#hedidnotconquer — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #hedidnotconquer, aggregated by home.social.
-
One of the reasons the 1775-76 American invasion of Canada failed was that the residents of the British colony of Canada set aside their historical grievances and united to defend Quebec City.
French Canadians fought alongside the English-speaking militia and British forces to repel the American invaders. The Americans already held the other two population centres — Montreal and Trois-Rivières. Had they taken and held Quebec City, Canada would have become the 14th colony.
I made this point in my talk tonight at the University of Alberta. It is especially salient given the debate over Alberta separation that is dividing Canada just when Donald Trump wants to make it the 51st state.
My thanks to Andy Knight (L), professor of international relations at the university, and Christina Hamer, PhD (2R) of the Edmonton branch of the Canadian International Council for co-sponsoring my talk, and to Oliver Rossier (R) for his timely assistance!
#hedidnotconquer #canada #books #history #americanrevolution #cdnpoli
-
One of the reasons the 1775-76 American invasion of Canada failed was that the residents of the British colony of Canada set aside their historical grievances and united to defend Quebec City.
French Canadians fought alongside the English-speaking militia and British forces to repel the American invaders. The Americans already held the other two population centres — Montreal and Trois-Rivières. Had they taken and held Quebec City, Canada would have become the 14th colony.
I made this point in my talk tonight at the University of Alberta. It is especially salient given the debate over Alberta separation that is dividing Canada just when Donald Trump wants to make it the 51st state.
My thanks to Andy Knight (L), professor of international relations at the university, and Christina Hamer, PhD (2R) of the Edmonton branch of the Canadian International Council for co-sponsoring my talk, and to Oliver Rossier (R) for his timely assistance!
#hedidnotconquer #canada #books #history #americanrevolution #cdnpoli
-
Who says you can’t have fun while talking about your book? I had a great time this evening discussing Benjamin Franklin’s failure to annex Canada with an informed and engaged Winnipeg audience.
My thanks to Canadian International Council - Winnipeg for organizing the event, George Kolomaya for his impressive communications skills, and Whodunit New And Used Mystery Bookstore for hosting.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution @dundurnpress
-
It was a pleasure speaking with the knowledgeable Steve Paikin about why events that happened 250 years ago still matter today.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution
-
When Benjamin Franklin fled Montreal for Philadelphia on May 11, his two fellow commissioners remained behind in the hope that they might still be able to salvage the American invasion of Canada and set up a new government. Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll of Carrollton (pictured) soon realized the army sent north by the Continental Congress was incapable of capturing and holding the entire British colony.
“We want words to describe the confusion which prevails through every department relating to the Army,” they said in a letter to the Continental Congress written #OTD May 17, 1776. “Several of your officers appear to us unfit for the stations they fill. Your troops live from hand to mouth; they have of late been put to half allowance in several places; and in some they have been without pork for three or four days past.”
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution @dundurnpress
-
Guy Carleton, British governor of the colony of Canada, showed mercy to American invaders when they abandoned their siege of Quebec City on May 6 and fled into the woods.
#OTD May 10, 1776, he instructed the militia to search for these “deluded subjects,” who were likely suffering from wounds and were “in great danger of perishing for want of proper assistance.”
“Afford them all necessary relief and convey them to the general hospital, where proper care shall be taken of them,” he proclaimed.
“And lest a consciousness of past offences should deter such miserable wretches from receiving that assistance which their distressed system may require, I hereby make known to them, that as soon as their health is restored they shall have free liberty to return to their respective provinces.”
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #quebec #americanrevolution
-
Guy Carleton, British governor of the colony of Canada, showed mercy to American invaders when they abandoned their siege of Quebec City on May 6 and fled into the woods.
#OTD May 10, 1776, he instructed the militia to search for these “deluded subjects,” who were likely suffering from wounds and were “in great danger of perishing for want of proper assistance.”
“Afford them all necessary relief and convey them to the general hospital, where proper care shall be taken of them,” he proclaimed.
“And lest a consciousness of past offences should deter such miserable wretches from receiving that assistance which their distressed system may require, I hereby make known to them, that as soon as their health is restored they shall have free liberty to return to their respective provinces.”
