The United States of America and Canada were British colonies that achieved independence from their rulers in strikingly divergent ways. This difference is attributable to differing histories and circumstances that were faced by the colonies in those times as also the perceptions and dispositions of the people of the American and the Canadian colonies. The effects of those divergent methods and perceptions lingered on for some time to come even after both colonies achieved Independence, coloring their relations with Great Britain and bringing in change in their political organizations. This essay aims to compare and contrast the American and Canadian Wars of Independence and their subsequent relations with Great Britain in the Post Independence Era. The essay will limit the period of scrutiny up to the start of the First World War.
America’s Geography has always been considered as an advantage by its people. Separated from Europe and Asia, the continent remained in splendid isolation cut off from European influence till the intrepid British arrived on board the ‘Mayflower’ in Provincetown, Massachusetts on 21 November 1620 A.D. These early settlers were actually religious refugees fleeing religious persecution in Europe. They were people who disliked the rank corruption of the Catholic Church and had joined the Protestant ranks to reform the Church. While the British colonized America, the French colonized Canada. On arrival, the colonizers in America had a hard life. The area was thickly forested, the terrain difficult and the native American Indians none too friendly. The harshness of their conditions inculcated in the settlers an indomitable spirit to succeed which colored their approach to religion as well as what sort of political system to follow. John Winthrop, their leader established the Massachusetts Bay Colony later named Boston to set up a Christian Utopia with each congregation having its own elected priest and its own covenant with God. Geographical separation from the parent country also allowed a certain freedom of thought and action, which was difficult for England to counter as was clearly brought out by Edmund Burke in his statement to the British Parliament that “the people are Protestants, and of that kind which is the most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion” (Kopel 1). This fierce independent nature brought the American colonies directly in conflict with their colonial masters in London. The Canadians, on the other hand, were a more mixed lot with distinctive groupings of French, English-speaking settlers, and indigenous people. Their practice of religion was not as fiercely independent as that was founded in the American colonies.
Before 1763, Britain and France had almost equal power and the British government in London dared not to move against their restive American colonies because they feared that French support to the American colonies might be difficult to counter leading to the independence of the colonies. However, France was defeated by Britain in the Seven Year War leading to Britain acquiring “Canada and all of the land between its colonies in North America and the Mississippi River”(Baack, 521). The British quickly consolidated their hold over Canada and sought to change the harsh French system of governance in parts of Canada which were welcomed in some quarters by the Canadian settlers winning their loyalty.
In the American colonies, however, the leaders were growing increasingly dissatisfied with British rule and in a “petition sent to the King, listed a series of grievances that included arguments against the British taxes, standing army, and the Quartering Act” (Baack, 535). The American leaders also wrote a letter to the inhabitants of Quebec asking “them to join the Americans in protesting against British policy and to choose and send delegates to the Second Continental Congress to be held in May of 1775 (Baack, 536). To discourage the Canadians, the British immediately send troops into Quebec and the Canadians demurred. After the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776, the American War of Independence gathered momentum with pitched battles being fought between the British forces and their loyalist groups against the forces of the Colonies. The overtly anti-British American colonies chose to follow a Presidential system of governance consisting of a federation of states as against the Parliamentary form of government followed by Great Britain. This choice was necessitated out of the compulsion of accommodating the interests of each of the 13 colonies as also a genuine distaste for anything ‘British’.
By this point in time, the American colonies had little faith in their counterparts in Canada whom they perceived as people without ‘steel’ for their perceived acquiescence to British rule. The Canadians, instead, turned to the policy of careful negotiations and concessions to gain greater autonomy from the British. Thus from the very beginning, the nature of the two wars of independence was different, the Americans chose to resort to war while the Canadians chose to resort to negotiations. The British too, having learned from their disaster in America, gave greater lassitude to the Canadian colonies for self-governance and most Canadians generally found Britain’s rule acceptable.
