O, Fair Is the Place
With the settlers at Louisbourg having been forced to Ile Saint Jean or the mainland in the wake of the Seven Years' War, British colonial authorities intended to resettle the area with loyal subjects.
To this end, a survey team divided the island into some 130 lots, which were then allocated by lottery to supporters of King George III. This angered the few remaining Acadien or Irish squatters by preventing them title from the land they worked. Rent charges from the new absentee landlords to little to avail them.
The land had been given, in fact, with numerous stipulations encouraging development and settlement, but these were largely ignored. The settlers began years of trying to convince the crown to release the land from absentee holders.
The island's extensive coal resources had been retained by the crown for development; but this wasn't done, most likely because of the extensive investments required due to their dilapidated state.
These factors, as well as its terrain and relative remoteness from Halifax meant that its efforts' to attract Loyalist settlers in the wake of the American Revolution met with limited success.
In 1775, however, a highland Scot named Mícheal Mor MacDonald spent the winter at Judique under his upside-down boat. He would be Cape Breton Island's first permanent Scottish settler, and under the shelter of his boat, he composed a song about the lands he witnessed called, "O, 's slain an t-àite"; 'O, Fair is the Place'.
Thomas Douglas, the 5th Earl of Selkirk, was born the seventh son in Galloway, Scotland in 1771.
As a seventh son, he hadn't expected an inheritance and had therefore trained as lawyer at the University of Edinburgh.
While there, he noticed poor crofters being displaced by their landlords in the highland clearances; captivated by their plight, he began investigating ways to help them acquire lands in the British colonies. In 1794, his last remaining brother died, leaving him his father's heir; his father died unexpectedly in 1799, leaving Selkirk a vast inheritance in Scotland, the Earldom, and several lots on Cape Breton acquired by lottery years earlier.
He immediately used his money and political connections to begin settling poor crofters on his lots near the colonial capital of Sydney (now Selkirk).
He arrived at Halifax in 1804, and travelled extensively throughout North America. He became frustrated, like the settlers of Cape Breton, with the lack of development or settlement from other landlords. After much pressure, he succeeded in convincing the colonial authorities to "buy back" the 20,000 acre holdings at 2 pence per acre for allocation to settlers, in exchange for investments into making the crown-owned coal mines operable.
He died in 1821, just shy of 50, and his son, the 6th Earl, divested his Canadian holdings (at a generous rate) in 1834; but Selkirk's efforts led to as many as 50,000 Scots emigrating to the east coast of Canada in the first half of the 19th century; by 1850 Cape Breton had a substantial Gaelic speaking majority. By 1920, the Cape Breton colliery was the single most productive coal mine in the British empire.
-Gzowski, Our Cultural Mosaic
To this end, a survey team divided the island into some 130 lots, which were then allocated by lottery to supporters of King George III. This angered the few remaining Acadien or Irish squatters by preventing them title from the land they worked. Rent charges from the new absentee landlords to little to avail them.
The land had been given, in fact, with numerous stipulations encouraging development and settlement, but these were largely ignored. The settlers began years of trying to convince the crown to release the land from absentee holders.
The island's extensive coal resources had been retained by the crown for development; but this wasn't done, most likely because of the extensive investments required due to their dilapidated state.
These factors, as well as its terrain and relative remoteness from Halifax meant that its efforts' to attract Loyalist settlers in the wake of the American Revolution met with limited success.
In 1775, however, a highland Scot named Mícheal Mor MacDonald spent the winter at Judique under his upside-down boat. He would be Cape Breton Island's first permanent Scottish settler, and under the shelter of his boat, he composed a song about the lands he witnessed called, "O, 's slain an t-àite"; 'O, Fair is the Place'.
Thomas Douglas, the 5th Earl of Selkirk, was born the seventh son in Galloway, Scotland in 1771.
As a seventh son, he hadn't expected an inheritance and had therefore trained as lawyer at the University of Edinburgh.
While there, he noticed poor crofters being displaced by their landlords in the highland clearances; captivated by their plight, he began investigating ways to help them acquire lands in the British colonies. In 1794, his last remaining brother died, leaving him his father's heir; his father died unexpectedly in 1799, leaving Selkirk a vast inheritance in Scotland, the Earldom, and several lots on Cape Breton acquired by lottery years earlier.
He immediately used his money and political connections to begin settling poor crofters on his lots near the colonial capital of Sydney (now Selkirk).
He arrived at Halifax in 1804, and travelled extensively throughout North America. He became frustrated, like the settlers of Cape Breton, with the lack of development or settlement from other landlords. After much pressure, he succeeded in convincing the colonial authorities to "buy back" the 20,000 acre holdings at 2 pence per acre for allocation to settlers, in exchange for investments into making the crown-owned coal mines operable.
He died in 1821, just shy of 50, and his son, the 6th Earl, divested his Canadian holdings (at a generous rate) in 1834; but Selkirk's efforts led to as many as 50,000 Scots emigrating to the east coast of Canada in the first half of the 19th century; by 1850 Cape Breton had a substantial Gaelic speaking majority. By 1920, the Cape Breton colliery was the single most productive coal mine in the British empire.
-Gzowski, Our Cultural Mosaic
Loyal She Began
It's been said that the American victory in the Revolutionary War created three nations. Of course the Americans achieved independence and began their own course of history; Britain sought out new penal colonies, laying the foundations for the Oceania states that exist today. And of course Canada was transformed by the influx of settlers, refugees really, called United Empire Loyalists. Other events during the war would have a significant impact as well.
In a convoluted way, the lack of chattel slavery on the land of England itself, combined with the tensions of the time, led to the circulation of a rumour that King George III planned to free the slaves. Of course this wasnt true; but it was a useful lie for Patriots trying to get other slaveholders on their side.
Colonial Governor Lord Dunsmore had heard the rumour, and saw how it might be used to the advantage of the colonial authorities; his Proclamation of 1775 officially made an offer of manumission for any slave who joined the British. This led to the creation of the ill-fated Ethiopian Regiment, which likely did not have enough time to train properly before being sent into battle.
However, after its destruction, Dunsmore ordered for the raising of two units of trackers and scouts from the escape slaves arriving over the lines; these companies were called the Black Company of Pioneers; and one Lt Col John Graves Simcoe eagerly sought the commission of one.
This unit never saw combat action, but as a result suffered no casualties throughout the duration of the war. They were primarily scouts, scavengers, and humanitarians, whose efforts were concentrated in upstate New York.
As the war was winding down, he encouraged many of the Black Pioneers to make use of an overland route across the Niagara river, to ensure the crown met its obligation to his valiant troops. Meanwhile, after a riding injury, Simcoe was invalided back to Britain in 1782.
The final days of the war saw a panicked scene as increasing numbers of Loyalists descended on New York. It is estimated that over 100,000 fled in the wake of the revolution; roughly half went north to Canada.
It's hard to get precise pictures but the most accurate assessments suggest that roughly 30,000 or so made their homes in the Maritime provinces; the remainder, including some three thousand Black Loyalists and 2,000 slaves, headed for Quebec.
On Nova Scotia's South Shore, in Halifax, the Saint John Valley, the borderlands between modern Quebec and New York state (the "Eastern Townships") and the area south and west around lake Ontario (the "Western Townships"), they arrived in enough numbers to transform the local character.
Before their arrival, the population of the New France territories was probably around 130,000 Europeans, maybe 5,000 of whom were British or continental Protestant in origin.
The Loyalists made up a broad cross-section of the population; although the ones who arrived in Canada tended to be from Virginia or further north; were more likely than the American population at large to be first or second generation, and more likely to be either Anglican or a member of a religious minority.
Many of those who stayed were in fact soldiers who were being offered land after their service. Most were Scottish; but many had been in Hessian and Russian brigades, and included a number of Poles, Prussians, and Russians.
They also included the Black Loyalists, some of whom used the overland route and some of whom received official evacuation.
After the Seven Years' War, "French Acadia" had been transformed, politically, into "British Nova Scotia", but to ensure stability, British colonial authorities had extended the rights to civil law, the French language in courts, government and education, and the Catholic religion in the province of Québec. The new influx of Loyalists were used to governing themselves according to British institutions, and began demanding the right to do so in their new situation. The existing colonists already had contracts, bills of exchange and other documents which would be too numerous to disentangle; in the end a compromise was proposed which would split Quebec into two colonies, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, with Upper Canada receiving all land west of the furthest west seigneurie and south of the Nipissing river.