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #quebec #americanrevolution
-
Guy Carleton, British governor of the colony of Canada, showed mercy to American invaders when they abandoned their siege of Quebec City on May 6 and fled into the woods.
#OTD May 10, 1776, he instructed the militia to search for these “deluded subjects,” who were likely suffering from wounds and were “in great danger of perishing for want of proper assistance.”
“Afford them all necessary relief and convey them to the general hospital, where proper care shall be taken of them,” he proclaimed.
“And lest a consciousness of past offences should deter such miserable wretches from receiving that assistance which their distressed system may require, I hereby make known to them, that as soon as their health is restored they shall have free liberty to return to their respective provinces.”
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #quebec #americanrevolution
-
Guy Carleton, British governor of the colony of Canada, showed mercy to American invaders when they abandoned their siege of Quebec City on May 6 and fled into the woods.
#OTD May 10, 1776, he instructed the militia to search for these “deluded subjects,” who were likely suffering from wounds and were “in great danger of perishing for want of proper assistance.”
“Afford them all necessary relief and convey them to the general hospital, where proper care shall be taken of them,” he proclaimed.
“And lest a consciousness of past offences should deter such miserable wretches from receiving that assistance which their distressed system may require, I hereby make known to them, that as soon as their health is restored they shall have free liberty to return to their respective provinces.”
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #quebec #americanrevolution
-
Guy Carleton, British governor of the colony of Canada, showed mercy to American invaders when they abandoned their siege of Quebec City on May 6 and fled into the woods.
#OTD May 10, 1776, he instructed the militia to search for these “deluded subjects,” who were likely suffering from wounds and were “in great danger of perishing for want of proper assistance.”
“Afford them all necessary relief and convey them to the general hospital, where proper care shall be taken of them,” he proclaimed.
“And lest a consciousness of past offences should deter such miserable wretches from receiving that assistance which their distressed system may require, I hereby make known to them, that as soon as their health is restored they shall have free liberty to return to their respective provinces.”
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #quebec #americanrevolution
-
Stanbridge East lies close to the path American invaders took in 1775 as they fought their way to Montreal — and their hasty exit in 1776.
It was delightful to talk to current residents yesterday at the Missisquoi Museum. Among the museum’s exhibits is a British military uniform worn by a loyalist in the American Revolution.
My thanks to Rosemary Wagner (left), the museum board and staff, and the residents for a great evening!
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution
-
Stanbridge East lies close to the path American invaders took in 1775 as they fought their way to Montreal — and their hasty exit in 1776.
It was delightful to talk to current residents yesterday at the Missisquoi Museum. Among the museum’s exhibits is a British military uniform worn by a loyalist in the American Revolution.
My thanks to Rosemary Wagner (left), the museum board and staff, and the residents for a great evening!
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution
-
Stanbridge East lies close to the path American invaders took in 1775 as they fought their way to Montreal — and their hasty exit in 1776.
It was delightful to talk to current residents yesterday at the Missisquoi Museum. Among the museum’s exhibits is a British military uniform worn by a loyalist in the American Revolution.
My thanks to Rosemary Wagner (left), the museum board and staff, and the residents for a great evening!
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution
-
Stanbridge East lies close to the path American invaders took in 1775 as they fought their way to Montreal — and their hasty exit in 1776.
It was delightful to talk to current residents yesterday at the Missisquoi Museum. Among the museum’s exhibits is a British military uniform worn by a loyalist in the American Revolution.
My thanks to Rosemary Wagner (left), the museum board and staff, and the residents for a great evening!
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution
-
Stanbridge East lies close to the path American invaders took in 1775 as they fought their way to Montreal — and their hasty exit in 1776.
It was delightful to talk to current residents yesterday at the Missisquoi Museum. Among the museum’s exhibits is a British military uniform worn by a loyalist in the American Revolution.
My thanks to Rosemary Wagner (left), the museum board and staff, and the residents for a great evening!
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution
-
Will the next revolution start in Canada?
I wrote about the similarities between Canadians today and American colonists prior to the revolution.
