The Conscientious Student: A Critical Thinking Approach to History and Citizenship Education. Student Guide

Transcription

1 The Conscientious Student: A Critical Thinking Approach to History and Citizenship Education (Secondary III) Student Guide Learning and Evaluation Situation: The Conquest

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3 3 A few words on Critical Thinking... Critical is an essential component of any democracy. As a citizen, you should be conscientious of the issues that affect your life and be able to react to them in a responsible way. The following lesson will provide you with the opportunity to develop and exercise your critical thinking skills by: Becoming aware of a social issue; Understanding the facts that are necessary to deal with this issue; Using civic values that will encourage you to take a more Responsible approach; Considering your personal beliefs and experiences; Taking a position; Supporting this position with facts and values that are strong and persuasive; Realizing that most issues are difficult to understand. This lesson will encourage you to develop skills that are necessary for citizenship and participation in society. 3

4 4 The Conquest At issue: What are the issues behind this event? In 1760, after years of war between Britain and France, Governor Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil of New France surrendered the colony to General Jeffrey Amherst of Britain, and about French Canadiens were put under British rule. Did this ruin French Canadiens society, or was this development uneventful? Consider the following questions: Were French Canadiens dependent on France for their political stability, economic development and social institutions (schools, hospitals)? Why? Were French Canadiens doing well under the French regime? Explain. Could French Canadiens develop as a society under a British government? Explain. In which areas did the British replace the French? Explain. Was the survival of the Canadiens the result of their French roots or British help? Explain. Answer as many of these questions as you can. 4

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6 6 Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? On September 8, 1760, the French surrendered conditionally, and these conditions were outlined in the Articles of Capitulation. Extracts from some of these Articles are found below. Vaudreuil s demands are on the right, whereas on the left Amherst noted some comments. This original document was written in French, as this was the international language of treaties and negotiations at the time. Document 1: Extracts from the Articles of Capitulation From A. Shortt and A.G. Doughty (1918) Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, Ottawa. 6

7 7 Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? Read and summarize the following articles. Document 2: On December 12, 1761, Charles Wyndham, the Earl of Egremont, and the British Secretary of State, sent the following letter to Jeffery Amherst, the British Commander-in-Chief in North America.... His Majesty observes, with Pleasure, the laudable Gentleness and Mildness, with which you offer his Royal Protection indiscriminately to all his Subjects, recommending it particularly to the Troops, to live in good harmony and brotherhood with the Canadians, and as Nothing can be more essential to His Majesty's Service, than to retain as many of the French subjects, as may be, and to prevent their leaving their homes to repair such Colonies, as shall remain in the possession of the French, when those, which are now His Majesty's by Conquest, shall be confirmed to him at the Peace, it is the King's pleasure that you should earnestly enforce, to the several Governors above mentioned, the conciliating part of the Instructions, which you have given, and that you Recommend it strongly to them to employ the most vigilant attention, and take the most effectual care that the French Inhabitants (who, as you very properly observe, being equally His Majesty's subjects are consequently Equally entitled to his Protection) be humanely and kindly treated, and that they do enjoy the full Benefit of that Indulgent and Benign Government, which already characterizes His Majesty's auspicious Reign, and constitutes the peculiar happiness of all, who are Subjects to the British Empire; and you will direct the said Governors, to give the strictest orders to prevent Soldiers, Mariners, and others His Majesty's Subjects, from insulting or reviling any of the French Inhabitants, now their fellow Subjects, either by ungenerous insinuation of that Inferiority, which the fate of War has decided, or by harsh and provoking observations on their language, dress, Manners, Customs, or Country, or by uncharitable Reflections on the Errors of that mistaken Religion, which they unhappily profess; and as there is yet no regular Civil Government Established in any of the said Conquered Countries, it is the King's Pleasure that the several Governors do properly exert that Authority, under which they at present act, to punish such persons, as shall disregard His Majesty's orders in a Matter so Essential to his Interests; and you will direct that His Majesty's Intentions in this behalf, be forthwith made know to all those, whom it may Concern, to the End that the King's British Subjects may not, thru Ignorance, disobey his orders, and that his French Subjects may feel and Relish the full Extent of His Majesty's Royal Protection. Source: National Archives of Canada, Series B, Vol 37, pp

