NOTE:  References to the discoveries made by Copernicus, Columbus, and the Cabots should be made.  Pupils should read or hear short accounts of Erasmus, More, and Colet.  A careful development of the causes and meaning of the movement should aid the pupils to anticipate its chief results.

     It is assumed, of course, that the study of this topic will occupy
     several lesson periods.

THE FIGHT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY IN CANADA, 1759-1867.

In the struggle for constitutional liberty in British Canada, there are several distinct stages: 

I. 1760 to 1763—­Military Rule: 

     1.  Amherst the nominal governor; Canada divided into three
     districts

     2.  Little disturbance of French customs; the habitants content

     3.  Influx of “old” subjects—­their character. (See Ontario Public
     School History of Canada, p. 109; History of Canada, Lucas and
     Egerton, Part II, pp. 4 and 7.)

II. 1763 to 1774 (Quebec Act): 

     1.  Period of Civil Government under General Murray

     2.  Unrest owing to demands of the “old” subjects

     3.  Conditions of government: 

          (a) Governor and Advisory Council of twelve all
          appointed by Crown

          (b) Assembly permitted but not feasible; depended
          on will of Governor

          (c) British law, both civil and criminal, prevailed

          (d) All money matters in hands of Council.

     4.  At this time the French greatly outnumbered the British, and the
     fear of the Revolution of the American Colonies led to the French
     being favoured in the Quebec Act, 1774.

III. 1774 to 1791—­Quebec Act to Constitutional Act: 

     1.  Both “old” and “new” subjects dissatisfied—­the French with
     British Court procedure, the British with French feudal customs.

     2.  Provisions of the Quebec Act: 

          (a) Change of boundaries (See text-book.)

          (b) Governor and Legislative Council appointed; no
          assembly called.

          (c) French Civil Law; British Criminal Law

          (d) No oath required, as before, hostile to the Roman
          Catholic Church—­beginning of religious liberty

          (e) Legislative Council had no control of taxation

IV. 1791 to 1841—­Constitutional Act to Act of Union Provisions of Constitutional Act: 

     1.  Upper and Lower Canada divided, because French and British could
     not agree on many points.