Canada's Religions: An Historical Introduction

9. Revivals in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

CHAPTER 9 Revivals in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries Upon the Province of Quebec's effective redefinition as an alliance between a FrenchCatholicpopulation and an English Protestant sovereign, and in the wake ofthe subsequent American WarofIndependence (17751783 ), more than 36,000 settlers fled the rebellious southern colonies to seek refuge in Canada. They were the Loyalists whose arrivalin Canada would lead to yet another set ofconstitutional rules for the country. Although they had been preceded by a handful of Protestants in Quebec and by a few thousand in the eastern colonies after 1750,1 the coming of the Loyalists marked the first arrival of large numbers of Protestants in the country. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, these new Protestant Canadians simultaneously founded or reinforced a variety of denominations while undertaking the evangelization of the new frontier. Simultaneously, Canada's Catholics launched their own form ofreligious revivalby launching Canada's church into a crusade for the conversion of the continent. Not to be outdone, even Canada's Amerindians experienced their own religious revival at the turn of the nineteenth century. The origins of Protestantism in Canada The presence of a few hundred Protestants in New France, of a Church of England cleric among the Arctic explorer Martin Frobisher's expedition to Baffin Island in 1577, and of a few Catholic and Protestant clergy in Lord Calvert's settlement of Ferryland on Newfoundland's Avalon peninsula during the 1620s represent the first stirrings of Protestant Christianity in Canada. All these missions were short-lived, as were 160 Canada'sReligions others by naval chaplains or wandering friars who visited the fishing stations on the Newfoundland coast during the seventeenth century. After the British Conquest, Protestant military chaplains appeared in British garrisons in Acadia and Quebec. A significant Protestant presence in Canada had to await the mideighteenth century when 5,000 Protestant settlers from Britain, Switzerland, and Germany set foot in the new British port of Halifax in 1749 and 1750.Theywere of Lutheranand GermanReformed tradition; many of them settled in Lunenburg. They were followed between 1760 and 1765by 8,000 settlers from New England, drawn by the promiseof free land and religious freedom for dissenters. Similar motives attracted a number of Protestant and Catholic immigrants from the British Isles, who settled in various parts of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward Island. It is estimated that the region had a total population of some 18,000 by 1775.2 Newfoundland was also experiencing steady growth as new permanent residents arrived from the southeast of Ireland and the English West Country,including Anglicans and Protestant dissenters3 in addition to Catholics.4 The beginning of the American War of Independence in 1775 signaled the onset ofthe migration to Canada ofmore than 35,000 refugees from the new republic in the south. While 7,000 of these United Empire Loyalists travelled overland to Canada via Lake Champlain or Niagara, fully 30,000 settled in Nova Scotia north of the Bay of Fundy, the territory that would become the distinct Province of New Brunswick (1784). This initial wave was followed, after 1791, by thousands of Tate Loyalists' who were drawn by the land and opportunities in Canada. This surge continued until immigration from the United States was curtailed by the War of 1812. The Loyalists created a critical mass for Protestantism in Canada, a tradition whose small numbers had formerly led to marginalization. In many respects, the United EmpireLoyalistswere the losers in the American WarofIndependence;the men and women who had chosen to stay loyalto Englandwhen the rebellion brokeout.Uponthe victoryof the rebels, they felt compelled to flee northwards to the British colony of Canada, in many cases urged to do soby the seizure oftheir property in the new republic and by the inequitable treatment they received at the hands ofthe new government. Indeed, those who had not supported the independence movement were less than welcome in the United States. Theywere also drawn to Canada by the free land that was available toall loyal Britishsubjectsfrom the new republic. Revivals 161 Although defeated politically and economically, the Loyalists felt a shared loyalty to Great Britain. They also shared an experience of free democratic society that would affect their political and social life in Canada. These Loyalists were a varied lot, the majority being farmers, tradesmen, soldiers, or frontiersmen ofvarious religious traditions. The majority was Protestant, but some Catholics, Amerindians, and...