8 8 Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? In point form, summarize how the British authorities wanted the French to be treated. 8

9 9 Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? Document 3: The Roman Catholic Church survived this Conquest. In 1763, Jean-Oliver Briand, who became the Roman Catholic Bishop in Quebec from 1766 to 1784, had the following to say. The peace signed in Paris on February 10 last, and ratified on the 10th of the following month, has finally ended a cruel war.... You yourselves have experienced its baneful consequences, so I shall not recall them to your memories on a day that must be one of thanksgiving to God for having granted us peace, this invaluable gift, which we had so earnestly wanted and continuously demanded by our public prayers and our wishes. These wishes were perhaps not blessed in their entirety, for Canada and her dependencies have been irrevocably ceded to the British Crown. But trust in Providence, dear brethren, whose ways arc often the more merciful when they do not entirely conform to our wishes and do not flatter all our expectancies. Do we not have manifest proof of this in the manner in which our victors have acted toward us since the conquest of the colony? The surrender of Quebec left you at the mercy of a victorious army. At first, you were undoubtedly alarmed, frightened, and dismayed. Your feelings were justified... but you' were ignoring that a kind and watchful Providence had reserved for you a Governor who, by his moderation, his stern justice, his generous and humane sentiments, his tender compassion for the poor and the wretched, and his rigid discipline towards the troops, would remove all the horrors of war. Show me the vexations, the distortions, the plunders, that ordinarily follow in the wake of victory. Did not those noble victors, once they became our masters, appear to forget that they had been our enemies, in order to concern themselves solely with our needs and with ways of satisfying them? Surely, you have not forgotten the good actions of His Excellency, the illustrious and charitable Genera l Murray, and the alms he gave to help the poor subsist! You have not forgotten his wise and generous measures 10 prevent famine in his government! After such deeds, must we not be convinced that God has not stopped loving us and that it rests with us to enjoy under this new government the pleasure of a long and durable peace. Punctually perform the duties of subjects who are loyal and devoted to their prince. You will then find a King who is good-natured, charitable, diligent in promoting your happiness, and favourable to your religion to which, with a joy that is beyond words, we see that you are so strongly attached. From H. Têtu (1930) Les Évêques de Québec, Montréal, Granger frères limitée, translated by MacKirdy et. al (1971) Changing Perspectives in Canadian History, Toronto, Bryant Pres 9

10 10 Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? In point form, summarize Briand s position. 10

11 11 Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? Document 4: This is how fur-traders reacted to the Conquest. Fur-trading French Canadiens found that working under the British regime was challenging. On September 27, 1765, three fur-traders sent the following letter: Letter from Lemoine, Porlier and Lévêque to Guinaud and Hankey From the Dartmouth Papers in the Public Archives of Canada, translated by MacKirdy et. al (1971) Changing Perspectives in Canadian History, Toronto, Bryant Press Only recently conquered, we have gladly submitted ourselves, we say, to the new government. We were hoping to find in it kindnesses that we could never have enjoyed under French domination, and up to a certain point we were not mistaken. But in order for us fully to enjoy these kindnesses, a material basis should also be present and this is exactly what we lack. France used to spend annually ten or eleven million livres tournois for the maintenance of the troops or for other political purposes. This money, distributed among the people, constituted real wealth... Our new masters adopt an opposite method. Far from spreading wealth among us, they force us to assume a burden. We do not know how to carry it. We see only one solution, and that is to compensate for our new mother country's lack of aid and for the regulations she imposes on us by a trade that is free and extensive. The English are reputed the best traders in the world. Their leaders, as a consequence, should be the most enlightened. They cannot but see what is best for us and what is the most useful. However, the distance that separates us makes them see things quite differently from what they really are. Our trade is declining. We lack many of the necessary, we even dare say, indispensable goods. We have a surplus of things we cannot use, and our own goods cannot be used in payment for what we would require from you. A sad situation! Money is no longer sent to us and we cannot obtain any by means of our own goods. These few words explain everything. The consequences are evident. Trade is falling off. It will decline and wither until the colony, burdened with debts which it cannot pay, will become a useless member of the state, an insupportable burden to herself, and a lost cause to all those who would have liked to help her. The decline of numerous business houses established in the last four or five years easily shows what we have always wanted 'your government to understand, that this colony cannot yet be self-supporting. It is absolutely necessary that she receive, at least for a little more time, either assistance or an equivalent encouragement for her commerce. 11

