Part II, Chapter II: The Great Migration

Following the capture of Quebec in 1814, General Winfield Scott, now the overall commander of U.S. forces, knew that political negotiations for ending the war were inevitable, if not already underway. Scott had long foreseen difficulties in occupying the Canadian provinces and its unruly populace, and his statement via letter to Congress in the summer of 1814 emphasized these difficulties. His solution to not request their cession from Great Britain, however, had gone ignored, as the economic possibilities of controlling the entire eastern seaboard of the continent was regarded as an extremely profitable benefit for the price of a rebellious populace. The immediate fallout due to the occupation of Canada by the United States in the Ontario and Quebec regions in 1814 and the announcement of the entirety of eastern Canada's annexation to the United States due to the nation's victory in the War of 1812 had lead to widespread dissent in the occupied territories throughout the winter of 1814. The initial and expected harsh military crackdown and curfews (although not as harsh as Andrew Jackson's proposed policy of scorched earth and mass murder, which had been discarded as unfeasible) implemented by the United States Army and its leaders saw slight success at first, but slowly proved to be ineffective throughout the months of November and December, as the Canadian territory was found to be much too vast and as a result far less concentrated in urban areas, which made enforcement of the curfews and policing actions difficult. Furthermore, the harsh Canadian winter and the above-average amount of annual snowfall also prevented mobility and freedom of maneuver, and thus hampered timely American response to Canadian resistance. To complicate matters further, American leadership and soldiers were also still relatively unfamiliar with the native terrain as opposed to the average Canadian resistor, and thus were at a distinct disadvantage on a tactical level. Thus, the untenable situation that resulted from the annexation of these territories had been made clear by the spring of 1815, and the realization of this fact by American government officials had provoked them to find a peaceful solution to the rabid Canadian resistance, which was only speculated to become worse. By February of 1815, the occupied territories of Upper and Lower Canada saw dozens of authority-challenging acts occur daily, and by the end of 1815 the widespread Canadian rebellions had tallied over 100 American fatalities in the regions and had left over 800 Canadians dead as a direct byproduct of violent dissent. The infamous York and Kingston Rebellions of 1815 in January contributed to roughly half of these numbers, and had likewise caused a significant amount of property damage.



The amended Treaty of Ghent in 1815 had thus provided a widely publicized answer to what would later be known as the "Canadian Problem." A combined British and American subsidy program to relocate English-speaking Canadians west to British Columbia (should they so choose) had been widely regarded as successful for both parties involved, as for the Americans it removed unruly Canadians from land now regarded as American and thus opened them to American settlement and business without a future threat of ethnic violence. It also eliminated the perceived nightmare of maintaining a large garrisoned military presence in Upper Canada for a undetermined amount of time (150 years, as Winfield Scott estimated when inquired by the American Congress) to quell this expected ethnic tension, as Canadian settlers who had long before established a sense of national identity (one which had only strengthened due to its early victories in the war and the death of Isaac Brock) were deemed unlikely to assimilate before the turn of the 19th century. The amended portion of the treaty likewise benefited Great Britain in that it would still have a strategic foothold in North America by virtue of keeping its loyal population base by relocating it to the intact western portion of its Canadian colonies, although the proposed province of British Columbia where these settlers would be subsidized to relocate to was only relatively new to European settlement, and was thus far less developed in comparison to their former territory of eastern Canada. Beyond the Canadians that would voluntarily relocate by virtue of preservation of their national identity, increases in nation-wide taxation by the Americans to pay for the accumulated war debt included a sharp taxation on the Canadian populace, and the refusal of American leaders to allow the Canadian provinces to be represented politically in Washington until ethnic violence ceased had also forced many remaining Canadians to "voluntarily" apply for the subsidy program, as remaining in their former homes proved to be fiscally impossible. By 1819, as many as 500,000 English-speaking Canadians eligible for the joint subsidy program had voluntarily relocated to the newly established province of British Columbia, removing over 80% of this demographic from the newly acquired American territory. The program was also praised for its effectiveness, as payments to relocated Canadians were timely and accurate, although credit to the program from Canadians who undertook its benefit was largely applied to Great Britain, who took a much more dedicated approach than the United States to make the program appealing and effective for obvious reasons.



