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Province of Quebec Province de Québec (French)
1763–1791
Flag
Anthem: "God Save the King"
A portion of eastern North America in 1774 after theQuebec Act; Quebec extends all the way to theMississippi River.
Status	British colony
Capital	Quebec
Common languages	French • English
Religion	Roman Catholicism,Protestantism
Government	Constitutional monarchy
King
• 1760–1791	George III
Governor
• 1764–1766 (first)[a]	James Murray
• 1768–1778,[b] 1786–1791 (last)[c]	Guy Carleton
History
• Royal Proclamation	7 October 1763
• Quebec Act	22 June 1774
• Constitutional Act	26 December 1791
Currency	Canadian pound
ISO 3166 code	CA
Preceded by Succeeded by Canada (New France) 1791: Upper Canada Lower Canada 1787: Northwest Territory
Today part of	Canada United States

TheProvince of Quebec (French:Province de Québec) was a colony inBritish North America which comprised the formerFrench colony ofCanada. It was established by theKingdom of Great Britain in 1763, following theconquest ofNew France by British forces during theSeven Years' War. As part of the1763 Treaty of Paris,France gave up its claim to the colony; it instead negotiated to keep the small profitable island ofGuadeloupe.^[1]

Following theRoyal Proclamation of 1763, Canada was renamed the Province of Quebec, and from 1774 extended from the coast ofLabrador on the Atlantic Ocean, southwest through theSaint Lawrence River Valley to theGreat Lakes and beyond to the confluence of theOhio andMississippi Rivers in theIllinois Country. Portions of its southwest, those areas south of the Great Lakes, were later ceded to the newly establishedUnited States in the1783 Treaty of Paris at the conclusion of theAmerican Revolution; although the British maintained a military presence there until 1796 and theJay Treaty. In 1791, the territory north of the Great Lakes was reorganised and divided intoLower Canada andUpper Canada.

Under the proclamation, Quebec included the cities ofQuebec andMontreal, as well as a zone surrounding them, but did not extend as far west as the Great Lakes or as far north asRupert's Land.^[2]

In 1774, theParliament of Great Britain passed theQuebec Act that allowed Quebec to restore the use ofFrench customary law (Coutume de Paris) in private matters alongside theEnglish common law system, and allowing theCatholic Church to collecttithes. The act also enlarged the boundaries of Quebec to include theOhio Country and part of theIllinois Country, from theAppalachian Mountains on the east, south to theOhio River, west to theMississippi River and north to the southern boundary of lands owned by theHudson's Bay Company, or Rupert's Land.

Western District was one of four districts of the Province of Quebec created in 1788 in the western reaches of the Montreal District, which were later detached in 1791 to create the new colony of Upper Canada. Known as Hesse District (named after Hesse in Germany) until 1792.

Through Quebec, the British Crown retained access to the Ohio and Illinois Countries after the Treaty of Paris (1783) ceded control of this land to the United States. By well-established trade and military routes across the Great Lakes, the British continued to supply not only their troops but also theWestern Confederacy (a wide alliance of indigenous nations) through Detroit,Fort Niagara,Fort Michilimackinac, and so on, until these posts were turned over to the United States following theJay Treaty (1794).

Quebec retained itsseigneurial system after the conquest. Owing to an influx ofLoyalist refugees from theAmerican Revolutionary War, the demographics of Quebec came to shift and now included a substantial English-speakingProtestant element from the formerThirteen Colonies. TheseUnited Empire Loyalists settled mainly in theEastern Townships, Montreal, and what was known then as thePays d'en Haut west of theOttawa River. TheConstitutional Act 1791 divided the colony in two at theOttawa River, so that the western part (Upper Canada) could be under theEnglish legal system, with English speakers in the majority. The eastern part was namedLower Canada.

In 1760, following the capitulation of Montreal, the colony was placed undermilitary government, withcivil government only instituted beginning in 1764. The following were the governors:

• James Murray 1760–1766
• Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester 1766–1778
• Sir Frederick Haldimand 1778–1786^[3]
• Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester 1786–1796

There were also "lieutenant governors", but these were merely the deputies of the governors, and should not be confused with the subsequent to 1791Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec.

• Guy Carleton (lieutenant governor to James Murray)1766–1768
• Hector Theophilus de Cramahé (lieutenant governor to Guy Carleton)1771–1782
• Henry Hamilton (lieutenant governor to Frederick Haldimand)1782–1785
• Henry Hope (lieutenant governor to the Lord Dorchester)1785–1788
• Alured Clarke (lieutenant governor to the Lord Dorchester)1790

The Province of Quebec did not have an elected legislature and was ruled directly by the governor with advice from counsellors. A council responsible to advise the governor (then James Murray) on all affairs of state was created in 1764. TheQuebec Act 1774 created aCouncil for the Affairs of the Province of Quebec to advise the governor on legislative affairs. The Legislative Council served as an advisory council to the governor until a legislative assembly was established after 1791.

The individuals James Murray called into the council from 1764 to 1766:

List of councillors under Carleton from 1766 to 1774:

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(January 2013)

Around 1763 to 1764, the province was divided into two judicial districts:

• Montreal District – covering the western parts of Quebec along the St. Lawrence River including Montreal and much of Ontario (Eastern and Southern Ontario)
• Quebec District – covering the eastern parts of Quebec along the St. Lawrence and Labrador

In 1790, theTrois-Rivières District was formed out of part of Quebec District.

The Trois-Rivières and Quebec districts continued after 1791 whenLower Canada came into existence, while Montreal District west of the Ottawa River becameUpper Canada and east of the Ottawa River was partitioned into many electoral districts.

• Former colonies and territories in Canada
• Territorial evolution of Canada after 1867

• Burt, Alfred LeRoy.The Old Province of Quebec. Toronto: Ryerson Press; Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1933. Reprinted Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1968.
• Lahaise, Robert and Vallerand, Noël.Le Québec sous le régime anglais : les Canadiens français, la colonisation britannique et la formation du Canada continental. Outremont, Québec : Lanctôt, 1999.
• Neatby, Hilda.Quebec: The Revolutionary Age, 1760–1791. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1966.

• Province of Quebec (1763–1791)
• British North America
• Former colonies in North America
• Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas
• 18th century in Quebec
• 1760s in Canada
• 1770s in Canada
• 1780s in Canada
• 1790s in Canada
• Pre-statehood history of Illinois
• Pre-statehood history of Indiana
• Pre-statehood history of Michigan
• Pre-statehood history of Ohio
• Pre-statehood history of Wisconsin
• Canadian-American culture in Ohio
• 1760s in New France
• States and territories established in 1763
• States and territories disestablished in 1791
• 1763 establishments in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)
• 1791 disestablishments in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)
• 1763 establishments in the British Empire
• 1791 disestablishments in the British Empire
• 18th century in Canada

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