Editing Quebec Act (section)

=== Thirteen Colonies ===
[[File:The British colonies in North America.jpg|right|thumb|The British colonies in North America. Engraved and published by Royal Geographer [[William Faden]] in 1777. The 13 colonies were tightly circumscribed by Quebec in this map.]]
The Quebec Act angered some Americans. Along with four punitive acts passed in the same parliamentary session (called the ''Coercive Acts'' in England), it was termed one of the [[Intolerable Acts]] by the Patriots, and contributed to the coming of the American Revolution.

Frontiersmen from [[History of Virginia|Virginia]] and other colonies were already entering the areas that the act transferred to Quebec. Land development companies such as the [[Ohio Company]] had already been formed to acquire ownership of large tracts and sell land to settlers and trade with the Indians. Americans denounced the act for promoting the growth of "Papism" (Catholicism)<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Joseph J. |last=Casino |date=July 1981 |title=Anti-Popery in Colonial Pennsylvania |magazine=Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=105 |issue=3 |pages=279–309 |jstor=20091589}}</ref> and cutting back on their freedom and traditional rights. In particular, the colonial governments of [[History of New York (state)|New York]], [[History of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]] and Virginia were angered by the unilateral assignment of the Ohio lands to Quebec, which had each been granted them in their royal charters.<ref>{{cite book |first=Gordon |last=Wood |year=2002 |title=The American Revolution |location=New York |publisher=[[Random House]]}}</ref> The [[George Rex Flag|George Rex protest flag]] was created in New York as a result.<ref>{{cite book | first =Charles | last =Metzger  | title =Catholics and the American Revolution: A Study in Religious Climate| publisher = Loyola University Press |isbn=9781258177744 | year = 1961 | page =31 }}</ref>

Langston (2005) looked at press reaction in New England. Some colonial editors explained their views on how it reorganized Canadian governance, explaining how they felt it established direct rule by the Crown and limiting the reach of English law to criminal jurisprudence. [[Isaiah Thomas (publisher)|Isaiah Thomas]] of the ''[[History of American newspapers#The Massachusetts Spy and the Patriotic Press|Massachusetts Spy]]'' drew links between the ''Quebec Act'' and legislation circumscribing American liberties, such as the ''[[Tea Act]]'' and the [[Coercive Acts]]. Editors shaped public opinion by writing editorials and reprinting opposition letters from both sides of the Atlantic. The [[First Continental Congress]], which met from 5 September to 26 October 1774, [[Letters to the inhabitants of Canada|addressed the inhabitants of Quebec]], warning them of the perils of the supposedly arbitrary and tyrannical nature of Parliament.

The Quebec Act's main significance in the [[Thirteen Colonies]] was that it angered the Patriots, and dismayed the [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] who supported the Crown, and helped to accelerate the confrontation that became the American Revolution.<ref>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=John C. |year=1943 |title=Origins of the American Revolution}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2023}} The act is listed as one of the rebels' [[27 colonial grievances]] in the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]:<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpKLDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 |title=The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies |first=Alan |last=Taylor |edition=illustrated, reprinted |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=2010 |isbn=9781400042654}}</ref>

{{blockquote|For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies.}}

The First Continental Congress [[Petition to the King (1774)|petitioned Parliament]] to repeal the Intolerable Acts, which Parliament declined to do. Instead, in February 1775 Parliament passed the [[Conciliatory Resolution]] in an attempt to curry favour with the angry colonists. This was too little, too late, as the war broke out before news of its passage could reach the colonies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Alden|first=John R.|title=A history of the American Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryamerica06watkgoog|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|year=1969|isbn=0-306-80366-6|ref=Alden|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ahistoryamerica06watkgoog/page/n190 164]–170}}</ref> Although the [[Continental Congress]] did eventually receive this proposal, they ultimately rejected it.

In Quebec, the 1774 act was effectively superseded by the [[Constitutional Act 1791]], which partitioned Quebec into two new provinces, [[Upper Canada|Upper]] and [[Lower Canada]]. 

The Quebec Act 1774 is an important predecessor to the [[First Amendment]] to the [[Constitution of the United States]] by establishing religious freedom.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1034/quebec-act-of-1774 |last=Cornish |first=Paul |title=Quebec Act of 1774 |encyclopedia=The First Amendment Encyclopedia |access-date=2021-12-14 |publisher=Middle Tennessee State University}}</ref>