Life in New France Under Royal Government (1663-1738) PDF

Life in New France under Royal Government (1663-1738) The Institution of Royal Government - For most people living in the colony of Quebec in the years leading up to 1663, the advent of royal government was welcome if it would also bring relief from economic and physical threat...

Life in New France under Royal Government (1663-1738) The Institution of Royal Government - For most people living in the colony of Quebec in the years leading up to 1663, the advent of royal government was welcome if it would also bring relief from economic and physical threat of the Iroquois. - The Iroquois, who had trade alliances with the Dutch and the English, had effectively put a halt to the French fur trade by blocking routes to the interior of the country and by preventing other aboriginal peoples from trading with the French. - As stated in last chapter, the Huron (allied with the French) and the Iroquois (allied with English/Dutch) were at war with each other for control over trade and territory. - Within New France the Iroquois caused much fear and disaster. They attacked and raided the colonies of New France making much of the colonists feel unsafe and unprotected. - One person stated that “There are not enough forces in all the land to resist them (Iroquois). If France does not come through for us, we will, in short, either have to leave or die.” - With such insecurities, the newly throned Louis XIV sent soldiers to protect the French colony, by sending the Carignan-Salieres Regiment in 1665 to protect the colonists. - With the commercial administrators of the Company of One Hundred Associates failing to bring in promised revenue, great amount of colonists, and the Thirteen Colonies down south beginning to rapidly grow in influence caused many concerns for the New France and Louis XIV. - New France was seen as potentially a good financial resource and was worth keeping, but it needed efficient administrators (a government), more colonists, and a adequate military in order to keep the thirteen colonies at bay from trying expand the English influence within New France. The Political Structure in New France - When New France became a royal colony of France under Louis XIV, monarchs still ruled by Divine Right. They were considered to be at the apex of the earthly human  hierarchy and had absolute power over their subjects given to them directly by God. In return for their obedience to the king, the French colonies were to have the king’s protection. - The colonies of New France would bring in needed revenue. (See Mercantilism) - In order to administrate the colonies of New France, Louis XIV set up an administrative bureaucracy, with the ultimate legal, military, and financial control, such as that in France. - At the head of this bureaucracy was the Minister of Marine and Colonies, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who never even visited Quebec, New France. - The bureaucracy in France established the policies to be put into effect in New France and appointed the military, administrative, and religious leaders to rule and guide the colonists within New France. - Jean Talon was the first intendant sent from France after 1663. He had been a military administrator in the provinces of France and was now given responsibility for the civil administration of justice, police, and finances in the colony. - Talon’s mandate was to bring peace and security to the colony, to expand its resource base, and to grow its population. Jean Talon  - Upon his arrival in Quebec, Jean Talon energetically set about housing and supplying the approximately eleven hundred soldiers of the Carignan-Salieres Regiment. - He also turned his attention to expanding the settlement in the colony and increasing the agricultural output so that the colony could become self-sufficient and even export its surplus produce to France. (Mercantilism) - From 1663-1673, the census records show that the population of New France doubled from 3,215 to 7,605 settlers of French descent. - Talon also established a number of other industries in the colony such as: 🡪 collecting native leathers to construct durable shoes. 🡪 Shipbuilding Industry 🡪 Lumber industry. - Talon was also committed to extending France’s control in North America and its range for the fur trade. Citizenship under Royal Government - Within New France, individuals did not have the right to vote for the intendant or for the governor of the colony. - Catholics were allowed to be settlers, and later, once Protestants were allowed into the colony, only Catholics could hold public office and only the Catholic Clergy could collect tithes from the habitants. - There was no direct form of Free Press (Newspapers). All news came from France. - For the most part, majority of people in New France were “second class” citizens who had the responsibilities of being loyal subjects of the king of France but without many rights. - As a whole the colony was ruled by the elite class, just as the Feudal system worked back in France. The Seigneurial System in New France  - The Seigneurial system was a method of land distribution based on the Feudal system, a hierarchical order with a foundation in noble birth, privilege, and patronage. Seigneurs in New France were given large plots of land which they held at the pleasure of the king. - The habitant was given a section of the seigneur’s land and in return was expected to pay annual fees for the land, for having his grain ground at the seigneurs’ gristmill, and for fishing and hunting rights. - Habitants were also expected to work on the seigneurs’ property for a set number of days a year and to pay tithes to help support the parish priest and maintain the parish church. - In order to gain a workers hand other than the habitants seasonally helping out their seigneurs, seigneurs also had slaves. Slavery in New France - Historical records show that “slavery was established in Quebec, by the French, through a royal mandate by Louis XIV in 1689.” - Slaves who had been kidnapped from their African homeland and brought to Quebec were declared to be the property of those who owned them. Although some officials in New France asked that slaves captured in Africa be sent to the colony, in the 1680’s. - Royal Declaration in 1721, 1742, and 1745, confirmed slavery in New France. In parish records, legal notices, and other official documents of the time, slaves are often listed as part of their owners’ additional household effects and property. The Aboriginal Peoples under Royal Rule - As historian Olive Dickason says, “Throughout the history of New France, the French policy towards [Aboriginal Peoples] was consistent” treat them with every consideration, avoid violence… and transform them into Frenchmen.” - The French needed to keep the Aboriginal Peoples as allies in the lucrative fur trade and for defense purposes against the Iroquois and the British. - During the early years of royal government, intermarriage between Aboriginal women and French men was a policy of the French. For the Aboriginal Peoples, such marriages cemented trade and military alliances. - For the French trader, having an Aboriginal wife had distinctive advantages: (1) She would have the survival skills needed to help her husband adjust to the “New Land” (2) She could help in the Fur Trade by preparing the beaver pelts market.