This occurred in 1791, and a new MP from Cornwall, first elected in 1790, was appointed to be Upper Canada's first Lieutenant Governor. Resign his place in parliament, Lt Col John Graves Simcoe arrived in Kingston in the summer of 1792.
-Gzowski, Our Cultural Mosaic
In a convoluted way, the lack of chattel slavery on the land of England itself, combined with the tensions of the time, led to the circulation of a rumour that King George III planned to free the slaves. Of course this wasnt true; but it was a useful lie for Patriots trying to get other slaveholders on their side.
Colonial Governor Lord Dunsmore had heard the rumour, and saw how it might be used to the advantage of the colonial authorities; his Proclamation of 1775 officially made an offer of manumission for any slave who joined the British. This led to the creation of the ill-fated Ethiopian Regiment, which likely did not have enough time to train properly before being sent into battle.
However, after its destruction, Dunsmore ordered for the raising of two units of trackers and scouts from the escape slaves arriving over the lines; these companies were called the Black Company of Pioneers; and one Lt Col John Graves Simcoe eagerly sought the commission of one.
This unit never saw combat action, but as a result suffered no casualties throughout the duration of the war. They were primarily scouts, scavengers, and humanitarians, whose efforts were concentrated in upstate New York.
As the war was winding down, he encouraged many of the Black Pioneers to make use of an overland route across the Niagara river, to ensure the crown met its obligation to his valiant troops. Meanwhile, after a riding injury, Simcoe was invalided back to Britain in 1782.
The final days of the war saw a panicked scene as increasing numbers of Loyalists descended on New York. It is estimated that over 100,000 fled in the wake of the revolution; roughly half went north to Canada.
It's hard to get precise pictures but the most accurate assessments suggest that roughly 30,000 or so made their homes in the Maritime provinces; the remainder, including some three thousand Black Loyalists and 2,000 slaves, headed for Quebec.
On Nova Scotia's South Shore, in Halifax, the Saint John Valley, the borderlands between modern Quebec and New York state (the "Eastern Townships") and the area south and west around lake Ontario (the "Western Townships"), they arrived in enough numbers to transform the local character.
Before their arrival, the population of the New France territories was probably around 130,000 Europeans, maybe 5,000 of whom were British or continental Protestant in origin.
The Loyalists made up a broad cross-section of the population; although the ones who arrived in Canada tended to be from Virginia or further north; were more likely than the American population at large to be first or second generation, and more likely to be either Anglican or a member of a religious minority.
Many of those who stayed were in fact soldiers who were being offered land after their service. Most were Scottish; but many had been in Hessian and Russian brigades, and included a number of Poles, Prussians, and Russians.
They also included the Black Loyalists, some of whom used the overland route and some of whom received official evacuation.
After the Seven Years' War, "French Acadia" had been transformed, politically, into "British Nova Scotia", but to ensure stability, British colonial authorities had extended the rights to civil law, the French language in courts, government and education, and the Catholic religion in the province of Québec. The new influx of Loyalists were used to governing themselves according to British institutions, and began demanding the right to do so in their new situation. The existing colonists already had contracts, bills of exchange and other documents which would be too numerous to disentangle; in the end a compromise was proposed which would split Quebec into two colonies, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, with Upper Canada receiving all land west of the furthest west seigneurie and south of the Nipissing river.
This occurred in 1791, and a new MP from Cornwall, first elected in 1790, was appointed to be Upper Canada's first Lieutenant Governor. Resign his place in parliament, Lt Col John Graves Simcoe arrived in Kingston in the summer of 1792.
-Gzowski, Our Cultural Mosaic
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Loyal She Began, Pt II: the 'Simcoe Days'
Simcoe arrived to find a colony in a confused and demoralized state. The 'western townships', now officially Upper Canada, had been largely unsettled by Europeans before the war, with a few French around the narrows at Détroit and nearer the border with Lower Canada.
