Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is dependence.

Attainment of independence should not be confused with revolution, which typically refers to the violent overthrow of a ruling authority. While some revolutions seek and achieve national independence, others aim only to redistribute power — with or without an element of emancipation, such as in democratization — within a state, which as such may remain unaltered. Furthermore, some countries were granted independence without any revolutionary acts. The Russian October Revolution, for example, was not intended to seek national independence; the United States Revolutionary War, however, was.

Autonomy (in slight contrast) refers to a kind of independence which has been granted by an overseeing authority that itself still retains ultimate authority over that territory (see Devolution). A protectorate refers to an autonomous region that depends upon a larger government for its protection as an autonomous region. The dates of established independence (or, less commonly, the commencement of revolution), are typically celebrated as a national holiday known as an independence day.

Sometimes, a state wishing to achieve independence from a dominating power will issue a declaration of independence; the earliest surviving example is Scotland's Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, with the most recent example being Azawad's declaration of independence in 2012. Declaring independence and attaining it however, are quite different. A well-known successful example is the U.S. Declaration of Independence issued in 1776.

Historically, there have been three major periods of declaring independence: the years from 1776 to the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe; the immediate aftermath of the First World War with the breakup of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires; and the decades from to 1945 to 1979, when seventy newly independent states emerged from the wreckage of the European colonial empires.^[1]

Causes for a country or province wishing to seek independence are many. Disillusionment rising from the establishment is a cause widely used in separatist movements, but it is usually severe economic difficulties that trigger these groups into action. The means can extend from peaceful demonstrations, like in the case of the Indian independence movement, to a violent civil war.

See also[link]

• Independence constitution
• Independence referendum
• List of countries by Independence Day
• List of sovereign states by date of formation
• Special Committee on Decolonization
• Wars of independence
• Arab Spring

References[link]

Article note[link]

The dates of independence, as they have been ported into many articles from the CIA World Factbook are defined as follows:

For most countries, [the given date is that] when sovereignty was achieved...For the other countries, the date given may not represent "independence" in the strict sense, but rather some significant nationhood event such as the traditional founding date or the date of unification, federation, confederation, establishment, or fundamental change in the form of government, such as state succession.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Independence

Nicola Sturgeon MSP
Deputy First Minister of Scotland
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 May 2007
First Minister	Alex Salmond
Preceded by	Nicol Stephen
Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 May 2007
First Minister	Alex Salmond
Preceded by	Andy Kerr
Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 September 2004
Leader	Alex Salmond
Preceded by	Roseanna Cunningham
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Southside
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2011
Preceded by	Constituency established
Majority	4,349 (19.2%)
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Govan (2007–11) Glasgow (1999–2007)
In office 3 May 2007 – 5 May 2011
Preceded by	Gordon Jackson
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Majority	744 (3.5%)
Personal details
Born	(1970-07-19) 19 July 1970 (age 41) Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Political party	Scottish National Party
Spouse(s)	Peter Murrell
Residence	Glasgow
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Occupation	Member of the Scottish Parliament
Profession	Solicitor
Website	Official website

Nicola Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy, Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Member (MSP) for Glasgow Southside.

Nicola Sturgeon became an MSP in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, becoming the SNP's spokeswoman on justice, and later on education and health. In 2004, she announced that she would stand as a candidate for the leadership of the SNP following the resignation of John Swinney. However, she later withdrew from the contest in favour of Alex Salmond, but stood as Depute Leader on a joint ticket with Salmond. Both were subsequently elected and Sturgeon led the SNP in the Scottish Parliament from 2004–2007 until Salmond was elected back to the Scottish Parliament in the 2007 election.

The SNP won the highest number of seats in the Scottish Parliament following the 2007 election and Salmond was subsequently appointed First Minister of Scotland. He appointed Sturgeon his Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing.

