Quebec's Connection with the Boston Tea Party and the First Continental Congress

Previously published in Examiner

Part 3 of the Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester series

To learn more about Canadian or Quebec politics, both McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal offer wonderful political science degrees, that you may want to look into.

For further reading, Montreal's Concordia University has a wonderful women's studies program at the Simone do Beauvoir Institute

We now are setting the tone for the three female Governor Generals of Canada, two of which were from Montreal Quebec. The duties of a governor general is to represent the ruling British Monarch in Canada. The governor general carries out administrative duties and also celebratory or festive activities.

A history of the evolution of Canada is important to the understanding of the role of a governor general. We will look at four male governors at four different periods of Quebec and Canadian history. They mark the stage for governor generals. These men made decisions primarily on behalf of men. Women's issues were really not considered with any semblance of respect before the 20th century. The actions of these governors affected the lives of women and that is why they are chosen as a preamble before our women governor generals will be discussed.

Governors-in-Chief/Governors General of The Canadas, 1786-1840

The First Continental Congress

The American First Continental Congress sent a letter to Quebec, which was published in its newspaper in 1774 denouncing the Quebec Act which the organizers of the Congress felt was part of what was called the Intolerable Acts '" coercive acts levied upon North American colonists by the British because of the Boston Tea Party. The organizers opposed the Quebec Act as being undemocratic and pro Catholic. They also resented the tithing requirement for churches and allowing the Catholics to hold seats in the local government (civil service positions).

Note: not holding seats in their own local government would have been anti-democratic.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Carleton,_1st_Baron_Dorchester