There were thousands of indigenous, of course, but they had been swamped by more than 15,000 Loyalists who had arrived since the Treaty of Paris, mostly settling around Lake Ontario, and they had begun the tedious process of clearing the land; but as yet no title had been given, as British legal structures were to be set up by the incoming Governor.
The largely forested colony had exactly one useful road, the King's Highway, which ringed Lake Ontario and which the new Lt Governor rode to the capital at Newark, on the Niagara river.
Simcoe had bold intentions to steer the colony away from the Republican path being adopted to the south, creating a system of governance designed to be the "very image" of British society, with an appointed Legislative Council (he considered creating a hereditary aristocracy), and an elected if powerless assembly, both based on principals of land ownership.
Elections were held, and the new colonial government began awarding title to land under the stipulations that British government had provided - 200 acres to common Loyalists, and from 500 up to 5,000 for officers taking up land.
The Loyalists contained some 2,000 slaves, which meant of course slave owners, some 2,000 decommissioned Hessian and Russian troops, as well as 3,000 Black Loyalists, primarily from the pioneers. As such, tensions arose over the nature of slavery in the new colony, and in the summer of 1793, a public spectacle occurred when a young slave woman, Chloe Cooley, was forced by her owner into a boat to be sold across the river. The resulting social consternation led to Governor Simcoe issuing a blistering address to the Assembly:
"The principles of the British Consitution do not admit of that slavery which Christianity condemns; under no modification will I assent to a law that discriminates by dishonest policy between natives of Africa, America, or Europe."
His ensuing Act Against Slavery was the first in the British Empire, declaring all children born free, freedom for all slaves over the age of 21, ensuring freedom to any slaves brought into Upper Canada, and requiring all existing slaves to be manumitted upon turning 21. By 1810 there were no slaves left in Upper Canada.
It caused grief at first, but in time the Upper Canadians came to delight in their civilized distinction, to both the Americans and the Lower Canadians. The act also ensured that people would be treated equal regardless of race, allowing the Black Loyalists who had settled along the Niagara river to receive title to their land. To dissuade ethnic tensions and shore up the border, those of African descent were all given lots in the Western District of the colony.
Realizing the defensive limitations of the settlement on the Niagara river, Simcoe proposed to move the capital to position located between Lakes Huron & Erie, at spot he named "London" on a river he renamed the "Thames" in anticipation.
The GG, however, balked at its remote and inaccessible location. Simcoe's second choice, Ft Rouiville in the Central District on Lake Ontario, was approved. Simcoe renamed the underdeveloped outpost "York".
Simcoe established the principles of racial tolerance within the framework of an explicitly aristocratic costitution; he also established legal order in the remote wilderness, and used idle labour to constructs forts and two new roads, one, called Yonge Street, from York due north to Lake Simcoe (and eventually reaching to Winnipeg), and another, Dundas street, heading due west from York to London. He was forced to return to Britain due to ill health in 1796, but his legacy had a lasting impact on Canadian society.
-Gzowski, Our Cultural Mosaic
There were thousands of indigenous, of course, but they had been swamped by more than 15,000 Loyalists who had arrived since the Treaty of Paris, mostly settling around Lake Ontario, and they had begun the tedious process of clearing the land; but as yet no title had been given, as British legal structures were to be set up by the incoming Governor.
The largely forested colony had exactly one useful road, the King's Highway, which ringed Lake Ontario and which the new Lt Governor rode to the capital at Newark, on the Niagara river.
Simcoe had bold intentions to steer the colony away from the Republican path being adopted to the south, creating a system of governance designed to be the "very image" of British society, with an appointed Legislative Council (he considered creating a hereditary aristocracy), and an elected if powerless assembly, both based on principals of land ownership.
Elections were held, and the new colonial government began awarding title to land under the stipulations that British government had provided - 200 acres to common Loyalists, and from 500 up to 5,000 for officers taking up land.
The Loyalists contained some 2,000 slaves, which meant of course slave owners, some 2,000 decommissioned Hessian and Russian troops, as well as 3,000 Black Loyalists, primarily from the pioneers. As such, tensions arose over the nature of slavery in the new colony, and in the summer of 1793, a public spectacle occurred when a young slave woman, Chloe Cooley, was forced by her owner into a boat to be sold across the river. The resulting social consternation led to Governor Simcoe issuing a blistering address to the Assembly:
"The principles of the British Consitution do not admit of that slavery which Christianity condemns; under no modification will I assent to a law that discriminates by dishonest policy between natives of Africa, America, or Europe."
