History of Canada (1763–1867)
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1763–1867 | |||
Chronology
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Starting with the
By the 1860s, interest developed in forming a new federation between the Canadas and the other British colonies of British North America, that led to Confederation in 1867. A number of other British colonies that are today part of Canada, such as Newfoundland and British Columbia, and large territories such as Rupert's Land, initially remained outside the newly formed federation.
New France under British rule
In North America, the
St. Lawrence valley
With the addition of Canada to the British Empire, Britain gained control of a strip of territory along the
Atlantic coast
The island
In the rest of the Maritimes, the British had previously expelled many of the French colonists of
American Revolution
In 1775, American revolutionaries (
The Patriots laid siege to Fort Saint-Jean, capturing it and Montreal in November 1775. They then marched on Quebec City, where an attempt to take the city on December 31, 1775, failed. Following an ineffectual siege, the arrival of British troops in May 1776 sent the Patriots into retreat back toward Montreal. An attempt against British troops at Trois-Rivières failed, and the Patriots were driven from the province in June. Leaving with the rebel army were about 250 Québécois in two regiments: James Livingston's 1st Canadian Regiment, and Moses Hazen's 2nd Canadian Regiment.
Quebeckers living in the forts of the
In Nova Scotia there was some agitation against British rule, largely instigated by
The Maritime provinces were also affected by
In southwestern Quebec, the American forces had much better success there owing to the leadership of Virginia militia leader George Rogers Clark. In 1778, 200 men under Clark, supplied and supported mainly by Virginia, came down the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, marched across southern Illinois, and then captured Kaskaskia without loss of life. From there, part of his men took Vincennes, but was soon lost to British Lieutenant Colonel Henry Hamilton, the commander at Fort Detroit. It was later retaken by Clark in the Siege of Fort Vincennes in February 1779. Roughly half of Clark's militia in the theatre were Canadien volunteers sympathetic to the American cause.[4]
In the end, the British Empire was defeated in the Revolutionary War and formally
A number of Loyalists that came north after the American Revolution were of African descent including former slaves who had been freed as a result of service to the British and over 2,000 African slaves.[5] In 1793 Upper Canada became the first British jurisdiction to enact legislation to suppress slavery, with the Act Against Slavery being passed allowing for its gradual abolition.
Post-American Independence
After the war the British expanded their mercantile interests in the North Pacific. Spain and Britain had become rivals in the area which came to a head with the Nootka Crisis in 1789. Both sides mobilised for war, and Spain counted on France for support; when France refused, Spain had to back down and capitulated to British terms leading to the Nootka Convention. The outcome of the crisis was a humiliation for Spain and a triumph for Britain, for the former had practically renounced all sovereignty on the North Pacific coast.[6] This opened the way to British expansion in that area, and a number of expeditions took place; firstly a naval expedition led by George Vancouver which explored the inlets around the Pacific North West, particularly around Vancouver Island.[7] On land, expeditions took place hoping for a discovery of a practicable river route to the Pacific for the extension of the North American fur trade, namely the North West Company. Sir Alexander Mackenzie led the first starting out in 1792 overland from Lake Athabasca via the Peace and Fraser Rivers, reaching the Pacific ocean near present-day Bella Coola on 20 July 1793.[8] Mackenzie became the first European to reach the Pacific overland north of the Rio Grande which preceded the Lewis and Clark Expedition by twelve years. Shortly thereafter, Mackenzie's companion, John Finlay, founded the first permanent European settlement in British Columbia, Fort St. John. The North West Company sought further explorations firstly by David Thompson, starting in 1797, and later by Simon Fraser. These men pushed into the wilderness territories of the Rocky Mountains and Interior Plateau and all the way to the Strait of Georgia on the Pacific Coast expanding British North America Westward.[9]
From 1783 through 1801, the British Empire, including British North America (but not India, which was under the East India Company, and later the India Office), was administered by the Home Office and by the Home Secretary, then from 1801 to 1854 by the War Office (which became the War and Colonial Office) and Secretary of State for War and Colonies (as the Secretary of State for War was renamed). From 1824, the British Empire was divided by the War and Colonial Office into four administrative departments, including North America, the West Indies, Mediterranean and Africa, and Eastern Colonies, of which North America included:[10]
North America
- Upper Canada, Lower Canada
- New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island
- Newfoundland
The Colonial Office and War Office, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Secretary of State for War, were separated in 1854, dividing the civil and military administration of the British Empire. The War Office, after 1854 and until the 1867 confederation of the Dominion of Canada, split the military administration of the British colonial and foreign stations into nine districts: North America and North Atlantic; West Indies; Mediterranean; West Coast of Africa and South Atlantic; South Africa; Egypt and The Sudan; Indian Ocean; Australasia; and China. North America and North Atlantic included the following stations (or garrisons):[11]
