C. The Royal Colony

From HCO Jr

Part 3. New France → A. Founding of New France → B. Acadian Saga → C. The Royal Colony → D. Fur Traders & Missionaries → E. Daily Life → F. Wars with the English

Introduction

In 1663 the Colony of Quebec was renamed New France. Why did this change? That same year the government of France took over the colony. No longer would private companies control Quebec, Montreal and the other French settlements. New France would now be run much like a province in France. This chapter will explain why the government of France took over the colony, and how this changed New France.

The Haudenosaunee and Royal Rule

It was the Haudenosaunee who pushed the King of France to take over the French colony in Canada. After attacking Huronia the Iroquois continued to attack other First Nations allied with the French. They also attacked the settlements on the St. Lawrence. These attacks became so bad that French farmers were afraid to leave their homes and work in their fields. They did not know when an Iroquois war party would emerge from the forest. One Iroquois war chief said the French were so scared they would not leave their homes to go to the bathroom!

The problem was there were very few French people living in the settlements. In 1660, the French population of the St. Lawrence River was only 3000. All of the fur trading companies that promised to bring settlers to Quebec in the past never lived up to their promises. There were not enough men to defend against thousands of Iroquois warriors. In comparison, the English colonies in the south had over 100,000 settlers.

Louis XIV

France's new king in 1661 was King Louis XIV. King Louis wanted to change how France's colony in Canada operated. It was clear that private companies did very little to help the colony grow. With his Minister of the Marine, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, placed the colony under government control. The Minister of the Marine was in charge of all of France's colonies.

King Louis did not like the idea that the Haudenosaunee were close to defeating the French on the St. Lawrence. The first thing France had to do was protect the colony. King Louis sent 1100 French troops from the Carignan-Salières regiment. Leading these troops was the Marquis de Tracey.

These troops arrived in France in 1665. French settlers were very happy. They hoped these troops would protect them from the Iroquois. The troops built small forts at each of the three main settlements: Quebec, Montreal and Trois-Rivières. They also built three forts on the Richilieu River south of the St. Lawrence River: Fort Richilieu, Fort Chambly, and Fort Theresa. This was the river used by the Iroquois to attack the French. Now soldiers and forts were there to stop the Iroquois.

That same year the Iroquois sent diplomats to ask the French for a peace treaty. Some Iroquois, however, did not want peace. De Tracey and some soldiers attacked Iroquois villages. They were not very succesful. They attacked in the winter of 1666. It was very cold, and the French troops were not used to Canadian winters. The Iroquois abandoned their villages. Tracey ordered his men to burn down the villages, and destroy or take all of the food.

This was enough to make the rest of the Iroquois sign a peace treaty with the French in 1667. This was not the end of warfare with the Iroquois, but it did give the French settlers a rest from the many years of fighting.

Governor, Intendant, Bishop and Sovereign Council

New France would now be run just like a province in France. This meant that a new form of government was put into New France.

At the top was the King. France was not a democracy like it is today. King Louis the XIV once made the famous statement: "Létat c’est moi." This means "I am the state." As the king he ran and controlled everything.

Below the king was the Minister of the Marine: Jean-Baptiste Colbert. King Louis XIV chose his ministers to run the different parts of the French government. Colbert was in charge of all of France's colonies.

Colbert chose (and the King approved) of people to control New France. Two different positions existed in New France: the Governor and the Intendant. Another very important person was the bishop. Each of these men had different powers and responsibilities. There was also a group of people called the Sovereign Council that acted as advisors to the governor and intendant.

The Governor

The governor controlled the following:

Military forces
Diplomacy

This does not seem like a lot of things to control, but the governor had a lot of power in New France.

Military forces protected the colony. While New France had a peace treaty with the Iroquois a war could start at any time. Sometimes the Iroquois broke the peace treaty, and at other times the French broke the peace treaty. If England and France went to war the governor had to protect the colony from English soldiers and the English navy.

Diplomacy was also very important. Diplomacy is when two or more nations meet and try to find ways to cooperate and help each other. New France did not have many soldiers in it. When wars started they need First Nations to help them. Diplomacy helped New France protect itself against First Nations who did not like the French, and against the English.

When governors were chosen by the King and the Minister of the Marine they chose men from noble families. These men were usually soldiers from France who held a high rank (similar to a general today). They needed military experience to be the governor.

Governor Frontenac

Count Frontenac

New France's most famous governor was Louis de Baude, the Comte de Frontenac (Count of Frontenac). Frontenac was from a noble family. He was also an officer in the French army. He was governor of New France from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to 1697. Frontenac was contreversial when he was governor. He did many things that helped New France, but he also did thing that made other colonial leaders very angry.