His ensuing Act Against Slavery was the first in the British Empire, declaring all children born free, freedom for all slaves over the age of 21, ensuring freedom to any slaves brought into Upper Canada, and requiring all existing slaves to be manumitted upon turning 21. By 1810 there were no slaves left in Upper Canada.
It caused grief at first, but in time the Upper Canadians came to delight in their civilized distinction, to both the Americans and the Lower Canadians. The act also ensured that people would be treated equal regardless of race, allowing the Black Loyalists who had settled along the Niagara river to receive title to their land. To dissuade ethnic tensions and shore up the border, those of African descent were all given lots in the Western District of the colony.
Realizing the defensive limitations of the settlement on the Niagara river, Simcoe proposed to move the capital to position located between Lakes Huron & Erie, at spot he named "London" on a river he renamed the "Thames" in anticipation.
The GG, however, balked at its remote and inaccessible location. Simcoe's second choice, Ft Rouiville in the Central District on Lake Ontario, was approved. Simcoe renamed the underdeveloped outpost "York".
Simcoe established the principles of racial tolerance within the framework of an explicitly aristocratic costitution; he also established legal order in the remote wilderness, and used idle labour to constructs forts and two new roads, one, called Yonge Street, from York due north to Lake Simcoe (and eventually reaching to Winnipeg), and another, Dundas street, heading due west from York to London. He was forced to return to Britain due to ill health in 1796, but his legacy had a lasting impact on Canadian society.
-Gzowski, Our Cultural Mosaic
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Nice chapter, but I had a question, would 16, or 18 years of age not be considered more appropriate?
The reason was because Simcoe also ensured lots of regulations on how slaves had to be treated- he was essentially ensuring that someone would take care of them until they were 21, which was the legal age of adulthood at the time.
Now, this is what happens when you know next to nothing about the era, but still try and participate......
Not at all! I appreciate all input, and its a pretty obscure Act. I actually thought about a disclaimer 'cause I figured someone would say it was unrealistic to abolish slavery at the time.
I think it's best if you put a couple of footnotes or something, for reference, it'll work better than any disclaimer.......
Yeah absolutely. I'll add footnotes to clarify PODs and OTLs.
The biggest difference for UC so far is that OTL there were relatively few slaves or Black settlers. They languished in the more crowded and less sympathetic NS, mostly didnt get any land, and eventually about half moved to Sierra Leone. ITTL we get a thriving community in sw Ontario, so a sympathetic local class when the underground railroad kicks into gear...
I'm wondering what the name of this region would be called ITTL.
Maybe something like "New Africa", "Liberty", "Sanctuary", "Freedom", "Zion" or something else.
Doesn't Canada have Detroit? And doesn't said Detroit have black settlers?
The rap capital of Canada oughta be cool
Also, Eminem (if he exists) is hereby Canadian, me likey!
Doesn't Canada have Detroit? And doesn't said Detroit have black settlers?
The rap capital of Canada oughta be cool
Also, Eminem (if he exists) is hereby Canadian, me likey!
Motorville Records?
Right now, it's the Western District of Upper Canada. (Could be worse, area around Toronto is called 'Home District') and its predominately although not exclusively African descent.Doesn't Canada have Detroit? And doesn't said Detroit have black settlers?
The rap capital of Canada oughta be cool
Also, Eminem (if he exists) is hereby Canadian, me likey!
At the moment, Détroit (the straits) are ours, and predominately French. Simcoe was of the opinion that the Americans had forfeited the Northwest Territory by various violations of the Treaty of Paris, and therefore saw it as the natural location for an Indian buffer state. He built Fort Miami as an Indian fort, and held Fort Pitt throughout his tenure.
Don't take it personally, but who cares about politics when there's Canadian! Eminem to talk about here
.....You're welcome to any kinds of conjecture. My only statement at this point is that I see no reason why Eminem couldnt be CanadianDon't take it personally, but who cares about politics when there's Canadian! Eminem to talk about here