Claiming the Bounty
A Brief History of Boundary Disputes: The
history of the Lake of the Woods from the
late 1600’s until the end of the 1800’s
concerns the fur-trading empire rivalry, the
Canada-U.S. boundary decision, the fight over
Ontario-Manitoba jurisdiction and a settlement
with the First Nations tribes called Treaty
Number 3 – a timeline of compromise,
intimidation and political change.
Fur, Land and War: During
the 1700’s, Britain and France were
world leaders in colonial expansion and trade,
as well as bitter enemies, fighting numerous
battles around the world. The national rivalry
appeared to end in North America, culminating
in British victory in 1759 on the Plains of
Abraham near Quebec. The French government
stopped supporting its various posts, including
the Lake of the Woods settlements.
One result of acquiring the French colony
was the Quebec Act, enacted in 1774 by the
British Parliament, setting up a system under
which French-Canadians were entitled to live
within French civil law and to practice the
Catholic religion. As well, the act claimed
the Quebec boundary to include territory across
what is now Lake of the Woods, as well as
Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and
Ohio, lands where the residents were primarily
French (and now British citizens), with access
via the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes.
The Quebec Act further startled and alarmed
the citizens of Britain’s lower eastern
seaboard colonies, where the anti-British
sentiment, even sedition, brewed towards the
American Revolution of 1776. The French kings
continued their quarrel with the English in
that case, with arms and other supports, though
France’s dynasty was soon to be replaced
by the republic and then by the empire, before
Napoleonic defeat in the early 1800’s.
Since that defeat, France remained concerned
with Europe, leaving its American expansion
behind. Recapturing remote North American
fur trading regions was not a priority for
the French, but in the years between the American
Revolution and Canadian/American War of 1812-1814,
the Americans did attempt to lure them into
military action.
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