The US state of French-speaking Quebec?

My question is rather simple: if somehow OTL US and Canada joined in some early stage to form one big United States, could French have survived as the dominant language of Quebec? It doesn't matter how or why they join, but is the survival of a dominant language different than English possible in a US state, the way US history progressed? I've read an unverified fact about Louisiana, that it was supposed to be French-majority, or at least French-dominated when it joined the Union. This might not be true, I don't know. But either way, French is a very small language there now (4%, I think), so it barely survives.

After all Canada is also massively English majority, so if it could happen there, why not within the United States?
 

Grimbald

Monthly Donor
I doubt that the US would have tolerated the "French only" attitude and legal structure in Quebec.

The state would have seen hundreds of thousands of new settlers most of whom were English speakers.

French would have survived among the descendants of the French settlers, but often as a second language.
 
Louisiana did have a French-speaking majority when it was purchased (1803), though Americans began moving in immediately and I cannot say what the linguistic situation was when it joined the Union (1812).

I do know New Orleans got split up into three cities in all but name in 1836 (American Faubourg St. Mary, Creole New Orleans proper, and mixed Faubourg Marigny), and St. Mary became New Orleans' city center/downtown/CBD once the three consolidated into one big burg again, giving it a healthy Anglo population and certainly in control of the city come the 1840s.
 
California is officially a bilingual state, IIRC that was one of the agreements reached at annexation, if not by the Treaty of Cahuenga. Undoubtedly, the influx of settlers, especially from the East changed things. Utah may be some equivalent to Quebec, while many other religions are practiced there those of the Mormon faith hold most of the high government offices.

I don't see the French language requirement lasting, if not marginalized by settlement and then immigration, it most likely would be by the rise of radio and then television. It would exist as a secondary tongue, but the US as a whole serves as a great melting pot and Quebec would be hard pressed to remain separate but equal.
 
It would exist as a secondary tongue, but the US as a whole serves as a great melting pot and Quebec would be hard pressed to remain separate but equal.

OTL has managed to keep French, despite being surrounded by American English-Speakers and Canadian English-speakers.
 
the reason that French has managed to survive so long in canada is because of the British North American act that made confederation official. Basically Quebec got a list of rights and privileges that were put in place to protect French language and Culture
 
California is officially a bilingual state, IIRC that was one of the agreements reached at annexation, if not by the Treaty of Cahuenga.

That changed in 1879 with a constitutional amendment: "All laws of the State of California, and all official writings, and the executive, legislative, and judicial proceedings shall be conducted, preserved, and published in no other than the English language."

Louisiana likewise was bilingual at first, but the status of French gradually eroded over time and by the 1920s French was banned in schools.

With Quebec, it would have depended on what the language demography was. In California and Louisiana, English-speakers became a majority and took control, changing the state laws to their benefit. In Quebec in OTL, this never happened because French Canadians always remained in the majority due to their extremely high birth rate. If it were part of the U.S., I'm not sure if more English-speakers would have moved there or not.
 
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One thing to think about is that, if Quebec joins the Revolution, then the Loyalists aren't going to OTL's Canada. This means no English-speaking Eastern Townships, and a greater French-speaking presence in the Ottawa Valley and eastern Ontario. Glen's Dominion of Southern America TL has much of the "northern tier" of the alt-US (OTL's eastern and central Canada, basically) becoming either francophone or bilingual, owing to the lack of United Empire Loyalists, the French-speaking Metis in Manitoba and northern Ontario, and the Northwest Company's dominance of the fur trade (the US pretty much drives the Hudson's Bay Company out of Rupert's Land).

There's also a strong possibility that, with Quebec in the Union, the First Amendment will include freedom of language in addition to speech, religion, etc. This would butterfly away Quebec's language laws in the 20th century, but it would also butterfly away the assimilation pressures that were placed upon French-Canadians in the 19th century, which could lead to an expanded bilingual belt that includes not just more of eastern/northern Ontario and New Brunswick, but also parts of northern New England as well. I was just reading this article, and Lewiston, Maine was pretty much a bilingual/francophone city in the early 20th century. With an open border between Quebec and New England, there's a good chance that Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine could have large French-speaking minorities by the present day, on the order of OTL's New Brunswick.

A question mark, though, is Montreal. I can easily see it replacing New York as the economic/financial center of TTL's US, or at least becoming a rival to it, what with the St. Lawrence River being competitive with the Erie Canal as a route to the Midwest. Montreal could easily develop a large English-speaking minority as it becomes a center of commerce.
 
Well to compare Louisiana and Quebec in 1810 Louisiana had 90000 people including slaves whereas Quebec had 300000. So basically Quebec is much more populous. Keep in mind that the US population was like 5 million but still I think Quebec would basically be Bilingual but the Federal government won't be.
 
I imagine French would still be there today, if only to a larger extent than OTL Louisiana.

On the other hand, who wants to bet American English will be heavily salted with French loan words? Might make integrating Spanish speakers easier.
 
I think it would depend a lot on when it joined the union. Between the 1780's and 1830's there was a massive population explosion of French speakers in Quebec. It was after this time that many areas of the province were settled as surplus people opened new areas. The Eastern Townships which were basically empty under the French Regime and were only opened up about 1820ish, were filled with many English-speaking immigrants, but also with many french-speaking settlers from the St. Lawrence valley. The same goes for the Ottawa and Saguenay valleys as well.

If Quebec became part of the union in 1783, I think the French language could have been assimilated. If it was in the 1830's I think the critical mass would be too great, and French would survive.
 
One thing to think about is that, if Quebec joins the Revolution, then the Loyalists aren't going to OTL's Canada. This means no English-speaking Eastern Townships.

The Eastern Townships actually are about 80-90% francophone nowadays. They were originally settled by anglophones (hence the numerous English-sounding place names), but most have since moved on.
 
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