British North America

British North America
1783–1907
Status
Capital Administered from London, England
Common languages English, French, Gaelic
Religion Anglicanism
Monarch  
 1783–1820
George III
 1820–1830
George IV
 1830–1837
William IV
 1837–1901
Victoria
 1901–1907
Edward VII
History  
1783
1818
1867
1868
1871
1873
1907
Currency Pound sterling, Canadian pound, Canadian dollar
Preceded by
Succeeded by
British America
Canada
Dominion of Newfoundland
Today part of

 Canada

 United States

The term "British North America" refers to the former territories of the British Empire on the mainland of North America. The term was first used informally in 1783, but it was uncommon before the Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839), called the Durham Report. These territories today form modern-day Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

English and later Scottish colonization of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then began further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, Virginia, and reached its peak when colonies had been established through much of the Americas.

Political divisions

In 1775, on the eve of the American Revolution, the British Empire included 20 territories in the Western Hemisphere northeast of New Spain. These colonies were:

Britain acquired Quebec from France, and East and West Florida from Spain, by the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War.

The United States of America, upon acknowledgement of their sovereignty, acquired the part of Quebec south of the Great Lakes by the Treaty of Paris (1783); at the same time Spain gained West Florida and regained East Florida.

Nova Scotia was split into modern-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in 1784. The part of Quebec retained after 1783 was split into the primarily French-speaking Lower Canada and the primarily English-speaking Upper Canada in 1791.

After the War of 1812, the Treaty of 1818 established the 49th parallel as the United States–British North America border from Rupert's Land west to the Rocky Mountains. Then in 1846, Britain gave up Oregon south of the 49th parallel, which was part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia District, under the Oregon Treaty (1846) -- but retaining all of Vancouver Island (south of the 49th parallel).

The boundary of British North America with Maine was clarified by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842.

The Canadas were united into the Province of Canada in 1841.

On 1 July 1867, in an action known as the Confederation of Canada, an act of the British Parliament, the "British North America Act" formed the Dominion of Canada from the Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The former Province of Canada was split back into its two parts, with Canada East (Lower Canada) being renamed Quebec, and Canada West (Upper Canada) renamed Ontario. These were the original four provinces of Canada.

In 1870, Rupert's Land was annexed to Canada as the Northwest Territories (NWT) and the new province of Manitoba. British Columbia, the British colony on the west coast north of the 49th parallel, including all of Vancouver Island, joined as Canada's sixth province in 1871, and Prince Edward Island joined as the seventh in 1873. The boundary of British Columbia with Washington Territory was settled by arbitration in 1872, and with Alaska by arbitration in 1903.

The Arctic Archipelago was ceded by Britain to Canada in 1880 and added to the Northwest Territories (NWT). Later on, large sections of the NWT were split off as new territories (the Yukon Territory in 1898 and Nunavut in 1999), or provinces (Alberta and Saskatchewan, both in 1905), or were added to existing provinces (Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, in stages ending in 1912).

In 1907, the sole remaining British North American colony, Newfoundland, was granted the status of a Dominion, although starting in 1934 it returned to British administration under the Commission of Government. In 1949, the island of Newfoundland, and its associated mainland territory of Labrador, joined Canada as the tenth province.

Canada became semi-independent beginning in 1867, and fully sovereign on foreign affairs beginning with the Statute of Westminster 1931. Canada gained the right to establish and accept foreign embassies, with the first one being in Washington, D.C..

Then the last vestiges of Canada's constitutional dependency upon Britain remained until Canadians from various provinces agreed on an internal procedure for amending the Canadian Constitution. This agreement was implemented when the British Parliament passed the Canada Act 1982 at the request of Parliament of Canada.[2][1]

British North America colonies

The colonies that existed before the signing of the 1846 Oregon Treaty:

Administration

Besides the local colonial governments in each colony, British North America was administered directly via London.

From 1783 through 1801, British North America was administered by the Home Office and by the Home Secretary, then from 1801 to 1854 under the War Office and Secretary of State for War and Colonies. When the Colonial Office was reestablished it was under the responsibility of the Colonial Secretary.[2][1]

See also

Sources

  • Maton, William F (1998). "British Columbia Terms of Union". The Solon Law Archive. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  • Maton, William F. (8 December 1995). "Prince Edward Island Terms of Union". Solon.org. Retrieved 18 April 2013.

References

Further reading

  • Bailyn, Bernard. The Peopling of British North America: An Introduction (1988) excerpt and text search
  • Cooke, Jacob E. Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies (3 vol 1993)
  • Foster, Stephen, ed. British North America in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion) (2014) excerpt and text search; 11 essays by scholars
  • Garner, John. The franchise and politics in British North America, 1755–1867 (U of Toronto Press, 1969)
  • Gipson, Lawrence Henry. The British Empire Before the American Revolution (15 vol., 1936–70), extremely comprehensive study; Pulitzer Prize
  • Morton, W. L. The Kingdom of Canada: A General History from Earliest Times (1969)
  • Savelle, Max. Empires To Nations: Expansion In America 1713-1824 (1974) online

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