Did Canada Root For The Confederacy or The Union During Our Civil War (ancient, Great Britain)
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I'm wondering if anyone who studied about our American Civil War know what was Canada's thought about it while it was going on. On one hand i've read that they despised slavery by the Confederacy and yet on the other hand i believe Canada was always worried about American (Union) expansion to the north and so i'm curious if they were choosing sides during the war.
What you describe above is more or less the same conflicted position which characterized Great Britain during the war. On the one hand you had a majority of the population which was strongly anti-slavery, counter balanced by economic self interest. In general, England would have very much liked to have seen the US fragment into subdivisions so as to weaken its ability to challenge the Empire for economic global domination. There was also a desire to see the great democractic experiment fail because that is what the British had always been predicting for a nation with the foolish notion that anyone other than the upper classes should have political power.
Specifically, the British textile industry was closely tied to the importation of cotton from the South and the Union blockade was cutting off their raw materials, causing layoffs and plant closings. The North was seen as a manufacturing rival.
Thus, an ironic circle was created. All of Britain's best interests lay with supporting the South, but it would not do so as long as the South sustained slavery. Had the South freed their slaves, they almost certainly would have received aid from, and perhaps intervention by, Great Britain. Of course if the South had freed its slaves, there would not have been a reason for having the Civil War and the above considerations would have been rendered void.
Canada did not become self governing until 1867 and did not gain complete independence until the Treaty of Westminster in 1931.
The United Kingdom however supported the Confederate States of America and had the South won the Battle of Gettysburg probably would have entered the war on the Southern side.
The United Kingdom however supported the Confederate States of America and had the South won the Battle of Gettysburg probably would have entered the war on the Southern side.
You will need to provide some evidence for the above. All that I have read indicates that once the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in January of '03, the chances for an English intervention evaporated.
It didn't really become a great deal more self-governing in 1867 than it had been before, but that was the year when the four eastern "colonies" confederated into a single entitiy. (The rest was added over the next 6 years). Before 1867, the various colonies (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) were still populated by interests who were watching events to the south, and speculating on their import. Which is the thrust of the question, more so than whether the seat of Canadian power was sympathetic to one side of the other. To the degree that it was a seat of power (as opposed to London), there was simply one of them where there had previously been four.
I'm wondering if anyone who studied about our American Civil War know what was Canada's thought about it while it was going on. On one hand i've read that they despised slavery by the Confederacy and yet on the other hand i believe Canada was always worried about American (Union) expansion to the north and so i'm curious if they were choosing sides during the war.
Anythoughts?
One needs to remember that a lot of English speaking Canada has roots in the 13 colonies. About a third of the people in the 13 colonies remained loyal to the British crown and in numerous cases joined British organized militas to fight against the Colonial Army of the United States. When Britain quit the war in 1781, many of these people fled the newly independent USA and went to Upper Canada (Ontario), The Martimes (Nova Soctia and New Brunswick) and the West Indies or even further India. Because they were run out of the USA and attacked by the USA in 1812 and on the verge of war in 1848, English speaking Canadians of that era had a jaded view of the Yanks. Canadians can't live with or without their giant neighbor to the south.
I do not know alot about Canada but from what I have learned by searching out an ancestor, I gathered that the fight for control of Canada was about as fierce as the fight for the US control.
I found out that Nova Scotia (New Scotland), was formed and lost in a hurry by the Scots. There is a list of Baronets of NS, and other lists that omit certain peerage names of those Scots. (About 13 men are left off certain lists). Quebec formed from NS in the 1660's (I believe), and the French had won the territory, but the Brittish strong armed them as well for control. So in essence, you will find a diverse philosophy of cultures there. The French in general were a peace loving culture and had suffered at the hands of the English in past centuries. They were involved in a pact called the Auld Alliance back in Scotland, (thus we find the Fleur de lei symbol everywhere). It does not surprise me that they allied with the Continental Army of the newly forming US, to aide our founding fathers who were the first American Confederacy. If you follow the Confederacy into Scotland's ancient times, you may find the Confederacy was not about slavery, it was all about the Freedom from it. In Ontario, there is a monument errected to the Memory of the Scots, there must have been a great slaughter of them in that area for someone to place the monument. I read somewhere that those men who were helping slaves escape the country had taken some of them out via Canada, so there must have been good connections up there in certain areas. Sorry I dont have any references to these ideas of mine. Placenames of US counties that changed hands over and over should give clues as to who held power in what area and when, and it is hard to wade through all that and pick it apart, but it can be done. We have been conditioned to believe the South (North and South Carolina(Royal Colonies), Virginia ,Georgia ect, were the only places slavery took place. Look up who owned the property of the south, what the interest to protect was, and who owned how many slaves in the North. Seems noone wants to investigate the slavery of the North, just blame the shame on all Southern people, and thats where I get hacked off. Personally, I believe French-Canada was humaine, and would have been sympathetic to the Confederates that were attempting to free slaves. Wasnt John Paul Jones (Our First Navy man), helping slaves escape? He was a Scot from a hotbed of good Scots of Kirkudbright Scotland. It is hard to investigate the Confederacy as it was the idealism of forming a free country, then smear it at the time of the civil war, when it all ties togather somehow. Why would a new free nation of men, have their progeny fight for slavery? Doesnt make any sense to me.
I'm curious as to how Orions has managed to learn all of these wonderful things while simultaneously escaping learning how to create paragraphs.
I am not a perfectionist such as yourself. I am a hick from the sticks, and my spelling, and my typin, and my sentences, and paragraphs suck all around (poor professional education), whats your problem? You dont like having to look at another viewpoint that might make you think a little harder about slamming all white people for slavery, and I am offended by that and will defend my family honor until the day I die. Someday, you may realise why I have written the things I have discovered.
Not all whites are slave drivers, Not all South confederates were either. Do you cut me down because you want to defend the shadows of the North for a reason? Do you know who started the Confederacy? Do you understand it was smeared? Do you know what the honor of a flag is? Do you know what the origins of the confederate flag is? I am learning things you may have known all your life, and I am bumbling along asking questions of scholarly people so I dont get left behind. My attempts are at least attempts, reguardless.
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and went to Upper Canada (Ontario), The Martimes (Nova Soctia and New Brunswick) and the West Indies or even further India. Because they were run out of the USA and attacked by the USA in 1812 and on the verge of war in 1848, English speaking Canadians of that era had a jaded view of the Yanks. Canadians can't live with or without their giant neighbor to the south.