12 12 Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? In point form, summarize the letter. 12

13 13 Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? Document 5: The effects of The Conquest on French Canadien settlers and farmers is described in Documents 5, 6 and 7: In 1760 Canada was completely crushed. The colony which passed to Britain three years later was an economic ruin. It was also a political ruin.... Finally, in 1763 the country was ruined socially. It had lost the most influential and competent part of its ruling class, a part which could not survive outside of the political and economic framework of New France and the French empire. The latter now disappeared from America, and the former from the map. During the years Canada was not merely conquered and ceded to England; it was defeated. Defeat means disintegration. When an army is defeated there are still soldiers, but there is no longer an army. In 1763 there were still Canadians, but Canada was no more. Eliminated from politics, from commerce, and from industry, Canadians turned back to the soil. If they came to boast that they were "children of the soil", it was because defeat had affected not only their material civilization but also their ideas. They had bad higher pretensions when their community was more complete. The social development described in the preceding pages does not conform with the account given by most historians of Canada. The "reason is that most of them attempted to reconstruct the society of the French Regime on the lines of that broken society which they could examine in the period following They have read history backwards. It is only because of this dubious approach that they came to conclude that, under the French Regime, the chief factors which conditioned Canadian society were neither the existence of the French motherland nor the fur trade but only the peaceful work of the countryside. The behaviour of the mother country was shown as being inadequate and, at times, uninspired; but that does not mean that it was superfluous. A simple examination of the facts brings into sharp relief the importance of big business and of the economic activity which implied the existence of a middle class. In truth, the old-time Canadian society was something more than a rustic community. It had all the elements which made up the society of a normal colony. Like other American settlements, Canada possessed political and social institutions borrowed from the motherland and adapted to the conditions of the New World. Like other colonies it had its rustics and its townsmen, its clergy and its faithful, its workers and its merchants, its soldiers, its officials and its politicians, its middle classes and its aristocracy. Between Canada and the British colonies the chief difference was not one of kind but of size. It had very few people; they were populous. Hence, after an inevitable conflict, it was defeated. G. Frégault (1962) Canadian Society in the French Regime, Ottawa, Canadian Historical Association 13

14 14 5. Document 6 After 1760, life went on in the St. Lawrence Valley [much] the same as before. The change of Empire and [mother country], even if it entailed numerous adaptations, did not mean a very distinct break with the past. - Fernand Ouellet, 1966 From J.A. Dickinson and B. Young (1995) Diverse Pasts: A History of Québec and Canada, Toronto: Copp Clark Document 7 M. Wade (1956) The French Canadians, New York, MacMillan It is still possible today to start bitter controversy in Quebec by pointing out that the first British rulers of Canada did not try to crush the French Canadians under the yoke of military govern-ment, but on the contrary actually befriended them against the pretensions of the swarm of campfollowers and commercial adventurers who descended upon the newly conquered land like a cloud of locusts. 3 Such, however, is the picture which emerges from sober study of the contemporary documents. In this age of ruthless oppression of conquered peoples the peaceful transition of Quebec from French to British rule is remarkable and noteworthy. The English conquest might well have meant the end of French Canada as a cultural unit in North America, and of the French Canadians as an ethnic group ; instead the survival of both was assured by legislation adopted a decade after the peace treaty had been signed. The French Canadians benefited by the confusion of British politics from 1760 to 1774, when colonial affairs were almost completely neglected in George Ill's bitter struggle with the Whig majority. But their survival was not dependent, however, upon either British magnanimity or the force of circumstances; for French Canada possessed an indomitable will to live, witnessed in the first decade after the conquest by the attainment of the highest birthrate ever recorded for any white people. 4 The whole history of Quebec since 1760 reveals how completely the French Canadians concentrated their resources and devoted them to the struggle for survival. This effort still continues, long after survival has been assured. 14