There are more than you think.
-
Will the next revolution start in Canada?
I wrote about the similarities between Canadians today and American colonists prior to the revolution.
There are more than you think.
-
Will the next revolution start in Canada?
I wrote about the similarities between Canadians today and American colonists prior to the revolution.
There are more than you think.
-
Will the next revolution start in Canada?
I wrote about the similarities between Canadians today and American colonists prior to the revolution.
There are more than you think.
-
Will the next revolution start in Canada?
I wrote about the similarities between Canadians today and American colonists prior to the revolution.
There are more than you think.
-
When Benjamin Franklin arrived in France in December 1776, he stayed with Jacques-Barthélémy Gruel, a Nantes shipowner who made a fortune in the slave trade.
Among Gruel’s ships was the Marie-Séraphique, which transported between 302 and 361 enslaved people on each of its four trips from Africa to the French West Indies between 1769 and 1773.
Franklin and some of his fellow revolutionaries sought the support of Nantes merchants and shipowners in transporting weapons and other goods across the Atlantic Ocean during the American Revolution.
We know of the ship and its history because of a rare detailed drawing in the Nantes history museum. The exhibit and a memorial to the abolition of slavery elsewhere in the city acknowledge that Nantes was the leading French port in the slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries.
#hedidnotconquer #Canada #history #books #AmericanRevolution
-
I wish Mike Myers had given PM Mark Carney a statue of Sir Guy Carleton instead of General Isaac Brock.
Everything the PM said about the War of 1812 in his video address applies equally to the American invasion of Canada in 1775.
Only that time it was Carleton, the British governor of Canada, who united First Nations, French Canadians, and British inhabitants to fight alongside British soldiers and sailors and defeat the invaders.
That invasion was approved by the Continental Congress and backed by men now revered as founding fathers in the US, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.
I remain perplexed why the 1775 invasion is forgotten while the 1812 invasion is remembered more often in Canada. I have my own ideas, but I would be interested in hearing what others think.
#hedidnotconquer #Canada #history #books #carney #americanrevolution
-
Benjamin Franklin was in Saratoga on his way to Canada in 1776 when he began to have doubts about whether he and two colleagues could salvage the faltering American invasion of the British colony.
#OTD April 13, 1776, he wrote John Hancock, then president of the Continental Congress, saying the latest information he had received made him think “we shall be able to effect little there.”
He was right. His mission failed. Canada did not become the 14th colony.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution #benjaminfranklin @dundurnpress
-
Benjamin Franklin was in Saratoga on his way to Canada in 1776 when he began to have doubts about whether he and two colleagues could salvage the faltering American invasion of the British colony.
#OTD April 13, 1776, he wrote John Hancock, then president of the Continental Congress, saying the latest information he had received made him think “we shall be able to effect little there.”
He was right. His mission failed. Canada did not become the 14th colony.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution #benjaminfranklin @dundurnpress
-
Benjamin Franklin was in Saratoga on his way to Canada in 1776 when he began to have doubts about whether he and two colleagues could salvage the faltering American invasion of the British colony.
#OTD April 13, 1776, he wrote John Hancock, then president of the Continental Congress, saying the latest information he had received made him think “we shall be able to effect little there.”
He was right. His mission failed. Canada did not become the 14th colony.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution #benjaminfranklin @dundurnpress
-
Benjamin Franklin was in Saratoga on his way to Canada in 1776 when he began to have doubts about whether he and two colleagues could salvage the faltering American invasion of the British colony.
#OTD April 13, 1776, he wrote John Hancock, then president of the Continental Congress, saying the latest information he had received made him think “we shall be able to effect little there.”
He was right. His mission failed. Canada did not become the 14th colony.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution #benjaminfranklin @dundurnpress
-
Benjamin Franklin was in Saratoga on his way to Canada in 1776 when he began to have doubts about whether he and two colleagues could salvage the faltering American invasion of the British colony.
#OTD April 13, 1776, he wrote John Hancock, then president of the Continental Congress, saying the latest information he had received made him think “we shall be able to effect little there.”