Background[link]

Nicola Sturgeon was born in Irvine, North Ayrshire and educated at Greenwood Academy, Irvine, and later studied law at the University of Glasgow where she graduated with an LLB (Hons) and Diploma in Legal Practice.^[1] At university, she was active in the SNP student wing through Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association. She worked as a solicitor in the Drumchapel Law Centre in Glasgow before becoming an MSP. She married Peter Murrell, the SNP's Chief Executive, on 16 July 2010. They had announced their engagement on 29 January 2010.

Early political career[link]

Sturgeon joined the Scottish National Party in 1986 and became Youth Affairs Vice Convener and Publicity Vice Convener. ^[2] She first stood for election in the 1992 UK election as SNP's candidate in the Glasgow Shettleston constituency, and was the youngest parliamentary candidate in Scotland, although she failed to win the seat.

The 1997 general election saw Sturgeon selected to fight the Glasgow Govan seat for the SNP. Boundary changes meant that the notional Labour majority in the seat had increased substantially; however, infighting between the two rival candidates for the Labour nomination, Mohammed Sarwar and Mike Watson, along with an energetic local campaign, resulted in Glasgow Govan being the only Scottish seat to see a swing away from Labour in the midst of a Labour landslide UK-wide.

Scottish Parliament[link]

Sturgeon stood for election to the Scottish Parliament in the 1999 and 2003 elections for the Glasgow Govan constituency. However she failed to win this constituency on both occasions. However in both elections, she was placed first in the regional list for the Glasgow region and was thus elected as an SNP additional member. She was elected to the SNP' national executive, and she was appointed the party's spokeswoman for health, education and later for justice.

2004 SNP leadership contest[link]

On 22 June 2004, John Swinney resigned as leader of the SNP, following poor results in the 2004 European Parliament election. His depute, Roseanna Cunningham, announced her intention to stand for the leadership, and previous leader, Alex Salmond stated that he would not stand and refuse nomination.^[3] On 24 June 2004, Nicola Sturgeon announced that she would also be a candidate in the forthcoming election for the leadership of the Scottish National Party, with Kenny MacAskill as her running mate for the Depute leadership.^[4]

However, Alex Salmond later staged a u-turn and announced he intended to stand (to resume the leadership, which he had resigned in 2000). Sturgeon withdrew from the contest and declared her support for Salmond, standing instead for the depute leadership. It was reported that Salmond had privately supported Sturgeon in her leadership bid, but decided to run for the position himself as it became apparent she was unlikely to beat Roseanna Cunningham.^[5] The majority of the SNP hierarchy lent their support to the Salmond-Sturgeon bid for the leadership, although MSP Alex Neil backed Salmond as leader, but refused to endorse Sturgeon as depute leader.^[6]

The results of the leadership contest were announced on 3 September 2004, with Salmond and Sturgeon elected as Leader and Depute Leader. As Salmond was still an MP in the House of Commons, Sturgeon would lead the SNP at the Scottish Parliament until the 2007 election, when Salmond was elected as an MSP.^[7]

Depute Leader[link]

Sturgeon after winning the Glasgow Govan seat at the 2007 election

As leader of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon became a high profile figure in Scottish politics, and regularly clashed with the former First Minister, Jack McConnell at First Minister's Questions. This included rows over the House of Commons' decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapon system; and the SNP's plans to replace council tax in Scotland with a local income tax.^[8]

Sturgeon defeated Gordon Jackson with a 4.7% swing to the SNP in the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary election in Govan. The SNP won 9,010 votes (41.9%) which was an increase of +10.7% while Labour received 8,266 votes or 38.4%.

After the SNP's victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, Sturgeon was appointed as the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. She is supported in this role by Shona Robison MSP, the Minister for Public Health and Sport and by Alex Neil MSP, the Minister for Housing and Communities.

