What was the Border like between the colonies and the US like in the Early 1800s? Was there one? How could people cross? Directly from Maine into New Brunswick? Or was it by way of ship from New York to Halifax?
What was the Border like between the colonies and the US like in the Early 1800s? Was there one? How could people cross? Directly from Maine into New Brunswick? Or was it by way of ship from New York to Halifax?
I don't think the 49th parallel was really settled on until the "Pig War" in 1846, so there may not have been much of a tangible border between Britain and America at all, outside the Canadas for a while.
The 49th Parallel was established east of the Rockies in 1818, and extended to the Pacific under Polk.
EDIT: Though the OP seems to be wondering more about the Northeast.
yeah the 49th was much more open. But the more settled regions are my issue. Wondering how it would be getting from the US to say Montreal or Fredricton.
very easily. You had US citizens settling in the eastern townships of Lower canada in the early 19th century who never realised they had crossed the border until the authorities came knocking.
the one book I have on the war of 1812 notes that the border was pretty much irrelevant before the war... Americans and Canadians freely crossed it at will, settling where they pleased. So when the war came, there were Americans fighting on the British side (because the US invasion threatened their friends and neighbors), and vice verse. After the war, of course, the border became a lot more important. Which makes you wonder just how things might have gone if there hadn't been a War of 1812...
I am aware that Canada seemed the safest destination for escaped slaves How clear would the line have been?