New Brunswick

D

American Revolution

Contrary to the expectations of the British and American governments, most New Brunswickers remained neutral during the American Revolution. The fighting in the colony was sporadic. Although a small number supported a Maine force in gaining control of the Bay of Fundy, British sea power had again captured control of the bay by 1776. In November of the same year a transplanted American settler, Jonathan Eddy, led an unsuccessful assault against Fort Cumberland (formerly Fort Beauséjour).

Although events in New Brunswick did not determine the outcome of the war, the American Revolution had a profound effect on the colony. Even as the war raged, Britain recognized New Brunswick as an important source of lumber for its navy, and Saint John became a shipbuilding center. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the revolution in 1783, established the Saint Croix River as a common border with the district of Maine, then a part of Massachusetts. However, the most important effect of the revolution on New Brunswick was the tremendous migration of United Empire Loyalists to the Saint John Valley. Within a year after the war more than 14,000 Loyalists, deprived of their American property, sought refuge. Largely through Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander in New York, thousands were directed to Britain’s nearby colony on the Bay of Fundy, where they established towns as far north as Woodstock. Another group settled on the site of Saint Andrews.

E

Separation

The Loyalists, many of whom had been leaders in the American colonies, quickly developed a distrust of Halifax, the remote seat of the British colony of Nova Scotia. They successfully agitated for a separate government. In 1784 the area west and north of the Nova Scotian peninsula was named New Brunswick. Thomas Carleton, brother of Sir Guy, became the first governor. By 1785, Carleton, over the objections of the Saint John merchants and traders, succeeded in locating the capital at Fredericton. He also established the Provincial Academy of Arts and Sciences (now the University of New Brunswick).

The Loyalists, meanwhile, had been given land by the British government, and the future appeared promising. Britain’s involvement in the French Revolutionary Wars in the 1790s, however, ended economic aid to the colony and disrupted its West Indian trade.

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As a result, Saint John, which had been incorporated as the first Canadian city in 1785, declined as an important port and the infant interior towns failed to expand. By 1800 the population of New Brunswick had reached only about 20,000.

F

Expansion

In 1805, at the Battle of Trafalgar, the British navy secured control of the seas and transatlantic trade resumed. As the war raged in Europe, great demands were made on New Brunswick for ships, lumber, and fishing and agricultural products. The colony was well suited for its new role. It had many navigable rivers, great pine and spruce forests, and thousands of citizens who willingly moved into all aspects of the profitable lumber industry. A stimulant of only slightly less importance was the U.S. Embargo Act of 1807, which prevented U.S. ships from sailing into foreign ports. Accordingly, Saint Andrews and Saint John became free ports from which a lucrative foreign trade was conducted.

The demands of the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States further stimulated the colony’s economy. Trade with New England expanded, and immigration, particularly from the British Isles, became notable. The colony played a minor role in the war. A Fredericton regiment saw action on the Niagara frontier, and the Maine coast as far south as the Penobscot River was temporarily annexed. By 1825 the population was approximately 75,000. Most New Brunswickers were engaged in the lumber industry, while others farmed the more fertile lands. Fishing, by comparison, was neglected.

G

Aroostook War

The New Brunswick-Maine border north of the Saint Croix River was left unresolved by the Treaty of Paris. After Maine gained statehood in 1820, Maine citizens found that the Aroostook Valley was claimed by New Brunswick. In 1838 Maine and New Brunswick assembled their militias in preparation for war. Peaceful negotiations, however, settled the dispute and the so-called war remained bloodless. In 1842 the Webster-Ashburton Treaty set the present border. The Aroostook Valley was given to the United States, and navigational rights on the Saint John River were granted to both New Brunswick and Maine.

H

Reform

For 50 years New Brunswick was governed by a democratically elected assembly and an appointed executive not responsible to it. As in other British colonies, there was much friction. In the 1830s the timber merchants gained a majority in the assembly and succeeded in establishing complete control of the millions of acres of public lands. Responsible government, a government that was elected by the people and was responsible to the people, was instituted in 1848 by Sir Edmund Head, the lieutenant governor. In the same year, Britain adopted a free-trade policy, giving New Brunswick almost total economic independence but depriving it of important British markets. To the amazement of the merchants, free trade, after a poor start, brought a higher level of prosperity than the colony had known before. Shipbuilders won world fame in 1852 when the Marco Polo, built in Saint John, made its record voyage from England to Australia. The 1854 Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, in which both countries agreed to reduce the duties, or charges, on traded goods, and the American Civil War (1861-1865) further increased the volume of foreign trade and the pace of economic development.

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