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| Subject: Annexationist movements of Canada | |
Author: Curnoack | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 02:07:53 01/10/05 Mon Annexationist movements of Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. At various times in Canadian history, groups and individuals have campaigned in favour of Canada's partial or total annexation by the United States. [edit] Historical Annexationist Groups Historical annexationist movements were usually inspired by dissatisfaction with Britain's colonial governance of Canada. It is significant, however, that although the Rebellions of 1837 were motivated in part by this type of dissatisfaction, Canadian resentment of British rule never reached the critical mass that led to the American Revolution in 1776. In the mid-nineteenth century the British colonies in North America were suffering economically with little immigration. The repeal of the Corn Laws had cut the region off from its British links. A small but organized group supported integrating the colonies into the United States, which had a standing invitation for the colonies to join. The leading organization advocating merger was the Annexation Association, founded in 1849 by an alliance of French Canadian nationalists and anglophone businessmen in Montreal who had a common interest in the republic. Many of its members, including Louis-Joseph Papineau, were participants in the 1837-38 rebellions. The Montreal Annexation Manifesto was published in 1849. It was hoped a merger with the United States would give Canada markets for its goods, ensure national security, and provide the finances to develop the west. A half measure was the in 1854 Canadian-American Reciprocity Treaty that linked the two areas economically. However, the movement died out in 1854. Annexation was never a very popular choice. Many Canadians were loyal to Britain, especially the descendents of the United Empire Loyalists. French Canadians worried about being an even smaller minority in a larger union, and were concerned about American anti-Catholicism. The American Civil War, further, convinced many Canadians that the American experiment was a failure. In the late 1860s, residents of British Columbia (which was not yet a Canadian province) circulated two petitions in favour of American annexation. The first, in 1867, was addressed to Queen Victoria, demanding that the British government assume the colony's debts and establish a steamer link, or allow the colony to join the U.S. In 1869, a second petition was addressed to President Ulysses S. Grant, asking him to negotiate American annexation of the territory from Britain. It was delivered to Grant by Vincent Collyer, Indian Commissioner for Alaska, on December 29, 1869. Both petitions were signed by only a small fraction of the colony's population, and British Columbia was ultimately admitted as a Canadian province in 1871. However, many other Canadians were frightened by the prospect of American annexation, and this fear became one of the driving forces behind Canadian Confederation in 1867. See also: United Empire Loyalists. See also: Manifest Destiny. [edit] Modern Annexationist Groups Modern groups, which generally have a neoconservative or libertarian political stance, are usually fringe organizations which do not enjoy much public support or awareness. They advocate annexation as a solution to what they label as socialist tendencies in Canadian political and cultural life, such as higher taxes, lower military funding and the role of government agencies such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The Unionest Party (sic) was a provincial political party in Saskatchewan in 1980 that promoted the union of the western provinces with the United States. It was the most politically successful annexationist group, but its success was both short-lived and extremely limited in scope. The Annexation Party of British Columbia was founded by R. Gordon Brosseuk, who wrote a letter to George W. Bush in 2003 similar to those written by British Columbians in the 1860s. Bush has never responded publicly to the letter, and the party has not attracted notable support among British Columbia voters. Other movements, such as OntarioUSA, Nova Scotia Statehood and Republic of Alberta, advocate American annexation for their individual provinces. United North America promotes this for all of Canada. However, as with the other modern annexationist groups, these organizations are small fringe movements. Many, in fact, are not even registered as political parties. It should be noted that in modern Canadian political discourse, the idea of Canada becoming the "51st state" of the United States is much more often used as a scare tactic against political courses of action that may be seen as too "Americanizing", such as the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1988. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |