www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Dominion Day

Happy Dominion Day to all and sundry!

Herb

also z Praznykom for Saints Kosmas and Damian!

When the 'American Civil War' (or for you southern people; the 'War of Northern Agression', or for you True Yankees; The 'Southern Rebellion') ended in 1964, the USA Republicans had clear intensions of using their combined armed forces to (a) passify the south, (b) put the indians / natives on reserves, and (c) annex as much of British North America (territory north of the 49th parallel) as they could.

Upper Canada (now Ontario) and Lower Canada' (now Quebec) realized that their territories would be 'annexed' within a year (1865) by the Yankee's expansionist policies, so they joined their lands to form a new country called Canada with a parliment in Montreal. It did not succeed.

By 1866 the pressure had become more intense. The Yankees were clearly implementing their policies of 'Manifest destiny' (ie; land stealing) so the combined Upper and Lower British North American Canadas (notice the plurality of the word Canada) joined to form a single national confederacy with a parliment in Toronto. Again it did not succeed.

By 1867, with the Yankee purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire, and the colonization and annexation of what are now the states of Oregon and Washington (former parts of the British Northwest territories), it had become clear that there was no more time for 'nation building games'. If a British Canadian nation did not form and remain as an entity, all would be lost to the Americans.

'Anti-republican manifest destiny' was the basis for the North American British Loyalists freely uniting with the French colonists whom they had defeated over a century before.

On July 1st 1867, the French (mostly in Quebec) the remnants of American Loyalists (anti-revolutionaries) now living in Upper Canada (Ontario), and the Maritimes, including; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island met and signed the act of confederation. The new nation would be known as 'The Dominion of Canada' and would remain part of the British Empire. Through various other acts of confederation, the Dominion grew to include 10 provinces and three territories, and Ottawa was chosen as the new capitol city.

Protestanism and Roman Catholisism were included in the bill of rights (before there was a constitution) of the new nation. These two 'religions' would be guaranteed fundamental rights, including money for public schools, hospitals, and other social services. Unlike the United States, the 'Dominion of Canada' guaranteed that the churches and State would remain integrated.

The July 1st Federal holiday was once known as 'Dominon Day', but is now officialy known as 'Canada Day'.

Happy Canada Day !

Hritzko

Wow, Hritzko!!!

Such knowledge about Canada! Very, VERY IMPRESSIVE!

I am flabbergasted at how one of our esteemed colleagues from the Republic to our south should be so VERY well informed about us.

You've got my vote for P.M.!

Herb
from the Monarchy to the north.

Pssst, Herb ... he's a transplant

It's always refreshing to hear the Canadian perspective; we down here were raised with a very idealized, distorted history. I didn't know, for example,until I dated a Canadian girl, that the War of 1812 was not an American response to British aggression but an aggressive assault on our Canadian neighbors!
Which explains American naivete about Canadians: most Americans consider them our chilly, slightly boring, but friendly neighbors to the North. In truth, they are only biding their time, waiting for the right moment to attack! Talk about securing the borders usually means talk about Mexico. I say secure our Northern border against the Canadian Menace! Before it's too late!

Let's review history:

To the British,the War of 1812 was the North American theater of the Napoleonic War. To Canadians, it was an act of naked American agression. To the US, the war had multiple objectives, and yet in the end was settled without resolving any of them. The origins to the war were varied.

In the years leading up to the war(1803-1812), both British and French naval forces captured American merchant ships, and sold both ship and cargo for violating their respective blockades in Europe. New England merchants considered this a "cost" of doing business they were willing to bear. Even the British impressment of American merchant seamen did not bother the New England merchants, since there was no real financial loss. However, to the US at large, the impressment of American seaman into the British Royal Navy was a greater insult than the loss of goods. With the attack upon the USS Chesapeake in 1807 by a British naval vessel and the subsequent impressment of several crew members, the US viewed this as an act of agression against a sovereign state. Interests in the West and South urged Jefferson to engage the British militarily. Yet, Jefferson chose an economic response rather than enter war. Jefferson declared an embargo upon American trade with the British, which led to economic ruin for New England merchants. The rise of the "war hawks" in the West and South would play a pivotal role in the upcoming presidential elections of 1812.