Regardless, the United States' victory in the War of 1812 had fostered in an entirely new era of continental dominance and population shifts in North America. The nation's territorial acquisitions following the Treaty of Ghent and its signing in 1814 had expanded the political boundaries of the nation dramatically, and it now roamed unchecked throughout the remainder of the 1810's and 1820's with a sizable and experienced military force under competent and proven leadership. Its economy, unmolested due to the elimination of the British on the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes, saw a dramatic increase in prosperity, and its population also saw a spike in immigration as the Napoleonic Wars in Europe came to a close. Politically, the unified American legislature and the widely regarded successful presidency of James Monroe during his two terms as President from 1817 to 1825 saw a total elimination of bipartisan disagreement in the United States, and this era later became known as the "Era of Good Feelings," which ushered in a new age of domestic improvement for the country as a whole, especially as Canadian unrest in the newly founded "Ontario Territory" had subsided as a result of the amended 1815 Treaty of Ghent.



The Upper Midwest, with the exception of the lower peninsula of the Michigan territory, had gone entirely unmolested throughout the War of 1812. As most fighting had occurred along the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes in Ontario, the territories saw no combat throughout the 2 years of hostility as a result. Although the mobilization of the United States military and its various militia units throughout the frontier had slightly affected the demographics of these territories (mostly of Michigan,) these were regarded as minor, and military victories throughout 1813 and 1814 allowed many Michigan settlers who had volunteered for military service following the declaration of war to return home following the end of their contracts (rather than be kept indefinitely until the war's end.) Furthermore, the Minnesota and Wisconsin areas had contributed relatively few personnel to the war effort, as enforcing conscription and contracted regulars to fight outside of their home territories was near impossible due to a lack of accessibility and transportation to the Upper Mississippi River valley, and so the United States relied primarily on volunteers from these regions instead (as they were also proven to be much more effective in combat than conscripts.) The few amount of permanent American settlers that would have been eligible for military service during the war (as French settlers were not, due to obvious cultural differences and language barriers) were regarded as nominal, and most likely would not have been able to make a difference in the war effort regardless, even if they had been forced into the United States Army and taken part in the Canadian theater. Thus, the War of 1812 saw little change to the growing population base of the Upper Midwest. Out of the estimated 100 permanent able-bodied American settlers in the combined Minnesota-Wisconsin territory, only 10 had volunteered for military service, and none of these service members had ever left American territory throughout the duration of the war, and were regulated primarily to militia duty. In any case, by 1814, they had all returned upon the ending of their contracts, and thus the War of 1812 had passed without any directly negative effects.



The acquisition of the Ontario Territory and resulting American monopolization of the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes in combination with a booming American economy, however, lead to direct positive effects for the Upper Midwest. The establishment of further opportunities for revenue beyond just the fur trade, which had exclusively dominated the economy of the regions for the last 300 years, lead to unparalleled growth and settlement, and the removal of British influence due to annexation had eliminated any threat to the area that had once existed, which had primarily come from the North West and the Hudson's Bay Companies, albeit by the time of their removal from central Canada due to the Treaty of Ghent the two feuding and highly competitive British trading companies had yet to expand their hostility beyond the southern half of Manitoba, and were thus regarded as trivial to the average colonist in the Upper Midwest. Both companies would eventually be completely gutted and disbanded by 1835, as the British no longer controlled the Hudson Bay. The relocation of hundreds of thousands of Anglo-Canadians to British Columbia had also seen minor settlement from this population in the Minnesota area, as upwards of 50 English-speaking Canadians migrated to the territory following the massive displacement and migration of their demographic westward from the Niagara region following the immediate end of the war in 1814 prior to the introduction of the subsidy program. Almost all of these Canadians were Catholic and regarded as American supporters, and their arrival in the territory foreshadowed their migration in much larger numbers, as the Upper Canada domestic economy fell into shambles due to the severe drop in population by 1819. They too had remorsefully relocated in search of further enterprise, and the large Catholic majority in Minnesota and its lack of governmental presence had made the region very appealing to weary Catholic Anglo-Canadian refugees, and their early travel would thus pave the way for future Canadian settlement. Persecution throughout the Ontario territory also continued throughout the 1810's, as American soldiers rarely differentiated between Canadian resistors and American sympathizers as resistance grew more violent, and as such lead many Canadians who were loyal to the American government to leave Canada regardless of their chosen side, mostly in fear of mistreatment. Remaining French-speaking Canadians, who were not qualified to be granted subsidies under the Treaty of Ghent, were far less hostile to their new American government, and thus faced markedly less persecution, but nonetheless a small quantity still relocated as the economy of Canada began to dwindle in hopes of finding fortunes elsewhere. Very few had chosen to migrate westward to British Columbia, as their persecution at the hands of their Anglo-Canadian cousins in the province was reported as widespread due to their usual sympathizing attitudes towards the United States (which was emphasized and exaggerated in great detail by the western Canadian press.) They instead settled in areas now open to their migration where other French-speaking peoples resided in large numbers, and where Catholicism was prevalent. Louisiana, along with Minnesota and Wisconsin, all saw a large amount of settlement from displaced French-Canadians throughout the early years of the 1820's.