North America and North Atlantic
- New Westminster (British Columbia)
- Newfoundland
- Quebec
- Halifax
- Kingston, Canada West
- Bermuda
The Atlantic archipelago of
Following the war, the Royal Navy spent a dozen years charting the barrier reef around Bermuda to discover the channel that enabled access to the northern lagoon, the Great Sound, and Hamilton Harbour. Once this had been located, a base was established (initially at St. George's before the construction of the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda) in 1794, when Vice Admiral Sir George Murray, Commander-in-Chief of the new River St. Lawrence and Coast of America and North America and West Indies Station, set up the first Admiralty House, Bermuda at Rose Hill, St. George's. In 1813, the area of command became the North America Station again, with the West Indies falling under the Jamaica Station, and in 1816 it was renamed the North America and Lakes of Canada Station. The headquarters was initially in Bermuda during the winter and Halifax during the summer, but Bermuda, became the year-round headquarters of the Station in 1821, when the area of command became the North America and West Indies Station.[12] The Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax was finally transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1907. Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia, along with Gibraltar and Malta would be designated Imperial fortresses.[13][14][15][16]
A British Army garrison was re-established at Bermuda in 1794 (a small regular infantry garrison had existed from 1701 to 1768, alongside the militia, and part of the Royal Garrison Battalion had been stationed there in 1778 but the battalion was disbanded there in 1784) and was expanded greatly during the 19th Century, both to defend the colony as a naval base and to launch amphibious operations against the Atlantic coast of the United States in any war that should transpire. Prior to 1784, the Bermuda Garrison had been placed under the military Commander-in-Chief America in New York during the American War of Independence, but was to become part of the Nova Scotia Command until the 1860s (in 1815, Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost was Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the Provinces of Upper-Canada, Lower-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New-Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, Vice-Admiral of the same, Lieutenant-General and Commander of all His Majesty’s Forces in the said Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper-Canada, Nova-Scotia and New-Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, and in the islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, Cape Breton and the Bermudas, &c. &c. &c. Beneath Prevost, the staff of the British Army in the Provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-Brunswick, and their Dependencies, including the Islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward and Bermuda were under the Command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke. Below Sherbrooke, the Bermuda Garrison was under the immediate control of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bermuda, Major-General George Horsford).[17] The Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Marines, and Colonial Marines forces based in Bermuda carried out actions of this sort during the American War of 1812 (most notably the Burning of Washington in retribution for the "wanton destruction of private property along the north shores of Lake Erie" by American forces under Col. John Campbell in May 1814, the most notable being the Raid on Port Dover[18]) to draw United States forces away from the Canadian border.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] In 1828, His Excellency George, Earl of Dalhousie, (Baron Dalhousie, of Dalhousie Castle,) Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath was Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over the Provinces of Lower-Canada, Upper-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New-Brunswick, and their several dependencies, Vice-Admiral of the same, Lieutenant-General and Commander of all His Majesty’s Forces in the said Provinces, and their several dependencies, and in the Islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, and Bermuda, &c. &c c. &c. Beneath Dalhousie, the Provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-Brunswick, and their Dependencies, including the Island of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward and Bermuda were under the Command of His Excellency Lieutenant-General Sir James Kempt GCB, GCH.[29][30]
The established
War of 1812
In the War of 1812,
Fur trade
For centuries one of the most important economic ventures in North America was the fur trade. This trade, which had been pioneered by the French, came to be dominated by the British as they gained increasing territory on the continent. The main British fur trading posts were located inside of what became the United States (the British were forced to relocate northward as borders were established with the new nation).[34] First Nations were central to the trade as they were the primary fur trappers. The role gave the peoples of many of the First Nations a political voice as, though they were viewed as an underclass, they were too important to simply be ignored. The American Revolution led to intense competition between the British and the U.S. By the 1830s changing fashions in Europe had begun a steep decline in fur prices and an overall collapse in the market. Apart from the economic losses to whites involved in the fur trade, many of the First Nations were devastated, both in terms of economic loss and in terms of loss of influence in local politics.
