Editing Acadians (section)

==Pre-deportation history==
{{Main|History of the Acadians|Military history of the Acadians}}

[[Image:Acadia 1754.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Acadia (1754)]]

During the early 17th century,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford companion to Canadian history|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor-last=Hallowell |editor-first=Gerald |isbn=978-0195415599|location=Don Mills, Ont.|oclc=54971866|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000unse_o5y1}}</ref> about 60 [[History of the Acadians#Arrival of the first European families|French families were established in Acadia]]. They developed relations with the peoples of the [[Wabanaki Confederacy]] (particularly the regional [[Miꞌkmaq|Mi'kmaq]]). The Acadians lived mainly in the coastal regions of the [[Bay of Fundy]]; they reclaimed farming land from the sea by building dikes to control water and drain certain wetlands.

Living in a contested borderland region between French Canada and the British territories on New England and the coast, the Acadians often became entangled in the conflict between the powers. Their competition in Europe played out in North America as well. Over a period of 74 years, six wars (the four [[French and Indian Wars]], [[Father Rale's War]], and [[Father Le Loutre's War]]) took place in Acadia and Nova Scotia, in which the Wabanaki Confederacy and some Acadians fought to keep the British from taking over the region. While France lost political control of Acadia in 1713, the Mí'kmaq did not concede land to the British. Along with  Acadians, the Mi'kmaq used military force to resist the British.  That was particularly evident in the early 1720s during [[Dummer's War]].

The British had conquered Acadia in 1710. Over the next 45 years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. Many were influenced by Father [[Jean-Louis Le Loutre]], who from his arrival in 1738 until his capture in 1755, preached against the "English devils".<ref>{{cite book|last=Parkman|first=Francis|author-link=Francis Parkman|title=Montcalm and Wolfe|url=https://archive.org/details/montcalmandwolf08parkgoog|series=France and England in North America|year=1914|publisher=Little, Brown|orig-year=1884}}</ref> 
Father Le Loutre led the Acadian people during the [[Acadian Exodus]], as an act of defiance towards British demands and oppression. Acadians took part in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French [[Fortress of Louisbourg]] and [[Fort Beauséjour|Fort Beausejour]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Grenier|first=John|title=The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710–1760|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXoCBQAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2008|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-8566-8}}</ref> 
During the French and Indian War, the British sought to neutralize any military threat posed by the Acadians and to interrupt the vital supply lines which they provided to Louisbourg by making them sign an oath of allegiance to the crown.<ref>{{cite book |last=Patterson |first=Stephen E. |chapter=Indian-White Relations in Nova Scotia, 1749–61: A Study in Political Interaction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jnxIPgAACAAJ&pg=PA105 |editor1-last=Buckner |editor1-first=Phillip Alfred |editor2-last=Campbell |editor2-first=Gail Grace |editor3-last=Frank |editor3-first=David |title=The Acadiensis Reader: Atlantic Canada Before Confederation |date=1998 |pages=105–106|publisher=Acadiensis Press |isbn=9780919107441}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=Stephen E.|chapter=1744–1763: Colonial Wars and Aboriginal Peoples|editor1=Phillip Buckner|editor2=John G. Reid|title=The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2spDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=1994|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4875-1676-5|page=144|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt15jjfrm}}</ref>

The British founded the town of [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]] and fortified it in 1749 in order to establish a base against the French. The Mi'kmaq resisted the increased number of British (Protestant) settlements by making numerous raids on Halifax, [[Raid on Dartmouth (1751)|Dartmouth]], Lawrencetown, and [[Raid on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (1756)|Lunenburg]]. During the French and Indian War, the Mi'kmaq assisted the Acadians in resisting the British during the Expulsion of the Acadians.{{sfnp|Faragher|2005|pp=110–112}}

Many Acadians might have signed an unconditional oath to the British monarchy had the circumstances been better, while other Acadians would not sign because it was religious oath which denied the Catholic faith because the British Monarch was head of the [[Church of England]].<ref>For the best account of Acadian armed resistance to the British, see Grenier, John. ''The Far Reaches of Empire. War in Nova Scotia, 1710–1760.'' Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2008.</ref> 
Acadians had numerous reasons against signing an oath of loyalty to the British Crown. Acadian men feared that signing the oath would commit them to fighting against France during wartime. They also worried about whether their Mi'kmaq neighbours might perceive an oath as acknowledging the British claim to Acadia rather than that of the indigenous Mi'kmaq. Acadians believed that if they signed the oath, they might put their villages at risk of attack by the Mi'kmaq.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reid|first=John G.|title=Nova Scotia: A Pocket History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-69QAAACAAJ&pg=PA49|year=2009|publisher=Fernwood |isbn=978-1-55266-325-7|page=49}}</ref>

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File:Acadians, Inset of painting by Samuel Scott Annapolis Royal, 1751.jpg|Acadians by [[Samuel Scott (painter)|Samuel Scott]], Annapolis Royal, 1751
File:Costumes de Differents Pays, 'Homme Acadien' LACMA M.83.190.378.jpg|''Homme Acadien'' (''Acadian Man'') by [[:fr:Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur|Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur]] represents a Mi'kmaq man in the area of Acadia according to the Nova Scotia Museum.
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