How come the British gave Canada their independence easily but fought a war with the US?

 Allan:

Well, the British Empire didn’t learn anything from the American Revolution. The same type of colonial government — that the 13 Colonies rebelled against — was put in place when the British colony of Quebec (previously the French colony of Canada) was divided into Upper Canada (part of present day Ontario) and Lower Canada (part of present day Quebec). The Constitutional Act of 1791 maintained provisions within the Quebec Act that granted the free practice of the Roman Catholic religion (and permitted Roman Catholics to hold public office — they could not do so in the UK) in Lower Canada. Upper Canada would have British civil and criminal law and the Anglican church would be the official religion of the government. Upper Canada was populated by largely by United Empire Loyalists — colonists of the 13 Colonies who remained loyal to the Crown and were granted free land in Upper Canada.

So, we have a Roman Catholic Francophone population in Lower Canada, who may not love the British, but feel that they have a pretty good deal under British rule and a Protestant Anglophone population in Upper Canada who supported the British during the American Revolution. It is not surprising that there was not a Canadian Revolution. However, there were the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 and the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. The issues were similar to that of the 13 Colonies; the elected Legislative Assemby could be vetoed by the appointed Lieutenant Governor, Executive Council, and Legislative Council, as well as, oligarchic rule by an elite attempting to establish themselves as some form of “Canadian nobility”. Both of the Rebellions failed, but the British Colonial Office did send out a noble to investigate the causes of the rebellions. Lord Durham’s report noted that although the majority of the populace did not participate in the rebellions, the people were strongly dissatisfied with the colonial government and that if this remained unchecked, next time there would be a revolution. He advocated the union of the two Canadas with a single legislature, reduce and eliminate the patronage and privelege of the oligarchial elites, and gradually introduce responsible government (where the elected legislature had the power).

By 1850, the colony of Canada was running under responsible government. Full responsibility came in 1867 when we became a nation-state within the British Empire — full domestic indepedence but not yet external indepedence (external affairs were still handled by the Empire). Unofficially we gained control over external affairs in the 1920s and formally though the Statute of Westminster in 1931. For example, in WWI when the British Empire declared war, Canada was at war; in WWII we delcared war ourselves through Canadian Parliament.

Canada was not “given” our independence as some reward for being a “lap dog”, as the USA has described us. We earned it, by demonstrating that we could govern ourselves within the Empire, that we could administer and then, when asked to, fully take over other British territories in North America, that we could remain independent and loyal simultaneously. And when granted our full independence, remain an ally and a friend.

Neil Jamieson-Williams

Former Community College Professor