QUEBEC ACT. An act of the English Parlia ment passed in 1774 providing a government for the Province of Canada, which had been acquired by the Treaty of Paris of 1763. The three fea tures of the act which have called forth the most extended discussion were: (1) the extension of the boundaries of the province so as to include all the territory northwest of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi, thus confining the Atlan tic colonies within the Alleghanies, in spite of their claims to the land to the west ; (2) the substitution of the French civil law therein for English law: and (3) the withholding of repre sentative English institutions. such as existed in the other English provinces. The act excited great indignation among English-speaking peo ples both at home and especially in the thirteen English colonies. The reason assigned by the English for the extension of the boundaries was the necessity of annexing the Northwest Territory to sonic civil government in view of the almost anarchical conditions there prevailing: and hav ing reached that conclusion, the Government de cided that there were good reasons why it should he annexed to Canada. With regard to the sub stitution of the French legal system for the Eng lish, the Government claimed that on account of the predominance of the French element it was found impossible to put English law into prac tice except in commercial matters. and as the
French customary law had, for the most part, continued undisturbed, the act of Parliament in question merely legalized the existing status. Finally, the English justified the withholding of representative institutions on the ground of the religious difficulties involved. hi view of the Roman Catholic majority, it was deemed inex pedient to exclude Catholics from the assembly on the other hand. it was thought unsafe 10 admit them, and as a consequence an appointed council took the place of a representative assembly. The act was regarded by the English colonists as a blow aimed directly at them. and was a factor in bringing on the Revolution.
For the American view of the spirit and pur pose of the act, consult Bancroft, History of the Unitcfl States (New York. 1883.85) ; for the English view, consult an article in the Annual Report of the Historical Association for 1894 (Washington, 1893).