Editing Quebec City (section)

=== British and Canadian rule (1763–present)===
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2016}}
[[File:Canadian militiamen and British soldiers repulse the American assault at Sault-au-Matelot.jpg|thumb|British regulars and [[Canadian militia]] engage the [[Continental Army]] in the streets of the city. The Americans' failure to take Quebec in 1775 led to the end of their [[Invasion of Quebec (1775)|campaign in Canada.]]]]

During the [[American Revolution]], revolutionary troops from the southern colonies [[Battle of Quebec (1775)|assaulted the British garrison in the city]] in the hope that the peoples of Quebec would rise and join the [[American Revolution]] so that Canada would join the [[Continental Congress]], along with the other British colonies of continental North America. The American invasion failed, however, and the war resulted in a permanent split of British North America into two entitles: the newly independent [[United States of America]], and those colonies (including Quebec) that remained under British control, which would later become the country of [[Canada]].

The city itself was not attacked during the [[War of 1812]], when the United States again attempted to annex Canadian lands. Amid fears of another American attack on Quebec City, construction of the [[Citadelle of Quebec]] began in 1820. The Americans did not attack Canada after the War of 1812, but the Citadelle continued to house a large British garrison until 1871. It is still in use by the military and is also a tourist attraction.

Until the late 18th century Québec was the most populous city in present-day Canada. As of the census of 1790, Montreal surpassed it with 18,000 inhabitants, but Quebec, which had about 14,000 of population at that time, remained the administrative capital of the former New France.<ref name="Cartier">{{Cite journal |last=Cartier |first=Gwenaël |date=2009 |title=Québec 1608–2008 : 400 ans de statistiques démographiques tirées des recensements |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/cqd/2008-v37-n1-cqd2900/029642ar/ |url-status=live |journal=Cahiers québécois de démographie |language=fr |volume=37 |page=143 |doi=10.7202/029642ar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729111705/https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/cqd/2008-v37-n1-cqd2900/029642ar/ |archive-date=29 July 2018 |access-date=29 July 2018 |doi-access=}}</ref> It was then made the capital of [[Lower Canada]] by the [[Constitutional Act of 1791]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ville de Québec – Québec City, Fortress and Port (1756–1867) |url=https://www.ville.quebec.qc.ca/en/apropos/portrait/histoire/1756-1867.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028235646/https://www.ville.quebec.qc.ca/en/apropos/portrait/histoire/1756-1867.aspx |archive-date=28 October 2021 |access-date=31 March 2019 |website=Ville de Québec}}</ref> From 1841 to 1867, the capital of the [[Province of Canada]] rotated between [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]], [[Montreal]], [[Toronto]], [[Ottawa]] and Quebec City (from 1851 to 1855 and from 1859 to 1865).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clapperton |first1=Nina |title=13 Canada Capital Cities |url=https://ninaoutandabout.ca/canada-capital-cities/ |website=Nina Out and About |date=18 November 2021 |access-date=10 April 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Loading ship with square timber through the bow port Quebec City QC 1872.jpg|thumb|Square timber being loaded on a sail ship at the port of Québec in 1872]]
The city experienced an economic golden age in the 1800s, due to its favorable location on the Saint Lawrence River which gave rise to industries of wooden [[Sailing ship|sailing]] ships manufacture, export of squared [[Lumber|timber logs]]. to Europe, as well as associated enterprises such as [[sawmill]]s. However, by the 1870s, Québec City entered a period of economic decline. Contributing factors included the rise of steel-hulled [[steamship]]s, the expansion of railroads at the expense of waterways for continental commerce; the depletion of forest resources near major rivers upstream of Québec City and in the west of the province, which were transported to [[Port of Quebec|Québec's port]] by [[log driving]]; the construction of [[St. Lawrence Seaway|locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway]], opening up trade routes to the U.S. from Montreal; and the city's inability to retain immigrant populations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Langlois |first=Simon |date=2007 |title=Sociologie de la ville de Québec |url=https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/cdd/2007-n61-cdd3633/039157ar/ |journal=Les Cahiers des dix |language=fr |issue= 61|page=196 |doi=10.7202/039157ar |issn=0575-089X}}</ref> This unfavourable context, coupled with the departure of the British army from the city's Citadel in 1871, contributed to the exodus of English speaking populations, such as local bourgeoisie of Scottish origin or workers of Irish background, to Montreal in the second half of the 19th century. Anglophones made up approximately 40% of the city's population in 1861, but 16% in 1901.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Langlois |first=Simon |date=2007 |title=Sociologie de la ville de Québec |url=https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/cdd/2007-n61-cdd3633/039157ar/ |journal=Les Cahiers des dix |language=fr |issue= 61|page=197 |doi=10.7202/039157ar |issn=0575-089X}}</ref>

Before the [[Royal Military College of Canada]] was established in 1876, the only French-speaking officer training school was the Quebec City School of Military Instruction, founded in 1864.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 2017 |title=Canadian Military Heritage Volume 2 (1755–1871). Canadian Militia Unpopular with Francophones |url=http://cmhg-phmc.forces.gc.ca/cmh-pmc/page-501-eng.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012181855/http://cmhg-phmc.forces.gc.ca/cmh-pmc/page-501-eng.aspx |archive-date=12 October 2018 |access-date=6 October 2018 |website=Canadian Military History Gateway |publisher=Department of National Defence |language=en}}</ref> The school was retained at Confederation, in 1867. In 1868, The School of Artillery was formed in Montreal.<ref>Richard Preston 'Canada's RMC: A History of the Royal Military College of Canada' published by the RMC Club by U of Toronto Press.</ref>

[[File:The Quebec Conference, Canada, August 1943 TR1347.jpg|thumb|left|[[William Lyon Mackenzie King|Mackenzie King]], [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt]], [[Winston Churchill]], and the [[Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone|Earl of Athlone]] (left to right) at the [[First Quebec Conference]], a secret military conference held in [[World War II]]]]

The [[Quebec Conference, 1864|Quebec Conference]] on [[Canadian Confederation]] was held in the city in 1864. In 1867, [[Queen Victoria]] chose Ottawa as the definite capital of the Dominion of Canada, while Quebec City was confirmed as the capital of the newly created province of Quebec.

During World War II, two conferences were held in Quebec City. The [[Quebec Conference, 1943|First Quebec Conference]] was held in 1943 with [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] (President of the United States), [[Winston Churchill]] (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] (Prime Minister of Canada) and [[T. V. Soong]] (minister of foreign affairs of [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]]). The [[Second Quebec Conference]] was held in 1944 and was attended by Churchill and Roosevelt. They took place in the buildings of the Citadelle and at the nearby [[Château Frontenac]]. A large part of the [[D-Day]] landing plans were made during those meetings.

Until 2002, Quebec was a mostly urbanized city and its territory coterminous with today's borough of [[La Cité-Limoilou]]. The Government of Quebec then mandated a [[2000–06 municipal reorganization in Quebec|municipal reorganization in the province]], and many [[suburbs]] of the north shore of the Saint-Lawrence were merged into Quebec City, taking the form of [[Borough#Canada|boroughs]], thus constituting the boundary of present-day Québec City. In 2008 the city celebrated its [[400th anniversary of Quebec City|400th anniversary]] and was gifted funds for festivities and construction projects by provincial and federal governments, as well as [[public artwork]] by various entities, including foreign countries.