How Vain an Attempt

In October 1774, the First Continental Congress, gathered in Philadelphia, approved an open letter to Canadians. “You are a small people, compared to those who with open arms invite you into a fellowship,” it read. “A moment’s reflection should convince you which will be most for your interest and happiness, to have all the rest of North-America your unalterable friends, or your inveterate enemies.” The Americans, who had not yet openly rebelled against the Crown, believed that their fellow British subjects, mostly consisting of French Canadians in recently conquered New France, shared their desire to throw off the shackles of the monarchy and unfair taxation from across the Atlantic. The letter carried with it the threat of invasion should the “small people” ignore the offer of friendship that came with the slight inconvenience of annexation. Local authorities did ignore it, though. And the Americans, after taking up arms in April 1775 and engaging in some minor skirmishes...