Secondary 4 History of Québec and Canada case studies
Secondary 4 History of Québec and Canada · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Secondary 4 History of Québec and Canada course is the compulsory history requirement most students in the Québec school system must pass to obtain their secondary school diploma. It surveys roughly four centuries of history, from the French Regime through the British Regime, Confederation, industrialization, the Duplessis era, the Quiet Revolution, and contemporary debates. The Secondary 4 History of Québec and Canada case studies are 5 cases and about 3,497 words.
1Hemp, Wheat, and the Seigneurial Bargain at Batiscan, 1736
In 1736, the seigneur of a 200-arpent tract along the Batiscan River petitions Intendant Gilles Hocquart for permission to convert 30 arpents of wheat land to hemp and to raise the tenants' corvée from three to six days a year. His 18 tenant families have cleared only 40 arpents and harvested about 15 minots of wheat per arpent in 1735, but the seigneur says naval rope prices in France justify the change and that the Crown has offered a subsidy for hemp.
722 words, about 4 min2Civil Law, Merchant Credit, and the Quebec Act in 1786
In 1786, a Quebec City merchant, William Dickson, sues a habitant, Jean-Baptiste Tremblay, for a debt of 1,200 livres contracted in wheat. Dickson demands trial before an English-speaking jury under the law merchant, arguing that the Royal Proclamation of 1763 promised English law and that his contract was registered in an English notary's office.
746 words, about 4 min3The 1912 Valleyfield Cotton Mill Inquiry
In 1912, a provincial inquiry in Valleyfield, Quebec, hears testimony on conditions in a cotton mill employing 800 workers, 210 of them under 16. The mill owner, Arthur Leblanc, testifies that a 60-hour week is standard, that families need the wages of children, and that his company has built 40 houses rented at 6 a month.
713 words, about 4 min4Rimouski Community Radio and the FLQ Manifesto, October 1970
On 9 October 1970, a community radio station in Rimouski receives an anonymous tape containing the FLQ manifesto and a demand that it be broadcast within 24 hours, or 'the next blow will fall in the regions.' The station's board meets: the manager notes that Radio-Canada broadcast the manifesto nationally the previous evening; the news director argues that withholding it would make the station appear to be a police auxiliary; the lawyer warns that the War Measures Act has not yet been invoked but that the police have asked for 'voluntary restraint.' The station has 3,000 listeners, a 250-watt transmitter, and no newsroom budget for verification. A local teachers' union has asked to buy airtime to read the manifesto with a disclaimer.
661 words, about 3 min5Measuring Support for the 1837 Rebellion in Deux-Montagnes
A Secondary 4 student is writing an evidence-based essay on support for the 1837 rebellion in Deux-Montagnes. She has four sources: (A) a dispatch from Lord Gosford dated December 1837 stating that 'the great body of the inhabitants remain loyal'; (B) an editorial from the Patriote newspaper La Minerve claiming that 2,000 men in the county were ready to take up arms; (C) a parish register listing 187 men who actually joined the rebel camp out of 1,150 adult males in the two parishes; (D) a letter from a British merchant saying rebel sympathizers are 'chiefly the poorer sort, led by notaries.' Her teacher asks her not to simply average the claims but to assess each source's purpose, audience, and proximity to events.
655 words, about 3 min