In the West, the land hungry frontiersmen encountered Indians supplied with British arms and equipment. The anti-British sentiment grew to a point where by 1812 the westerners thought the only way to resolve the conflict with the Indians was to force the British out of Canada.

In the South, the war hawks had their eyes set upon Spanish Florida. With Spain and England allied against Napoleonic France, their alliance provided a ready excuse to invade Florida.

With his election to the presidency in 1812, James Madison initially followed his predecessor's use of economic pressure to force the British to relax the blockade. He almost succeeded. On June 1, 1812, President Madison sent a list of grievances against the British to Congress asking them to declare war. On June 4, the House voted to declare war. With the growing need of American provisions to supply its forces in Spain, the British on June 16 agreed to repeal the blockade against US merchant ships. On June 18, the Senate voted for war. Review of those votes reflect the sectarian forces in the US at that time. Had there been quicker communication in those days, war might have been avoided.

Dear Father Deacon John- thanks for the history lesson; my post was entirely toungue in cheek, and of course my Canadian girlfriend's take on the war was as much a caricature as my junior high American history version! Well, maybe not quite as much a caricature...happy Dominion Day!

Most Canadians would not agree that the war of 1812 "was an act of naked American agression", but rather an attempt by the British to re-capture the colonies they lost during the American revolution of 1776. Today, most Canadian and United Kingdom historians would agree that the agressors were the British, not the American Republicans.

The 1812 agression was on the part of the British who sacked many cities including Washington and New York in their attempt to reverse the tide of Republicanism and recapture the colonies. Now compare this behaviour to the American army which invaded Montreal (1813). The USA army occupied the city, and then left without destroying it when they realized the devout French Roman Catholics wanted no part of 'Masonic Republicanism'. The French Canadians viewed American Republicans as anti-Catholic Masons and could not fully distinguish their revolution politics from those bloody events in France (circa 1789 and on).

The British used this fear of American republicanism / anti-Catholicism to bind the French colonists to the Protestant British loyalists, and create the basis for a new North American 'Canadian' peoples which did not want to separate church and state.

After the defeat of 1812 - 1813, the British whent to great lengths to help the French Canadians strengthen their Catholic faith and keep them from being absorbed by the 'republican camp' south of the border. One such example was the construction of the Notre-Dame Roman Catholic Cathedral in Montreal by the British army corp of engineers who were stationed there after the defeat by the Americans. Anyone visiting Montreal should visit this unique and magnificent Cathedral which was at the time the tallest building in North America, and held this title until St-Patricks was completed over two generations later in New York City.

There was a period immediately following the war of 1812 when the English and French Canadians thought the Americans might seek revenge and attack either Upper (Ontario) and/or Lower (Quebec) Canada. The agression never occured.

To this day, Roman Catholicism and Protestanism remain fundamental parts of the Canadian identity.

Hritzko

Hritzko, you wrote:

Actually, the British did not attack and burn Washington, D.C. until late summer of 1814, some two years after President Madison signed the declaration of war. New York was never sacked. After US forces defeated and destroyed the British fleet in the naval battle of Lake Champlain (September 11, 1814), the British army retreated from upper New York state into Canada.

Although the objectives of the war were varied, the US primarily declared war on Britain in 1812 over British impressment of US seaman into the Royal Navy. Britain had claimed the right to search US vessels for British sailors who had deserted. At times US seamen were taken away with the British deserters.

In fact the 'whole' North American war began in 1812 and ended with a treaty in 1815. The term 'The war of 1812' is often used to define the events of the whole period. The conflict between the USA and the British Canadas ended by 1813 with the retreat of the American Republicans from what is now Quebec ('New France' / 'Lower Canada') back south of the 49th parallel to New England. Most of the 'Canadian' action took place around the northern New York border, both on land and in the Great Lakes.

'British Impressement' was pretexual for the American Republicans implementing an naval trade embargo, then a first strike against the British Empire. There should be no doubt that both the British and Republicans were attempting to take / annex each others American territories at the the time of the war of 1812. To better understand this, it is important to first review the events of the revolution.

