Catharine Anne Wilson The opening pages of the diary of Benjamin Freure (1836-42) are full of hope, as he travels from England across the Atlantic with his family to start a new life. Upon reaching the backwoods of Wellington County, his tone changes as he tackles the serious business of clearing the land, raising a… Continue Reading
Latest in: 19th Century
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This response to Christopher Minty’s post on Loyalist Sources was composed collectively by the students of History 3403, a course at the University of New Brunswick devoted specifically to the Loyalists of the American Revolution. Their comments are summarized below by their professor Bonnie Huskins, followed by a brief postscript on the challenges and rewards of… Continue Reading
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Angela Duffett In the summer of 1853, a 17 year old boy left St. John’s, Newfoundland on a mercantile ship owned by his father. Bound for Ireland and the seminary, he kept a journal chronicling the passage. It is unclear who Richard Howley intended as the audience for his writing, but he frequently addressed the… Continue Reading
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Daniel Simeone The theme of the 2015 annual meeting of the Institut d’histoire amérique française (Institute for the History of French North America), the principal French-language conference for historians of Quebec and French-speaking North America, was Urbanités. French and English share the dual interlinked definitions of the word urbanity. It refers to both the condition… Continue Reading
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Maxime Dagenais We all know the story of the Upper and Lower Canadian Rebellions: we know about the patriotes of Lower Canada and the reformers of Upper Canada; we know about the victories and defeats, expulsions and executions; we know about the social, political, and economic implications in Canada, and their consequences on our history.… Continue Reading
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Maxime Dagenais Nous connaissons tous l’histoire des Rébellions de 1837-38 : l’histoire des Patriotes du Bas-Canada et des « reformers » du Haut-Canada, leurs victoires et leurs défaites, les expulsions, les exécutions. Nous connaissons les enjeux sociaux, politiques, et économiques dans un contexte canadien, et de leurs conséquences sur le Canada. En gros, les Rébellions sont généralement considérées,… Continue Reading
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Maxime Dagenais Last week (15-17 October 2015) was the 68th Congress of the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française. For the uninitiated, the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française is the largest organization of historians and specialists of French North America. Though centered on Québec, it attracts scholars from all over Canada and abroad, including the United… Continue Reading
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Elizabeth Mancke From the mid-eighteenth century to the early Confederation era, British North Americans and then Canadians confronted a wide range of phenomena that could engender disorder: imperial wars, rebellions, the arrival of immigrants, epidemics, political unrest, and relations with First Nations. All, directly or indirectly, presented challenges to maintaining social and political order. In… Continue Reading
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Denis McKim Disappointing economic growth, especially in comparison to the United States; controversy surrounding immigration from a strife-plagued land; and a communications strategy designed to benefit conservative forces while discrediting their progressive rivals. Sound familiar?[1] Needless to say, all of these issues have featured in the (seemingly interminable) federal campaign of 2015. Yet they were also… Continue Reading