He was right. His mission failed. Canada did not become the 14th colony.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution #benjaminfranklin @dundurnpress
-
It was one thing for the Continental Congress to ask Benjamin Franklin, Charles Carroll, and Samuel Chase to go to Montreal and salvage the faltering American invasion of Canada.
It was quite another for them to get there. #OTD April 9, 1776, it took them an entire day to travel 51 km (32 mi) from Albany, NY, to Saratoga.
“The roads at this season of the year are generally bad, but now worse than ever, owing to the great number of wagons employed in carrying the baggage of the regiments marching into Canada, and supplies to the army in that country,” Carroll observed in his journal.
The general in charge of the invasion told Carroll there was a plan to connect Montreal with New York City by means of some locks and a canal at the top of Lake Champlain. That would make the journey easier. But it would cost £50,000.
#hedidnotconquer #history #canada #books #americanrevolution @dundurnpress
-
By April 1776, the American invasion of Canada was foundering, in part because the invaders were mistreating ordinary French Canadians.
“The peasantry in general have been ill-used,” rebel officer Moses Hazen admitted to a superior officer #OTD April 1, 1776. “They have in some instances been dragooned at the point of a bayonet to supply wood for the garrison at a lower rate than the current price.”
The invaders were also paying Canadians for things like carriages with certificates that were not honoured by the army quarter master because the signature was illegible or missing. The French Canadians were starting to think the Continental Congress was bankrupt, Hazen wrote.
As for the elite, which included the clergy and seigneurs, he thought seven-eighths supported the British and “would wish to see our throats cut and perhaps would readily assist in doing it.”
#hedidnotconquer #history #books #americanrevolution @dundurnpress
-
I worry sometimes that young people might not be interested in history. That certainly wasn’t the case yesterday, when I talked about my book at Nipissing University in North Bay, ON.
Three organizations — Canadian International Council, Nipissing district branch; the history department at the university; and the Village at Canadore College — combined forces to organize a fun event with lots of good questions.
Special thanks to John Allison, Micheline Demers, and Nate Kozuskanich for making it happen.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution
-
#OTD March 20, 1776, Benjamin Franklin received official instructions from the Continental Congress on how to govern Canada. He was to travel to Montreal, accompanied by Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and salvage the faltering American invasion of the British colony.
The Continental Army had occupied Montreal and Trois-Rivières in 1775 but failed to take Quebec City. The three commissioners were told to impose order and get the invasion back on track.
They were to urge the Canadians to adopt the same system of governance used in the American colonies and the new Continental paper currency. Canada’s foreign trade would be put on the same footing as theirs.
The instructions made clear that Congress saw this as a war of liberation. Canadians could choose freedom and liberty by putting themselves “under the protection of the United Colonies” or they would remain “the mere spoils and prey of conquerors and lords.”
-
What a pleasure to talk about my book with members of the Canadian International Council, Waterloo branch, last night at St. Jerome's University. An engaged and thoughtful audience!
There are a lot of people to thank for making it happen. Special thanks to John English for the invitation, Shawky Fahel for smoothing the way, Ryan Touhey of the history department at St. Jerome’s for co-sponsoring my talk, and Krenare Recaj for dashing out and getting more books when it looked like we did not have enough!
#hedidnotconquer #canada #cdnhist #cdaus @dundurnpress
Photo credit: Frances Barclay
-
Donald Trump is hardly the first American to use trade for political ends. #OTD March 2, 1776, Benjamin Franklin and other members of the Committee of Secret Correspondence decided to offer France access to American trade in exchange for French support for the American Revolution.
The offer was laid out in the committee’s instructions to Silas Deane, an agent they were sending to Paris. Deane was to use Franklin’s contacts in scientific circles to gain an audience with the French foreign minister, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes.
He was to tell Vergennes that “the Commercial Advantages, Britain had enjoyed with the Colonies had contributed greatly to her late Wealth & Importance,” and then ask for France’s political and financial support, including arms, ammunition, and clothing for 25,000 men.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution #america250
-
One of the many reasons the Americans failed to conquer Canada in 1775-76 was that they under-estimated how hard it would be and did not allocate sufficient men, money, weapons, and provisions to the invasion.