Timber trade
As the fur trade declined in importance, the timber trade became Canada's most important commodity. The industry became concentrated in three main regions. The first to be exploited was the Saint John River system. Trees in the still almost deserted hinterland of New Brunswick were cut and transported to Saint John where they were shipped to England. This area soon could not keep up with demand, and the trade moved to the St. Lawrence River where logs were shipped to Quebec City before being sent on to Europe. This area also became insufficient, and the trade expanded westward, most notably to the Ottawa River system, which by 1845 provided three quarters of the timber shipped from Quebec City. The timber trade became a massive business. In one summer 1200 ships were loaded with timber at Quebec City alone.
"Responsible government" and the Rebellions of 1837–38
After the War of 1812, the first half of the 19th century saw the growth of political reform movements in both Upper and Lower Canada, largely influenced by American and French republicanism. The colonial legislatures set out by the Constitutional Act had become dominated by wealthy elites, the
By "responsible," the reformers meant that such a government would be ultimately responsible to the will of the subjects of the colonies, not to authorities in London. The critical move toward responsible government came between 1846 and 1850. In practice, it meant that the Executive Council of each colony formulated policy with the assistance of the legislative branch. The legislature voted approval or disapproval, and the appointed governor enacted those policies that it had approved. It was a transition from the older system when the governor took advice from an executive council, and use the legislature chiefly to raise money.[35] The radical reformers, such as William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau demanded equality or a complete break from British rule and the establishment of a republic.
Louis-Joseph Papineau was elected speaker of the colonial assembly in 1815. His attempts at reform were ignored by the British, and in 1834, the assembly passed The Ninety-Two Resolutions, outlining its grievances against the legislative council. Papineau organized boycotts and civil disobedience. The colonial government illegally ordered the arrest of Papineau. The Patriotes resorted to armed resistance and planned the Lower Canada Rebellion in the fall of 1837. British troops in the colony quickly put down the rebellion and forced Papineau to flee to the United States. A second rebellion by the Frères chasseurs of Robert Nelson broke out one year later, but the British put it down as well, with much loss of life and destruction of property.
William Lyon Mackenzie, a Scottish immigrant and reformist mayor of York (Toronto), organized the Upper Canada Rebellion in December 1837 after the Patriotes rebellion had begun. Upper Canadians had similar grievances; they were annoyed at the undemocratic governance of the colony, and especially by the corrupt and inefficient Bank of Upper Canada and the Canada Company. On December 4, the rebels assembled near Montgomery's Tavern, where the British troops stationed in the city met them on December 7. The rebels were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned and were defeated in less than an hour. Mackenzie escaped to the United States.
Also in December, a group of Irish immigrants attempted to seize southwestern Ontario by force in the Patriot War. They were defeated by government troops at Windsor.