Acting in her capacity as Scottish Health Secretary Sturgeon has had a key role reporting the Scottish Government's response to the 2009 swine flu outbreak.^[9]

Sturgeon has won the Donald Dewar Debater of the Year award on two occasions, in 2004 and in 2008. She also won the Scottish Politician of the Year Award in 2008.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• SNP profile
• Scottish Parliament profile

v t e Deputy First Ministers of Scotland Jim Wallace · Nicol Stephen · Nicola Sturgeon

French American
Franco-Américain, Franco-Américaine

Brett Favre • Kate Chopin • Oliver Stone Robert Goulet • Jack Kerouac • Henry David Thoreau John C. Frémont • Eleuthère Irénée du Pont • William C. Durant John James Audubon • Rene Gagnon Angelina Jolie • Johnny Depp
Total population
17,000,000 [1] 4% of the U.S. population (2009)
Regions with significant populations
Predominantly in New England, The Midwest and Louisiana
Languages
American English, French(Cajun•Acadian•Canadian•Missouri•New England French)
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism Calvinist Protestantism
Related ethnic groups
French people, French Canadian, Québécois, Cajuns, Acadians

French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 2.0 million speak French and French Creole at home.^[2] While Americans of French descent make up a substantial percentage of the American population, French Americans arguably are less visible than other similarly sized ethnic groups. This is due in part to the tendency of French American groups to identify more strongly with "New World" regional identities such as Acadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole. This has inhibited the development of a wider French American identity. The majority of Americans of French and French Canadian descent are descendants of those who first settled in Canada in the 17th century (known as New France at the time), which later became the Province of Quebec in 1763, Lower Canada in 1791, and a Canadian province of Quebec after Canadian Confederation in 1867. The majority of Americans of French descent, mostly resident in New England and the Midwest, are descendants of the Quebec Diaspora and the first Canadiens, while a few are of Acadian descent from the Canadian Maritime provinces. Immigration to the United States from France was much lower than from other parts of Europe, such as Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, or Poland.

History[link]

Unlike other immigrants who came to the United States from other countries, some French Americans arrived prior to the founding of the United States. In many parts of the country, like the Midwest and Louisiana, they were the founders of some of these villages, cities, and first state inhabitants. While found throughout the country, French Americans are most numerous in New England, northern New York, the Midwest, and Louisiana. French is the fourth most-spoken language in the country, behind English, Spanish, and Chinese.^[3] Often, French Americans are identified more specifically as being of French Canadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole descent.^[4] An important part of French American history is the Quebec diaspora of the 1840s-1930s, in which one million French Canadians moved to the United States, principally to the New England states, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Historically, the French in Canada had among the highest birth rates in world history, which is why their population was large even though immigration from France was relatively low.

Franco-American Flag

Some French Americans are descended from the casquette girls and comfort women who were sent to Louisiana from France as brides for the French colonists in the 18th century.

They also moved to different regions within Canada, namely Ontario and Manitoba. Many of the early male migrants worked in the lumber industry in both regions, and, to a lesser degree, in the burgeoning mining industry in the upper Great Lakes.

Louisiana[link]

The Cajuns of Louisiana have a unique heritage. Their ancestors settled Acadia, in what is now the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, in the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1755, after capturing Fort Beauséjour in the region, the British Army forced the Acadians to either swear an oath of loyalty to the British Crown or face expulsion. Thousands refused to take the oath, causing them to be sent, penniless, to the 13 colonies to the south in what has become known as the Great Upheaval. Over the next generation, some four thousand managed to make the long trek to Louisiana, where they began a new life. The name Cajun is a corruption of the word Acadian. Many still live in what is known as the Cajun Country, where much of their colonial culture survives. French Louisiana, when it was sold by Napoleon in 1803, covered all or part of than fifteen current U.S. states and contained French and Canadian colonists dispersed across it, though they were most numerous in its southernmost portion.

In Louisiana today, more than 15% of the population of the Cajun Country reported in the 2000 United States Census that French was spoken at home.^[5]

Another significant source of immigrants to Louisiana was Saint Domingue, which gained its independence as the Republic of Haiti in 1804, following a bloody revolution; much of its white population (along with some mulattoes) fled during this time, often to Louisiana, where they largely assimilated into the Creole culture.

Biloxi in Mississippi, and Mobile in Alabama, still contain French American heritage since they were founded by the Canadian Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.

The Houma Tribe in Louisiana still speak the same French they had been taught 300 years ago.

