (1972).

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"1774 Quebec Act." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Quebec Act

Quebec Act, 1774. This followed but was not part of the Intolerable Acts. It settled matters relating to the British acquisition of French Canada by recognizing the catholic church, allowing the exercise of French law, denying Quebec an elected assembly, and extending its boundaries to the Ohio. Opposed by only a few parliamentarians and by virulent British anti-catholics, it was fervently condemned in the thirteen colonies, as an attack on protestant and constitutional liberties and on their territorial expansion and as confirmation of the malign intentions of Lord North's ministry and of the British crown and Parliament towards America.

Richard C. Simmons

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JOHN CANNON. "Quebec Act." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN CANNON. "Quebec Act." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-QuebecAct.html

JOHN CANNON. "Quebec Act." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-QuebecAct.html

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Quebec Act

Quebec Act, 1774. This followed but was not part of the Intolerable Acts. It settled matters relating to the British acquisition of French Canada by recognizing the catholic church, allowing the exercise of French law, denying Quebec an elected assembly, and extending its boundaries to the Ohio. It was fervently condemned in the thirteen colonies, as an attack on protestant and constitutional liberties and on their territorial expansion and as confirmation of the malign intentions of Lord North's ministry towards America.

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JOHN CANNON. "Quebec Act." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN CANNON. "Quebec Act." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-QuebecAct.html

JOHN CANNON. "Quebec Act." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-QuebecAct.html

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Quebec Act

Quebec Act an act passed in 1774 by the British Parliament to establish French civil law and allow the practice of the Roman Catholic religion in the province of Quebec. It extended Quebec's boundaries and gave the province control of the territory and fur trade between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Protestants in the American colonies protested the act and named it and the Coercive Acts as the Intolerable Acts.

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"Quebec Act." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Quebec Act." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-QuebecAct.html

"Quebec Act." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-QuebecAct.html

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Québec Act

Québec Act (1774) Act of British Parliament creating a government for Québec. It set up a council to assist the governor and recognized the Roman Catholic Church and the French legal and landholding systems in the former French colony. Québec's boundary pushed south to the Ohio River, a cause of resentment among the 13 North American colonies.

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"Québec Act." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Québec Act." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-QubecAct.html

"Québec Act." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-QubecAct.html

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Quebec Act, 1774 images
1774 Quebec act. (Image by Mathieu Gauthier-Pilote, GFDL)