Lord Durham's report
Act of Union (1840)
Lord Durham was succeeded by
The moderate reformers Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin fought two successive governors general Sir Charles Bagot and Sir Charles Metcalfe to secure what became known as responsible government. Metcalfe fought to preserve the prerogatives of the Crown and the governor's control over the administration and patronage. He nonetheless had to make some concessions to win support, and the most notable of these was persuading the Colonial Office to grant amnesty to the rebels of 1837–38, and to abandon forced anglicization of the French-speaking population. Lafontaine and Baldwin reintroduced French as an official language alongside English in the Assembly, the Courts and other governmental bodies. Under the progressive Governor General James Bruce (Lord Elgin), a bill was passed to allow the leaders of former Patriote movement to return to their homeland; Papineau returned and for a short time re-entered Canadian politics. A similar bill was passed for the former Upper Canadian rebels. Elgin also implemented the practice of responsible government in 1848, several months after it had already been granted to the colony of Nova Scotia.
The parliament of United Canada in Montreal was set on fire by a mob of Tories in 1849 after the passing of an indemnity bill for the people who suffered losses during the rebellions of Lower Canada.
One noted achievement of the Union was the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1855 which sanctioned free trade in resources. However, the achievement must be seen in the wider politics of British North America which had seen the major boundary disputes with the United States settled (see Rush–Bagot Treaty, Treaty of 1818, Webster–Ashburton Treaty, Oregon Treaty), thus easing tensions which for most of the first half of the 19th century had Americans threatening war or retaliation.
The Union Act of 1840 was ultimately unsuccessful, and led to calls for a greater political union in the 1850s and 1860s. Support for independence was strengthened by events such as the Battle of Ridgeway, an 1866 invasion into Ontario by some 1500 Irish nationalists which was repulsed largely by local militia.
British colonies on the northwest coast
Although Spain had taken the lead in the exploration of the northwest Pacific Coast, with the voyages of Juan José Pérez Hernández in 1774 and 1775,[38] by the time the Spanish determined to build a fort on Vancouver Island, the British navigator James Cook had himself visited Nootka Sound and charted the coast as far as Alaska,[39] while British and American traders had begun settling on the coast so as to develop resources for trade with Europe and Asia. In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie a Scotsman working for the North West Company crossed the continent and with his aboriginal guides, French-Canadian voyageurs and another Scot, reached the mouth of the Bella Coola River, completing the first continental crossing of North America north of Mexico, missing George Vancouver's charting expedition to the region by only a few weeks. The competing imperial claims between Russia, Spain and Britain were compounded by treaties between the former two powers and the United States, which pressed for the annexation of most of what is now British Columbia, not recognizing the title of the many First Nations present.
With the signing of the Oregon Treaty in 1846, the United States agreed to establish its northern border with western British North America along the
By the mid-1850s, politicians in the Province of Canada began to contemplate western expansion. They questioned the Hudson's Bay Company's tenure of Rupert's Land and the Arctic territories, and launched a series of exploring expeditions to familiarize themselves and the settler population with the geography and climate of the region.
Trade with the United States
In 1854, the Governor General of British North America, Lord Elgin, signed a significant
Confederation
Effective governance of the United Province of Canada after 1840 required a careful balancing of the interests of French and English- speaking populations; and between Catholics and Protestants.
See also
References
- ^ "Canada: History". Country Profiles. Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
- ISBN 0-470-83610-5
- ISBN 2-89448-050-4.
- ^ George W. Geib (1987). "The Old Northwest Under British Control, 1763-1783" and "Indiana A Part of the Old Northwest, 1783-1800". Butler University. p. 42-44.
- ^ James W. St. G. Walker, "Blacks" Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, in The Canadian Encyclopedia
- ^ Blackmar, Frank Wilson (1891). Spanish Institutions of the Southwest Issue 10 of Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science. Hopkins Press. p. 335.
- ISBN 978-0-88894-279-1.
- ISBN 978-1-926706-59-7.
- ISBN 978-0-8020-8196-4.
- ^ a b Young, Douglas MacMurray (1961). The Colonial Office in The Early Nineteenth Century. London: Published for the Royal Commonwealth Society by Longmans. p. 55.
- ^ METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT THE FOREIGN AND COLONIAL STATIONS OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS AND THE ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT 1852—1886. London: Published by the authority of the Meteorological Council. PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, London E.C. 1890.