The opening of the entirety of the Great Lakes, the Hudson Bay and the Saint Lawrence to American enterprise without fear of British intervention also promoted trade between the Minnesota frontier and the newly admitted states of Illinois and Ohio, who now had a direct (although extensively long) water route to the Fort du Luht settlement in Minnesota and the village of Sault Sainte Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and as a result access to the two colony's respectively lucrative fur trades. This trade route would later be referred to as the "Duluth Route" on American maps, thus gradually changing the French origin of the name to a more Americanized version over the course of the early 19th century. As the the 1810's drew to a close, the economic prosperity of the Upper Midwest and the growth of its population base due to migration had reached a never before seen climax. By 1820, the du Luht settlement, which had been renamed Duluth, and Fort Beauharnois, renamed as Lake Pepin, had climbed to nearly 2,000 permanent settlers each, doubling their respective populations in only a few short years. Half of these respective numbers were either Anglo-Canadian Catholics or American Catholics. This was due in large part to further migration of American sympathizing Anglo-Canadian Catholics to the territory in 1818 and 1819, since after the implementation of the 1815 Treaty of Ghent, the future of Upper Canada had remained remarkably dim for the remaining 20% of Canadians who had not chosen to voluntarily relocate to British Columbia through subsidy, and this select demographic of American "Loyalists" as a result faced persecution from both the Canadian resistors who remained and the garrisoned forces of the United States Army, who still disregarded any conscious effort to differentiate between the two factions. Furthermore, American Catholics, emboldened by the popularity of the faith in the region and the growing economic opportunities, had also migrated to the territory in novelty sized amounts, especially as transportation and accessibility to its settlements improved due to the monopolization of the Great Lakes trade routes and the quelling of Native American resistance in Ohio and Illinois. The rapidly expanding economy of the region in combination with the growing city of Detroit, Michigan (which provided a stepping stone for settlement into the territories) further helped the "Era of Good Feelings" to extend into the area throughout the late years of the 1810's and the early years of the 1820's. By 1822, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (which were all incorporated under the new "Michigan Territory") had a combined total of 13,000 permanent settlers, nearly 8,000 of which were Anglo (Yankee/Canadian) Catholics, 3,000 of which were remaining original French Catholics and 1,000 of which were miscellaneous European-based Protestants. The Great Migration, as it was later called, saw up to over a 700,000 souls regardless of national origin in the North American continent settle in new territories either through displacement, subsidy or voluntary relocation from 1815 - 1822, and was so closely intertwined with the after effects of the War of 1812 that it was usually regarded as synonymous with the Era of Good Feelings.



The large population boom of the 1810's and 1820's in the Upper Midwest had also lead to a change in relations with the Native Americans residing in the regions. The Ojibwa, who had long resided in the areas and numbered roughly 60,000, were slowly losing their only advantage, their numbers, which had long enabled them to maintain peaceful relations in the fur trade, as the white settlers in the regions historically had never been able to afford relations to turn hostile, as the Natives were the providers of their only source of income and greatly outnumbered them, thus forming a unique symbiotic relationship. However, as the fur trade slowly began to decline and routes of accessibility opened to both Minnesota and Wisconsin in the early 1820's, the sharp increase in white settlement had forced the Natives to seek relocation further west, as many Native leaders saw that both their lands and independence were in jeopardy. The inability to negotiate with white settlers due to still prevalent language barriers, obvious cultural differences, widespread racism and the establishment of trading posts along the Nebraska and Iowa frontier by the United States Army in 1825 had also limited their former territorial possessions, and as a result their numbers slowly dwindled in the Upper Mississippi River Valley throughout the early half of the 19th century, as many Ojibwa and their unlikely Sioux allies began to instead seek settlement in the still unincorporated Dakota territory, which was still under control of the United States, but completely free of white settlement. By 1823, only 30,000 Ojibwa and Sioux remained in the territories they formerly owned.



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