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The Quebec Act of 1774 provided for a number of legal changes which had a significant impact on the American Revolutionary War. In particular, it granted a number of important linguistic, religious, and legal freedoms to the population of Quebec, and annexed a significant amount of territory claimed by the more southerly English settlers to Quebec. The latter served as one factor in the growth of revolutionary sentiment, as did a number of other provisions of the Act, while the former stifled the growth of same in Quebec itself, as the colonists were now doing quite well for themselves without rebelling. So, WI it was never passed? Just suppose, for the moment, that for whatever reason it never gets through Parliament; we can consider what might do that later.

Without it, the Patriots will still more than likely rebel due to the presence of so many other factors. Overall, the Quebec Act cannot really be considered a major factor in the growth of revolutionary sentiment and the like. However, Quebec may be much more likely to rebel without them, whether in concert with the other uprisings, or only after an invasion by the rebels. Tension would grow from the alien legal and religious system forced upon them, and the quite loose confederal structure favoured by the rebels until later would be very attractive in that context. Further, Quebec would naturally have a quite strong voice in any plan of government, so their rights would be very well protected ITTL.

This would significantly change the course of the ARW. First of all, significant additional manpower and income would be available for the use of the rebel forces, and an important base for British forces (most prominently prior to the battle of Saratoga) would be denied them, at least without major trouble. French entry into the ARW, and other foreign support, may be greatly accelerated as well, with the rebels in a stronger overall position. Perhaps some of the forces freed as a result of the going-over of Canada might even be able to incite Nova Scotia to revolt and take Halifax, denying the British any major footholds on the continent unless they've already taken one of the more southerly ports, which might accelerate the negotiation of a settlement tremendously.

From there, things would develop more or less as usual in a "US takes and holds Canada in the ARW" scenario. Notable effects would be the probable removal of the War of 1812, an altogether more Francophile US, possibly better long-term relations with Great Britain, significant domestic political changes, and different interaction with Spanish colonies and settlements west of the Mississippi.

However, with all of that, the question remains:How to prevent the bill's passage? My guess at it is to flare up anti-Catholic sentiment in Britain at the time--one of the Act's key provisions was essentially normalizing Roman Catholicism as a perfectly viable religion for government officials. However, one does tend to think that the fall of the Stuarts several decades earlier makes that less of a concern...
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