The End of the War
| First Peoples
|
French Canadians |
Canada |
The United States of America
The End of the War
A View of the Bishop's House with the Ruins as they appear in going
up the Hill from the Lower, to the Upper Town
Painting by
Richard Short
Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, C-000350
The last fighting of the North American theatre occurred in
1762 when a
French expedition captured St. John's, Newfoundland. A British force first
seized Signal Hill, then recaptured St. John's later that year. Negotiations
for peace were already underway. On 10 February 1763 the Treaty of Paris ended
the Seven Years' War.
First Peoples
In what is now Canada, as the French surrender, First Peoples
form new
alliances with the British. They are independent powers, free to negotiate to
protect their interests. When the British fail to live up to their obligations
as allies, the Great Lakes First Peoples begin a new war against the British
in 1763. The British respond with the Royal Proclamation, the first step
towards the acknowledgment of Aboriginal Title by the Crown.
French Canadians
The British permitted the Acadians to return to the Maritimes
after the end
of the war. That apart, the conquest was a catastrophe for French Canadians.
Canada was been ripped away from France and turned into a small province in
Britain's North American Empire. But if New France had vanished, French Canada
survived. Within a generation of the Conquest, Canadiens produced new leaders
like Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine and George-Etienne Cartier. They used British
parliamentary institutions and alliances with English-speaking reformers to
preserve the French language and culture.
Canada
The Conquest made Canada a British colony with British institutions, including
parliamentary government and the monarchy, and a dominant Anglophone
population. Most English-speaking Canadians thought of themselves as British
until after the Second World War. Their strong identification with Britain led
to Canada's participation in the First and Second World Wars.
The United States of America
For Americans, the Seven Years' War was a triumph that set them on the road to
independence. With the French threat eliminated, the American colonies no
longer needed British protection. Angry at British attempts to control the
colonies and collect taxes, many Americans rebel in 1775.