15 15 B. Building knowledge: What are some of the facts? B.1.d. In point form, summarize the experience. Are you aware of any other experience that the French Canadien settlers may have had? 15

16 16 Values and principles What are some civic values and principles? The following values and principles are very important: rights freedoms equality security survival tradition heritage development In your own words, describe these values and principles. Are there any other values that are important to you? 16

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18 18 5. Analyzing the issue Let s critically analyze this issue In a sentence or statement, write the question in your own words. 2. Refer to your facts and values to: Put your values in order of importance, and provide brief explanations. Review those values that are less important. Has the order changed? EXAMPLE : No. VALUES EXPLANATIONS 18

19 19 5. Put your facts in order of importance, based on your values. EXAMPLE : Review those facts that are less valid. Has the order changed? No. FACTS 3. Consider any personal beliefs and experiences that may influence your position. 4. Based on the facts and values that you have developed, draft a short answer to the question: 19

20 20 5. In point form, and based on the important facts and values, support your answer with arguments. 6. To ensure that your answer flows, put these arguments in order. Then, group similar arguments so that your answer is organized in paragraphs. This is the outline of your position. 20

21 21 Taking a position: You are now ready to write your position on this issue. 7. Use the notes developed in steps 1 to 6 on the previous pages, as well as the outline on the following page, to write your answer. Pay attention to your expression (spelling, grammar, etc.). Review your: Arguments Are the important facts and values included? Do your facts support your arguments? Intensity Is your answer convincing? Could you strengthen any of your arguments? Based on your answers to the question above, and if necessary, edit your answer. 21

22 22 Use this page to help you organize your ideas... 22

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25 25 F. Assessment and evaluation of critical thinking: Evaluating a position paper The criteria below will help to determine how critical your answer is: /10 if marked Not persuasive, facts and values do not support position. 2 Not persuasive, too few supporting facts and values. 3 Not persuasive, with some supporting facts and values. 4 Not persuasive, but with good supporting facts and values. 5 Not persuasive, but strong supporting facts and values. 6 Intensity Are the arguments strong? Is the answer persuasive? Convincing? Persuasively weak, facts and values do not support position. 3 Persuasively weak, with too few supporting facts and values. 4 Persuasively weak, with some supporting facts and values. 5 Persuasively weak, but with good supporting facts and values. 6 Persuasively weak, although backed by strong supporting facts and values. 7 Somewhat persuasive, facts and values do not support position. 4 Somewhat persuasive, but with too few supporting facts and values. 5 Somewhat persuasive, with some supporting facts and values. 6 Somewhat persuasive, with good supporting facts and values. 7 Somewhat persuasive, but backed by strong supporting facts and values. 8 Persuasive arguments, but facts and values do not support position. 5 Persuasive arguments, but with too few supporting facts and values. 6 Persuasive arguments, with some supporting facts and values. 7 Persuasive arguments, with good supporting facts and values. 8 Persuasive arguments, backed by strong supporting facts and values. 9 Strong persuasive arguments, but facts and values do not support position. 6 Strong persuasive arguments, but with too few supporting facts and values. 7 Strong persuasive arguments, with some supporting facts and values. 8 Strong persuasive arguments, with good supporting facts and values. 9 Strong persuasive arguments, backed by strong supporting facts and values. 10 Congratulations! If you have carefully followed these steps, you have developed a position that is based on critical thinking, and you have exercised a skill that is very important in life. 25