The American War of Independence meanwhile continued with changing fortunes for both the parties until the surrender of the British Commander, Cornwallis on 19 October 1781. The Treaty of Versailles (1783) was signed which recognized the Independence of the USA. This did not diminish British powers in the seas around the continental United States. To break the stranglehold over their commerce and to ‘throw out’ the British out of Canada, America declared war on Britain which is known as the Second War of Independence from 1812 to 1815. Though this war did not achieve its stated objectives, it forced the Canadian colonies to rethink their strategy for the future. In 1866, Fenian forces, the disbanded Irish soldiers of the erstwhile Union army of the US invaded Canada. Though ineffectual, it forced the Canadian colonies to accept unification. Under the British North America Act, most of the colonies were united on 1 July 1867. Thereon, Canada continued its slow but steady policy of gaining more and more independence from Britain through negotiations. With such significant British influence, it comes as no surprise that the Canadians adopted a variation of the British Parliamentary system. However, within Canada existed three main divisions, The English-speaking settlers, the French loyalists, and the indigenous people consisting of Eskimos and Canadian Indians also called the ‘First nations’. Unlike the American method of confrontation and killings of the indigenous peoples, the Canadians resorted to treaties with them which enabled a peaceful transition. The First Nations people followed their laws, The English-speaking settlers followed the English law, and the French-speaking Quebec region followed the French Law. But the influence of the British was the strongest and thus ”The customary law of Paris became the fundamental law of French Canada modified under the influences of the British regime”( Bourinot, section 5).
After the Canadian unification in 1867, the relations between Canada and Britain continued to remain cordial with the Canadians slowly extracting concessions for self-rule. With the Americans, the British maintained an adversarial relationship till 1900. By 1900, America too had become an imperial power and thus needed accommodation with the other great powers of the world chiefly with the British. The British realizing the inevitable rise of America propagated a policy of free trade. “Between 1890 and 1894 free trade advocates introduced British Liberal ideology to the United States”(Mountz, 152). To further lend impetus to the momentum of improving Anglo-American ties, the concept of shared language, race, and the class was propagated by British intellectuals in American newspapers and journals. According to Mountz “In order to improve relations with Great Britain between 1897 and 1899, free trade advocates argued that Americans and Britons were connected through the race”(124). This led to the formulation of the Open Door policy by the US which laid the foundation of Anglo-American cooperation for the future.
Another factor that aided this change in perceptions was the emergence of Germany as a major power. America followed a strategy of isolation and neutrality in European Affairs while keeping a watchful eye on Germany. When the First World War broke out, America chose to stay out of it and entered the war only towards the end in 1917, by which time Anglo-American relationships were firmly embedded in a partnership against the Central powers. Similarly Canada, yet a British colony albeit with liberal autonomy entered the First World War alongside the British and loyally supported their cause.
In developing national identities both America and Canada had a common substratum of British lineage to draw on and modify. A fascinating study by Zeigler of American newspapers in the period 1700-1800 states that ” From 1785 to 1800, references to American identity reach their highest levels and references to British identity slip to no more than ten occurrences”(354). Zeigler further adds that “The American nation, judging from my results, did not exist in 1775 or even in 1780. An American national identity began to spread rapidly by 1785 and through 1800, at which time the American nation was clearly becoming established”(Zeigler, 368). The issue of Canadian identity was more subtle. The Canadians had formed distinct groups the largely English, French and the Inuits crystallized their idea of national identity as the First Nations and the Non-First Nations people.
The unique experiences of the Americans and the Canadians very clearly reflect their choice of the political system. The Americans, with their fierce opposition to anything ‘British’ chose to have a presidential system with a federal structure. Canada with their incremental approach to independence and greater assimilation with the British system chose to follow the Parliamentary system of governance where the titular head of state of Canada is the British monarch, represented by the governor-general. The head of government in Canada is the prime minister. The Canadian parliament has two houses: a 104-seat Senate and a 295-seat House of Commons. This is in direct contrast to the American Presidential system. Canada finally got full independence from Great Britain in 1931 with the declaration of the Statute of Westminster.
In the final analysis, it can be summarized that Anglo-American relationships went through three phases; Friendship, acrimony then friendship. The anglo-Canadian relationship remained cordial throughout. The american-Canadian relationship started off with distrust slowly changing to friendship by the start of the First World War. In the end, the shared common lineage, language, and customs served to cement the relationship between the three countries which is so evident today.
Works Cited
Baack, Ben. 2004. “British versus American Interests in Land and the War of American Independence”. 2008. Web.
Bourinot, John G. 1900. Canada under British Rule 1760-1900. Project Gutenberg. Release 2004 [eBook #12661]. Web.
Kopel, David B. “The Religious Roots of the American Revolution and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms”. 2008. Web.
Mountz, William T. August 2007. “Shadowing British Imperialism: Origins of the U.S. Open Door Policy, 1890-1899”. 2008. Web.
Zeigler, Alexander. From Colonies to Nation: The Emergence of American Nationalism, 1750-1800”. Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research. Volume 5, 2006: pp. 347-375. Web.