When Frontenac arrived in New France he thought he had the power and authority to do many things. This was not true. As you read earlier the governor only had power over certain things. The intendant, the clergy and the Sovereign Council controlled other parts of the colony. There were other important people in New France as well. For example, there was a governor (or mayor) of Montreal. Frontenac did not work well with any of these people.

Colbert told Frontenac not to come into conflict with any of the other leaders in New France. However, when Frontenac arrived in New France he ignored what Colbert told him. When Frontenac made a decision to do something he did not consult with anyone. For example, Frontenac had a fur trading fort built on Lake Ontario where the city of Kingston is today. It was called Fort Frontenac.

Fort Frontenac

Why would building a new fort make people angry? There are a few reasons:

Ordinary settlers had to help build the fort. This took them away from their fields and their families for many months.
Colbert did not want to expand the fur trade until the settlement on the St. Lawrence River was larger and more established.
The Governor of Montreal, François-Marie Perrot, thought Governor Frontenac would use the fort to make himself richer and not help the colony. Perrot was not happy about this. He wanted to control the fur trade to make himself richer! Perrot and other fur traders in Montreal did not like Governor Frontenac affecting their trade.

Governor Frontenac did not like being criticized. He had the governor of Montreal arrested. When a priest criticized Frontenac he was arrested too. Eventually the King and Colbert stepped in and told Frontenac to release these people from jail. They took away some of the governor's power.

Things did not improve. Frontenac had people put in jail who did not show him proper respect as a noble person. In 1682 the King recalled Frontenac back to France.

When Frontenac left the colony was facing a threat. Iroquois warriors were attacking fur traders again. The Iroquois did not like the French expanding the fur trade. If the French controlled more land the Iroquois would not be able to trap furs and trade with the English. English colonial leaders also asked the Iroquois to attack and harass French settlers and traders. In 1689 the Iroquois attacked a French settlement at La Chine (on the St. Lawrence River). They destroyed many buildings and killed many settlers.

In 1689 King Louis XIV appointed Frontenac governor of New France again. England had declared war on France. This meant that New France would be attacked. The Iroquois attacks were also very serious. Frontenac had military experience, knew a great deal about New France.

Frontenac faced a very difficult situation in New France. Iroquois warriors attacked the French. English soldiers and ships also attacked New France. In 1690 a large British fleet left Boston to attack Quebec. Frontenac brought all of his soldiers and troops to Quebec. A British officer was sent to talk to Frontenac. He asked Frontenac to surrender since the British force was very large. Frontenac made a very famous reply: "I have no reply to make to your general other than from the mouths of my cannon and muskets...."

Frontenac was lucky. The British almost won. French troops lasted long enough for winter to start. As the weather became cold the English had to leave or their ships would have become stuck in the ice of the St. Lawrence River.

Frontenac continued to have problem with people in the colony, and with the King. Finally in 1697 the King removed Frontenac as governor. By now Frontenac was very old, and unable to return to France. Frontenac died in November, 1698. He was bured in the church of the Recollets Order in Quebec.

The Intendant

The intendant was responsible for

The justice system
Finance
Civil projects

When New France became a crown colony it needed to apply the same laws that existed in France. Law in France were different across the country at that time. If you lived in one city the laws were different than in other cities. New France used the same laws that existed in the city of Paris (called the Custom of Paris).

The Intendant made sure that courts in New France settled problems. If someone committed a crime they were arrested. If one settler had an argument with another settler they went to court.

Running New France was also expensive. The Intendant was responsible for finances. He had to make sure the colony did not run out of money. He paid the salaries of all the soldiers and other people who worked for the government.

As New France grew the people needed roads. Forts were built to protect settlements. The intendant was in charge of all building and other civil projects.

The Bishop

French settlers were Catholic. The Catholic Church was very important in the colony. As you read earlier Catholic missionaries such as the Recollects, Jesuits and the Ursulines had been in the colony almost from the very beginning.

New France's first bishop was Bishop Laval. He was in charge of all the priests, nuns, missionaries, and churches in the colony. Now that New France had a bishop, local men and women could be ordained as priests and nuns in the colony. They would not have to go to France for this process.

King Louis XIV and Minister Colbert worried about the Catholic Church. They did not want the Church to have too much power. Many priests, for example, did not like the fur trade. They did not like traders marrying and living with First Nations women. They also did not like how the traders used alcohol in the fur trade. The King and Colbert knew that the fur trade made New France a lot of money.

At first the Bishop did not get along with the governor. However, the King let the governor have greater power than the bishop. Very slowly the power of the bishop became less and less.

