Canada: America’s Neighbor to the North - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 366

HOW STRONG ARE THE TIES OF CANADIAN UNIFICATION?
The United States fought a long and terrible war to keep its southern states in the Union.
Its national government has been pulling the American states into tighter and tighter de-
pendence since the beginning of the twentieth century. Canada, in contrast, has the second
loosest confederation system in the world. [303] Canada reformed its Constitution in 1982
and, with deference to history and the special place of Quebec, inserted opt-out or escape
clauses in the Constitution, giving each province the option to make national law non-bind-
ing on the province. The opt-out provisions regarding Quebec are grounded in the Consti-
tution's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which codified long-standing conventions (agree-
ments and traditions), including the Constitution Act of 1867.
WHAT WAS THE EFFECT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION ON CANADA?
The American Revolution created not one but two countries: the United States and Canada.
Canadians often say that theirs is the country that got away—from the United States. Even
before the signing of The Declaration of Independence, the thirteen American colonies
were convinced that the people of the fourteenth North American colony (Canada) shared
American revolutionary sentiments. In 1775 two American armies under Benedict Arnold
and Richard Montgomery marched northward. Montreal was captured and Quebec be-
sieged, but American arms were no match for Canadian resistance to independence from
Britain. The invading American armies withdrew, and as the struggle for independence es-
calated, more than 50,000 British loyalists fled the rebellious colonies to take up residence
in Canada. Thirty-two thousand sailed from the eastern seaboard in British ships to take up
residence in Nova Scotia. Eight thousand more went from New York and Pennsylvania to
settle in Quebec along the north shore of Lake Erie.
For the English-speaking Canadians, the American Revolution was an assault on patri-
otism and the established social order. For French-speaking Canadians, the revolution was
a threat to the liberties given them by the Accord of 1774. Worse, it stood as the threat
of a Protestant nation under arms. One immediate result of the American Revolution was
to bring to Canada a new contingent of English speakers. To reassure both Anglophones
and Francophones of Britain's concern for their welfare, Parliament separated Canada into
two provinces, English-speaking Upper Canada (now Ontario) and French-speaking Lower
Canada (now Quebec).
The Revolution also set the foundation for two distinct political ideals: Canadian and
American. These ideals (as components of a political culture) continue to separate Canada
and the United States. The American ideals embodied in The Declaration of Independence
stress equality, liberty, individual freedom, and a populist government pledged to advance
citizens' pursuit of happiness. Canadian ideals stress group rights and (as in the Canadian
Constitution of 1867) peace, order, and good government.