These shortages only worsened when the fight with Britain intensified in the 13 colonies and the best men and equipment were directed to the fighting closer to home.
#OTD March 1, 1776, John Hancock wrote Charles Lee, considered one of the top generals in the Continental Army, to say he would not be going to Canada after all.
“The Congress have at Length Determin'd to Superceed the orders given you to proceed to Canada, and have this day come to a Resolution that you shall take the Command of the Continental Forces in the Southern Departmt. which Comprehends Virginia. North Carolina. South Carolina & Georgia,” wrote Hancock, in his role as president of the Continental Congress.
1/2
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution @dundurnpress
-
#OTD February 26, 1776, the Continental Congress agreed to pay the expenses of French printer Fleury Mesplet and to give him “25 Half Joes to remove Himself, his Family and Types to Canada and there set up a free Press.”
Mesplet would eventually found the Montreal Gazette newspaper. But his purpose on this trip was to help Benjamin Franklin persuade the French Canadians to join the American Revolution.
He was left behind with his printing press when Franklin and the Continental Army fled for home in May 1776. (The half joe was a Portuguese gold coin commonly used in the 13 colonies.)
-
#OTD February 22, 1776, the commander of the American forces occupying Trois-Rivières, Quebec, wrote Benjamin Franklin, urging him to use his reputed supernatural powers to conquer Canada.
“I understood you are a great man that you Can Turn the Common Course of nature that you have power with the Gods and Can Rob the Clouds of their Tremendious Thunder,” wrote William Goforth.
“Rouse once more my old Trojan Collect the Heavey Thunders of the United Colonies and Convey them to the Regions of the North and Enable us to Shake the Quebec walls or on the other hand inform us how to Extract the Electric fire from the Center.
“Then Perhaps we may be able to draw a Vein athwart their Magazene and Send them upwards Cloathd as Elijah was with a Suit of fire. One or the other of these must be done or we shall be drove to the Necessity of another Frolick of boarding the Town.”
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #cdaus #america250 @dundurnpress
-
“The Unanimous Voice of the Continent is Canada must be ours. Quebec must be taken.” So wrote John Adams in a letter sent #OTD Feb. 18, 1776, to fellow revolutionary James Warren.
At the time, the Continental Army occupied Montreal and Trois-Rivières and were laying siege to Quebec City, the last major population centre in the British colony.
Adams said that if the British kept Canada “it would enable them to inflame all the Indians upon the Continent, and perhaps induce them to take up the Hatchet, and commit their Robberies and Murders upon the Frontiers of all the southern Colonies as well as to pour down Regulars, Canadians and Indians together upon the Borders of the Northern.”
He seemed heartened by the decision to send Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton to Montreal to salvage the faltering invasion. “These three Gentlemen compose a Committee, which I think promises great Things,” he told Warren.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #cdaus #America250 @dundurnpress
-
#OTD Feb. 15, 1776, the Continental Congress asked Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton to go to Canada to ask the French Canadians to join the American Revolution.
It was acting on the advice of a sympathetic French Canadian, Prudent Lajeunesse, who had told the Committee of Secret Correspondence that the only way to overcome the suspicions of the Catholic clergy and the seigneurs was for delegates to make the case in person.
The clergy and seigneurs were happy with what Britain had given them in the Quebec Act of 1774 and feared the Americans would ban the Catholic religion and end their privileged positions in Canada.
Carroll was not a delegate. But he was a rich Catholic who could speak French. Congress asked him to bring along his relative, John Carroll, a Catholic priest. The three Americans, who would later become founding fathers, would not set out for Montreal until April 2.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #cdaus #americanrevolution @dundurnpress
-
There’s an ongoing guessing game about how far in the past Trump is trying to drag the US. I argue that it’s 1775, the year the Americans began their revolution and invaded Canada.
-
Americans still thought the conquest of Canada was possible, despite the defeat of their Continental Army at Quebec City on the last day of December 1775. But they continued to face a shortage of men, money, and, crucially, gunpowder.
