HISTORY 230
PRECONFEDERATION CANADA BEGINNINGS TO 1870
Dr. Nancy Christie,
Lady Eaton College
Office Hours: Thursday, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Telephone: (705) 748-1011 X 7702
Email: nancychristie@trentu.ca
This course offers a comprehensive survey of Canadian history, from the period of first
peopling up to the achievement of Confederation. Themes to be considered will include
Aboriginal-European contact, the clash of the British and French Empires, the fur trade,
economic and social life in New France, culture and society in the Age of Revolutions,
radical politics and rebellion, immigrant families, the transition from pre-industrial to
industrial society, and the road to Confederation and its aftermath.
MARKING SCHEME:
Term 1 Essay: 15%
Term 1 Test: 10%
Seminar Participation: 30%
Term 2 Essay: 20%
Final Exam: 25%
Required Textbooks: Coursepack
Recommended Books:
Fernand Ouellet, Lower Canada: 1791-1840, Social Change and Nationalism.
Allan Greer, The Patriots and the People.
DUE DATES FOR ESSAYS ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE. A 3% DEDUCATION PER
DAY(INCLUDING WEEKENDS) WILL BE ENFORCED. ANY REQUESTS FOR
EXTENSIONS MUST BE MADE IN PERSON AND PROPER DOCUMENTATION
PROVIDED.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY, WHICH INCLUDES PLAGIARISM AND CHEATING,
IS AN EXTREMELY SERIOIUS ACADEMIC OFFENCE AND CARRIES
PENALTIES VARYING FROM FAILURE ON AN ASSIGNMENT TO SUSPENSION
FROM THE UNIVERSITY. TRENT UNIVERSITY’S INTENT IS TO CREATE AN
INCLUSIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT, STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
SHOULD CONTACT THE DISABILITIES SERVICES OFFICE.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8 Introductory Lecture
SEPTEMBER 15 Lecture: Aboriginal Societies before European Contact
SEPTEMBER 22 Lecture: Age of Discovery and Perceptions of the New World
SEPTEMBER 29 Lecture: French Settlement and Huronia
Seminar: French-Native Contact (Groups A & B)
Bruce Trigger, “The French Presence in Huronia: The Structure of Franco-Huron
Relations in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century,” (Coursepack hereafter CP)
Cornelius J. Jaenen, “French and Native Peoples in New France.” (CP)
Calvin Martin, “The European Impact on Native Peoples.” (CP)
Primary Documents: “An Interview with Jacques Cartier”, “A Positive Literary
Assessment of Canada, 1609,” and “Memorandum on Colonizing New France.” (CP)
OCTOBER 6 Lecture: Government and Institutions in New France
Seminar: French-Native Contact (Groups C & D)
OCTOBER 13 Lecture: Religion, Women and Everyday Life in New France
Seminar: Society and Popular Resistance in New France (A & B)
Terry Crowley, “Thundergusts”: Popular Disturbances in Early French Canada” (CP)
Cornelius Jaenen, “Colonial Manners and Morals” (CP)
Fernand Ouellet “Free or Exploited? The Peasant before 1850” (CP)
OCTOBER 20 READING BREAK
OCTOBER 27 Lecture: New France and the Middle Ground, 1650-1750
Seminar: Society and Popular Resistance in New France (C & D)
NOVEMBER 3 Lecture: Newfoundland, Acadia and New England
Seminar: Women and Family in New France (A & B)
Jan Noel, “New France: Les femmes favorisees” (CP)
Josette Brun, “Gender, Family and Mutual Assistance in New France: Widows,
Widowers, and Orphans in Eighteenth-Century Quebec” (CP)
Peter N. Moogk, “Childhood in New France” (CP)
NOVEMBER 10 Lecture: Imperial Rivalries and the Conquest 1745-60
Seminar: Women and Family in New France (C & D)
NOVEMBER 17 IN CLASS TEST
NOVEMBER 24 Lecture: Quebec as a British Province
Seminar: The Conquest (A & B)
S. Dale Standen, “The Debate on the Social and Economic Consequences of the
Conquest: A Summary” (CP)
Jose Igartua “A Change in Climate: The Conquest and the Marchands” (CP)
Michel Brunet, “The British Conquest and the Decline of the French Canadian
Bourgeoisie”(CP)
DECEMBER 1 Lecture: The American Revolution and Its Consequences
Seminar: The Conquest (C & D)
TERM 2
WEEK OF JANUARY 5 Lecture: Reconciling Democracy and Imperial Interests
JANUARY 12 Lecture: Society and Culture in the Maritimes 1760-1815
JANUARY 19 Lecture: Making Upper Canada
Seminar: Upper Canada: An American Society?(A & B)
Jane Errington, “ Upper Canada – An American Community” (CP)
Nancy Christie, “ ‘In These Times of Democratic Rage and Delusion’: Popular Religion
and the Challenge to the Established Order, 1780-1815” (CP)
Terry Cook, “John Beverley Robinson and the Conservative Blueprint for the Upper
Canadian Community.” (CP)
JANUARY 26 Lecture: Economy and Society in British North America
Seminar: Upper Canada: An American Society?(C & D)
FEBRUARY 2 Lecture: Lower Canada and the Drift to Rebellion
Seminar: The Causes of the Lower Canadian Rebellion (A & B)
Fernand Ouellet, “ The Insurrections” (CP)
Allan Greer, “ From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian
Rebellion of 1837” (CP)
Jean Paul Bernard, “The Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 in Lower Canada”
FEBRUARY 9 Lecture: Politics in Upper Canada: Tory vs Radical
Seminar: The Causes of the Lower Canadian Rebellion (C & D)
FEBRUARY 16
READING BREAK
FEBRUARY 23 Lecture: British Immigration and Social Change
Seminar: The Irish and the Transition to the New World (A & B)
Scott W. See, “The Orange Order and Social Violence in Mid-Nineteenth Century Saint
John” (CP)
Ian Ross Robertson, “Ethnicity and Rural Discontent” (CP)
Rosalyn Trigger, “Irish Politics on Parade: The Clergy, National Societies, and St.
Patrick’s Day Processions in 19th Century Montreal and Toronto” (CP)
MARCH 2 Lecture: The Fur Trade in Western Canada
Seminar: The Irish and the Transition to the New World (C & D)
MARCH 9 Lecture: Social Regulation in an Industrializing Society
ESSAYS DUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seminar: Poverty and Gender in Victorian Canada (A & B)
Judith Fingard, “The Relief of the Unemployed Poor in Saint John, Halifax and St John’s,
1815-1860” (CP)
Janice Harvey, “Dealing with ‘the Destitute and Wretched’: The Protestant House of
Industry and Refuge in 19th Century Montreal” (CP)
Bettina Bradbury, “Itineraries of Marriage and Widowhood in Nineteenth-Century
Montreal” (CP)
MARCH 16 Lecture: Lord Durham’s Report and the Emergence of Political Liberalism
Seminar: Poverty and Gender in Victorian Canada (C & D)
MARCH 23 Lecture: Metis Society and the Prelude to the Rebellions
Seminar: Class in Victorian Society (A & B)
Alison Prentice, “Education and the Creation of a Respectable Class” (CP)
Ian Davey, “The Rhythm of Work and the Rhythm of School,” in Neil McDonald & Alf
Chaiton, eds., Egerton Ryerson & His Times (CP)
Chad Gaffield, “Children, Schooling and Family Reproduction in 19th century Ontario”
(CP)
MARCH 30 Lecture: The Road to Confederation and Exam Preparation
Seminar: Class in Victorian Society (C & D)