- ISBN 9780921560036.
- ^ Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1909). Responsible Government in The Dominions. London: Stevens and Sons Ltd. p. 5.
Bermuda is still an Imperial fortress
- ^ May, CMG, Royal Artillery, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edward Sinclair (1903). Principles and Problems of Imperial Defence. London and New York: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Limited, London; E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. p. 145.
In the North American and West Indian station the naval base is at the Imperial fortress of Bermuda, with a garrison numbering 3068 men, of whom 1011 are Colonials; while at Halifax, Nova Scotia, we have another naval base of the first importance which is to be classed amongst our Imperial fortresses, and has a garrison of 1783 men.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ MacFarlane, Thomas (1891). Within the Empire; An Essay on Imperial Federation. Ottawa: James Hope & Co., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. p. 29.
Besides the Imperial fortress of Malta, Gibraltar, Halifax and Bermuda it has to maintain and arm coaling stations and forts at Siena Leone, St. Helena, Simons Bay (at the Cape of Good Hope), Trincomalee, Jamaica and Port Castries (in the island of Santa Lucia).
- ^ Gordon, Donald Craigie (1965). The Dominion Partnership in Imperial Defense, 1870–1914. Baltimore, Maryland, USA: Johns Hopkins Press. p. 14.
There were more than 44,000 troops stationed overseas in colonial garrisons, and slightly more than half of these were in imperial fortresses: in the Mediterranean, Bermuda, Halifax, St. Helena, and Mauritius. The rest of the forces were in colonies proper, with a heavy concentration in New Zealand and South Africa. The imperial government paid approximately £1,715,000 per annum toward the maintenance of these forces, and the various colonial governments contributed £370,000, the largest amounts coming from Ceylon and Victoria in Australia.
- ^ The Quebec Almanack, 1815.
- ^ Cruikshank 2006, p. 402.
- ISBN 9780921560005.
- ^ Harris, Dr. Edward Cecil (January 21, 2012). "Bermuda's role in the Sack of Washington". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- ^ Grove, Tim (January 22, 2021). "Fighting The Power". Chesapeake Bay Magazine. Annapolis: Chesapeake Bay Media, LLC. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- ^ Kennedy, R.N., Captain W. R. (July 1, 1885). "An Unknown Colony: Sport, Travel and Adventure in Newfoundland and the West Indies". Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, Scotland, and 37 Paternoster Row, London, England. p. 111.
As a fortress, Bermuda is of the first importance. It is situated almost exactly half-way between the northern and the southern naval stations; while nature has made it practically impregnable. The only approach lies through that labyrinth of reefs and narrow channels which Captain Kennedy has described. The local pilots are sworn to secrecy ; and, what is more reassuring, by lifting buoys and laying down torpedoes, hostile vessels trying to thread the passage must come to inevitable grief, So far Bermuda may be considered safe, whatever may be the condition of the fortifications and the cannon in the batteries. Yet the universal neglect of our colonial defences is apparent in the fact that no telegraphic communication has hitherto been established with the West Indies on the one side, or with the Dominion of Canada on the other.
- ^ VERAX, (anonymous) (May 1, 1889). "The Defense of Canada. (From Colburn's United Service Magazine)". The United Service: A Quarterly Review of Military and Naval Affairs. LR Hamersly & Co., 1510 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; subsequently LR Hamersly, 49 Wall Street, New York City, New York, USA; BF Stevens & Brown, 4 Trafalgar Square, London, England. p. 552.
The objectives for America are clearly marked,—Halifax, Quebec, Mon- treal, Prescott, Kingston, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. Halifax and Vancouver are certain to be most energetically attacked, for they will be the naval bases, besides Bermuda, from which England would carry on her naval attack on the American coasts and commerce.
- ^ Dawson, George M.; Sutherland, Alexander (1898). MacMillan's Geographical Series: Elementary Geography of the British Colonies. London: MacMillan and Co., Limited, London, England, UK; The MacMillan Company, New York City, New York, USA. p. 184.