#OTD February 11, 1776, Benjamin Franklin wrote the general meant to lead the next invasion of Canada, suggesting the army should bring back the use of pikes, and bows and arrows. “Those were good weapons, not wisely set aside,” he wrote to Charles Lee, referring to their use in the 14th century.
Franklin listed six reasons why they would be a good choice:
1. Because a Man may shoot as truly with a Bow as with a common Musket.
2. He can discharge 4 arrows in the time of charging and discharging one Bullet.
3. His object is not taken from his view by the smoke of his own side.
4. A Flight of Arrows seen coming upon them terrifies and disturbs the Enemy's Attention to his Business.(cont'd in reply)
-
It is heartening to see two former prime ministers, from different parties, have a friendly conversation about Canadian unity in the time of Trump.
I will admit being slightly biased because Mr. Chrétien mentioned my book (He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada).
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #cdaus #americanrevolution @dundurnpress
-
My take on the historical aspects of the prime minister’s Quebec City speech.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #cdaus @dundurnpress
https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/op_eds/opinion-carney-picks-the-wrong-battle-in-quebec-city
-
When Livingston wrote these words, the Continental Army occupied Montreal and Trois-Rivières and Americans still thought they could take Quebec City. They could not. They fled for home when British reinforcements arrived in May 1776. Canada, a British colony, would be treated as a pawn again by the Americans, the French, and the British in peace negotiations at the end of the revolution.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution Dundurn Press
-
Notice something missing from this chronology of the American Revolution in a commemorative edition put out by Time magazine?
It jumps from August 1775 to January 1776, without mentioning the American invasion of the British colony of Canada, which began in September 1775 and ended in failure.
Canadians consume tremendous amounts of American culture, and with it the American version of history.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #cdaus #americanrevolution250
-
#OTD January 20, 1776, the Continental Congress scrambled to collect coins to send to Canada because the French Canadians refused to accept paper currency.
Despite the disastrous defeat at Quebec City on New Year’s Eve, delegates still thought the invasion of Canada would succeed if they could send enough money and men northward.
All the colonies were instructed to “to employ proper persons within their respective colonies to collect all the gold and silver coin they can, and inform Congress of the sum collected.”
The most popular coin in circulation was the Spanish silver dollar (pictured). British pounds and German thalers were also used. People used to cut the Spanish dollar into halves, quarters, and eighths to make change. Hence the term piece of eight.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #dundurnpress@twitter.piriklub.eu -
If anyone thought #Trump would stop at #Greenland, these faked photos that MSN says Trump posted last night make the answer clear.
The fake map shows #Canada and #Greenland covered by the American flag. -
Benjamin Franklin received a disappointing birthday present when he turned 70 years old #OTD January 17, 1776.
He and fellow delegates to the Continental Congress learned that the Continental Army failed to take Quebec City by storm more than two weeks earlier.
It would take many more months and a personal visit by Franklin to Montreal before they realized that the American invasion of Canada, begun in September 1775, was a complete failure.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #cdaus #books #bookstodon #americanrevolution @dundurnpress @lizcovart.bsky.social
-
Trump is not inventing a new foreign policy with his threats to take over Greenland. He’s resurrecting an approach that was used 250 years ago on the British colony of Canada.
I wrote about it for the Centre for International Policy Studies.#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #cdaus @dundurnpress
https://www.cips-cepi.ca/2026/01/14/americas-roots-are-showing-with-its-threat-to-greenland/
-
#OTD Jan. 6, 1776, David Wooster, the general in charge of American troops in Canada, issued a declaration that threatened any Canadian who opposed the American invasion.
Wooster was reacting to the disastrous failure of the Continental Army to take Quebec City on December 31. Privately, he told a superior officer the defeat rendered the army’s prospects in Canada “very dubious.” Publicly, he cracked down on the inhabitants of Montreal and Trois-Rivières, the towns the invaders still controlled.
See reply for text of the declaration.....
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #cdaus #americanrevolution @dundurnpress
-
There are a lot of lessons Canada can learn from the American invasion of 1775-1776, including that it could happen again.
I wrote about that invasion in my book, He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada.
#hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #cdaus @dundurnpress