At the time of the revolution, the British ruled supreme on the seas, but American Republicans were able to slowly erode the British military strength through what would be known today as 'guerilla war fare'. After their defeat, the American (British) Loyalists retreated to what is now known as Eastern Canada. If you pull out a map, you will notice that the territory of Ontario (Upper Canada), is 'buffered' from the USA by the Great Lakes. The American (British) Loyalists colonized these areas and built great navies to protect the territories. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, (Maritime Canada) and even Quebec (Lower Canada) could be defended from Yankee attack because of the superior British military navy.

From the time that the American (British) loyalists arrived to the Canadas to the the outbreak of the war of 1812, the British were 'plotting' to retake the colonies when the opportunity came. The opportunity seemed to have arrived when the French were preoccupied with events in Europe. Unlike the revolutionary era of 1776 (and on), the French could not help the American Republicans with their war effort. Also, unlike the era of the revolution, the British now also ruled the Great Lakes and and had a 'back door' to attack the Republicans shoudl there be a need.

The British began 'testing' the American's resolve to defend her new 'Republic' which they had no respect for and did not see as a legitimate nation. Impressment was one of the tests.

There were many USA citizens who sympethized with the British. American Republicanism was still a novel idea at the time. Perhaps even more after Congress implemented a trade embargo with Britan and ruined the economies of New England. There was still more significant trade with Europe at that time than with the Southern States of the USA.

There were at the same time British North Americans (Canadians) 'subjects' (ie: subjects of the British Crown) who did sympethized with the idea of Republicanism. The 'seeds' of Republicanism were 'planted' by none other than Benjamin Franklin (the first modern American) in 1777 when he resided in Montreal and established the Gazette (newspapers as they were called then). The 'Montreal Gazette' promoted the idea of North American Republicanism within the newly aquired British lands (New France until 1759). (BTW: Today, if you travel to Montreal, you can pick up a copy of the largest English language daily newspaper known as the - 'The Montreal Gazette'. On the top of the front page it says: 'established by Benjamin Franklin in 1777').

By the time of the war of 1812, there were 'Republican Patriots' in the Canadas who were non Masonic in origin. They were mostly French colonists who idealized the events in Europe, and some Irish immigrants who were attempting to weaken the British with the hope of liberating Ireland.

The American Republicans decided to attack British North America and join forces with their revolutionary sympathizers the 'Patriots' who were according to plan suppose to weaken the British military from within the Canadas.

The USA and Canadian Republicans badly underestimated the military might of the British. They also overestimated the popular Canadian support for the Republicans which was at best estimated to be 25%. The Americans had no success within the Canadas. The Great Lakes naval battle were a complete loss for the American Republicans. Also, the British were able to retake the coastal areas of continental USA. But just like during the revolutionary era, they were not able to win the war because of 'guerilla war fare'. Out of frustration, they sacked Washington (destroyed all government buildings) and looted Manhattan (at least those establishements which were not sympathetic to the British cause - which according to many historians were the minority ). The British retreated to Britan and the Canadas after the war.

The Canadian Republican Patriots were left with nowhere to hide, and no support from their USA allies. The British 'hunted' them and a final conflict occured at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Ste-Eustache in Ste-Eustache (north of Montreal), Lower Canada (now Quebec). Over 200 of the final Republican Patriots were shot dead within the Cathedral. Over the next few days, their bodies were secretly transported to the top of Montreal's Mount-Royal (a mountain in the middle of the city). They were buried in a secret spot which had a clear view all the way to the mountains of New England. This was to symbolize their desire for American Republicanism.

Over time the burial site became a shrine to many who wanted and end to British rule within the Canadas. In an attempt to defuse the political nature of the site, the government declared in the mid-19th century that the whole area would become national cemetery and in keeping with the laws of the land, it would be divided into two sections: Catholic (2/3) and Protestant (1/3). The cemetery which sits atop of the city of Montreal has over a million buried people there, and is the largest in Canada (and perhaps the continent). Today, prime ministers, mayors, 'fathers of confederation', and even the Molsons (sorry no free beer) have their mosoleums within the grounds.

During his 1920's visit, Archbishop major Andrej Sheptytsky of the UGCC was able to successfuly petition the Cardinal of Montreal (former see of the Archbishop of all of New France) to divide the grounds of the Catholic side of the cemetery to create a separate section for the Greek (Byzantine) Catholics.

Hritzko