There is a strongly fortified dockyard, and the defensive works, together with the intricate character of the approaches to the harbour, render the islands an almost impregnable fortress. Bermuda is governed as a Crown colony by a Governor who is also Commander-in-Chief, assisted by an appointed Executive Council and a representative House of Assembly.
- ^ "World Heritage List: Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda". United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
- ISBN 0969651716.
- ISBN 9780921560111.
- ISBN 9781401351861.
- ^ "CIVIL LIST OF THE PROVINCE OF LOWER-CANADA 1828: GOVERNOR". The Quebec Almanack and British American Royal Kalendar For The Year 1828. Quebec: Neilson and Cowan, No. 3 Mountain Street. 1812.
- ^ "STAFF of the ARMY in the Provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-Brunswick, and their Dependencies, including the Island of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward and Bermuda". The Quebec Almanack and British American Royal Kalendar For The Year 1828. Quebec: Neilson and Cowan, No. 3 Mountain Street. 1812.
- ^ "Our History". Anglican East NL. Anglican Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
- ^ Piper, Liza (2000). "The Church of England". Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-8203-2403-6. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ Gilman (1992), p. 72–74.
- ^ Phillip A. Buckner, The Transition to Responsible Government: British Policy in British North America, 1815–1850 (1985) ch. 4
- ^ "The Durham Report and Its Solutions | Site for Language Management in Canada (SLMC) – Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI)". slmc.uottawa.ca. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
- ^ "1841 – The First Election after the Act of Union". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
- ^ Margaret A. Ormsby, British Columbia: a History MacMillan Company of Canada, 1971, p. 7-8
- ^ Ormsby, pp 9–11
- ^ Ormsby, p. 89
- ^ Ormsby, p. 130
- ^ Ormsby, p. 148
- ^ "The Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, British North America/United Kingdom & United States, 5 June 1854 (Ratified February 1855, Terminated March 1866)". PrimaryDocuments.ca. June 5, 1854. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ Richard Gwyn, John A.: the Man Who Made Us, Random House of Canada Limited, 2007, pp. 174–182
- ^ Gwyn, p. 302
- ^ Gwyn, pp. 323–324
- ^ Paul Romney, Getting it Wrong: How Canadians Forgot Their Past and Imperilled Confederation. (1999), p.78
- ^ Stacey, C.P. British Military Policy in the Era of Confederation, CHA Annual Report and Historical Papers 13 (1934), p. 25.
- ^ a b Gwyn, p. 436
Sources
- Cruikshank, Ernest (2006) [1814]. The Documentary History of the campaign upon the Niagara frontier. (Part 1-2). University of Calgary. Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
Further reading
- Armstrong, Frederick H (1985). Handbook of Upper Canadian Chronology. Dundurn Press. ISBN 0-919670-92-X.
- Bourinot, John G (1900). Canada Under British Rule 1760-1905. The Project Gutenberg eBook.
- Craig, Gerald M Upper Canada: the formative years 1784-1841 McClelland and Stewart, 1963, the standard history online
- Creighton, Donald. John A. Macdonald (2 vols, Toronto, 1952–55), vol 1: The Young Politician) influential scholarly biography
- Morton, W. L. The Critical Years: The Union of British North America 1857–1873 (Toronto, 1964) online
- Sweeny, Alastair. George-Étienne Cartier: A Biography (Toronto, 1976) Web Version (ISBN 0-7710-8363-7)
- Taylor, Martin Brook; Doug Owram (1994). Canadian History: Beginnings to Confederation vol. 1. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5016-6.; Guide to historiography
- Wrong, George M. Canada and the American Revolution: The Disruption of the First British Empire (1935)
- Wrong, George M; H. H. Langton (1914). The Chronicles of Canada: Volume IV – The Beginnings of British Canada. Fireship Press (2009). ISBN 1-934757-47-0.
Primary sources
- Kennedy, W.P.M., ed. (1918). Documents of the Canadian Constitution, 1759-1915. Oxford UP. ISBN 9780722267325.; 707pp