The Sovereign Council

First meeting of Sovereign Council of New France

The Sovereign Council acted as advisors to the governor and intendant. It also acted as a court. At first the governor and intendant argued over who controlled the Sovereign Council. Eventually the King gave the intendant control over the council.

As New France grew the Sovereign Council stopped hearing court cases. Each settlement was given its own court. For example, if you committed a crime in Montreal you went to the court house in Montreal for your trial.

New Settlers Arrive

Les Filles du Roi

Colbert wanted New France's population to grow. It had always been difficult to get people to emigrate to New France. Another problem was there were not enough women in the colony. Men had a difficult time finding a French wife.

Arrival of les Filles du Roi

A new policy was created: bring young girls to New France to marry the men. These girls were called les filles du roi - "the daughters of the King." They were very young. When they arrived in New France most were 16 years old.

Many of these girls came from hospitals in France. They were orphans, or their parents were poor and could not afford to look after them. It was very common during this time for parents to give away their children. Some became Catholic priests or nuns. Others were sent to work on a farm or for a merchant. Young girls could be married at a very young age.

Ursuline nuns looked after the girls when they arrived in France. Each girl brought a dowry with her of 50 livres. This was equal to 1 years wages for a man in New France. When they arrived in Quebec or Montreal no single man was allowed to leave the settlement until all of the girls were married. Laws were passed they fined men for being single. Single men were also not allowed to take part in the fur trade. Between 1663 and 1673 over 800 girls arrived in France.

Many soldiers also stayed in France. Almost 400 of the soldiers that arrived in 1665 decided to work in the fur trade, or start farms and businesses.

This policy did help to increase the population. By 1700 New France had 15,000 people in it. By 1763 there were 70,000 people living in the colony.

Les Engagés

The King also sent over 400 workers called engagés. These young men signed contracts to work in the colony for three years for a settler, a store owner, or the Catholic Church. Like les filles du roi, the engagés were very young boys (often they were teenagers). They were paid very little money. At the end of their contract they could stay in New France or go back to France.

Over half of the men who came to New France as engagés stayed in the colony when their contract ended. During those three years they learned how to live in the colony, and thought their life would be better in Canada than in France

Colbert's Compact Policy

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Other changes happened in New France when it became a crown colony. Minister Colbert wanted New France to be self-sustaining. This meant that the colony should not cost the King any money to operate. Farmers should produce enough food to feed everyone. The colony should even produce money for the King.

This was called the Compact Policy. Colbert sent people to New France to look for valuable resources besides furs. People looked for gold, silver and other valuable metal. Other looked for valuable trees to cut down and sell as timber. Other people tried to find good land for farming.

Today Canada has many mines. At this time, however, Europeans had not discovered any of the gold and silver deposits that are in Canada. Many years passed before the first discovery of gold and silver.

New France's first intendant, Jean Talon, tried to start a ship building industry. Soon carpenters, blacksmiths, and other skilled workers arrived in New France to start building ships. The business never worked. There were no iron mines in Canada at this time. A lot of the material need to build a ship had to be imported (which is very expensive).

Jean Talon

Talon did start a timber industry in New France. Countries built all of their ships from wood. Almost all homes and buildings were made of timber. New France had huge forests. Workers cut these trees down, and saw mills turned the trees into timber. Some of this timber was sent to France.

Talon was never able to get any large industries started in New France. Fur trading and farming were the only things people could do in New France. There were other businesses but they depended on the fur trade.

Some small businesses did start. People made shoes, and clothes to sell to farmers, soldiers and people who worked for government. Jean Talon also encouraged farmers to grow more food. In time farmers grew enough food to help support all of the soldiers in New France.

The Failure of the Compact Policy

The Compact Policy failed in some ways. Big industries did not do well. None of the industries started by the French government succeeded. It was a success with some small businesses and farms.

Colbert learned that the fur trade was too important to New France. French farmers and settlers preferred to work in the fur trade. Men made more money working for a fur trading company than working on their farms and selling their crops.

New France could not stop the fur trade. Without the fur trade New France would lose many of its First Nations allies. Many First Nations not only traded with French traders, but would fight on the side of the French when a war started. If the fur trade was scaled back these allies might not fight for the French. The exchange of trade goods was part of the relationship between the French and the First Nations. It was not just a simple economic trade any longer.

Some of the leaders in New France worked against Colbert. Governor Frontenac, for example, made money from the fur trade. He encouraged the building of fort further into the interior. These were military forts, but they also functioned as fur trading forts. Frontenac would take some of the furs and profits that came from these forts.

The fur trade was simply too important. While the economy of New France slowly changed over time the fur trade remained the most important economic activity within the colony despite the best efforts of Colbert.