Colonial era[link]

In the 17th and early 18th centuries there was an influx of a few thousand Huguenots, who were Protestant refugees fleeing religious persecution in France. For nearly a century they fostered a distinctive French Protestant identity that enabled them to remain aloof from American society, but by the time of the American Revolution they had generally intermarried and merged into the larger Presbyterian community.^[6]:382 The largest number settling in South Carolina, where the French comprised four percent of the white population in 1790.^[7][8] With the help of the well organized international Huguenot community, many also moved to Virginia.^[9] In the north, Paul Revere of Boston was a prominent figure.

Midwest[link]

From the beginning of the 17th century, French Canadians explored and traveled to the region with their coureur de bois and explorers, such as Jean Nicolet, Robert de LaSalle, Jacques Marquette, Nicholas Perrot, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Pierre Dugué de Boisbriant, Lucien Galtier, Pierre Laclède, René Auguste Chouteau, Julien Dubuque, Pierre de La Vérendrye, and Pierre Parrant.

The French Canadians set up a number of villages along the waterways, including Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; La Baye, Wisconsin; Cahokia, Illinois; Kaskaskia, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan; Saint Ignace, Michigan; Vincennes, Indiana; St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; and Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. They also built a series of forts in the area, such as Fort de Chartres, Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Saint Louis, Fort Ouiatenon, Fort Miami (Michigan), Fort Miami (Indiana), Fort Saint Joseph, Fort La Baye, Fort de Buade, Fort Saint Antoine, Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Trempealeau, Fort Beauharnois, Fort Orleans, Fort St. Charles, Fort Kaministiquia, Fort Michilimackinac, Fort Rouillé, Fort Niagara, Fort Le Boeuf, Fort Venango, and Fort Duquesne. The forts were serviced by soldiers and fur trappers who had long networks reaching through the Great Lakes back to Montreal.^[10]

The region was relinquished by France to the British in 1763 as a result of the Treaty of Paris. Three years of war by the Natives, called Pontiac's War ensued. It became part of the Province of Quebec in 1774, and was seized by the United States during the Revolution.^[11]

New England, New York State[link]

In the late 19th century, many Francophones arrived in New England from Quebec and New Brunswick to work in textile mill cities in New England. In the same period, Francophones from Quebec soon became a majority of the workers in the saw mill and logging camps in the Adirondack Mountains and their foothills. Others sought opportunities for farming and other trades such as blacksmiths in Northern New York State. By the mid-20th century French Americans comprised 30% of the Maine's population. Some migrants became lumberjacks but most concentrated in industrialized areas and into enclaves known as 'Little Canadas.'^[12]

French Canadian immigrant women saw the United States as a place of opportunity and possibility where they could create alternatives for themselves distinct from the expectations of their parents and their community. By the early 20th century some French Canadian women even began to see migration to the United States to work as a rite of passage and a time of self-discovery and self-reliance. When these women did marry, they had fewer children with longer intervals between children than their Canadian counterparts. Some women never married, and oral accounts suggest that self-reliance and economic independence were important reasons for choosing work over marriage and motherhood. These women conformed to traditional gender ideals in order to retain their 'Canadienne' cultural identity, but they also redefined these roles in ways that provided them increased independence in their roles as wives and mothers.^[13][14]

The French Americans became active in the Catholic Church where they tried with little success to challenge its domination by Irish clerics.^[15] They founded such newspapers as 'Le Messager' and 'La Justice.' The first hospital in Lewiston, Maine, became a reality in 1889 when the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the 'Grey Nuns,' opened the doors of the Asylum of Our Lady of Lourdes. This hospital was central to the Grey Nuns' mission of providing social services for Lewiston's predominately French Canadian mill workers. The Grey Nuns struggled to establish their institution despite meager financial resources, language barriers, and opposition from the established medical community.^[16] Immigration dwindled after World War I.

The French Canadian community in New England tried to preserve some of its cultural norms. This doctrine, like efforts to preserve francophone culture in Quebec, became known as la Survivance.^[17]

Potvin (2003) has studied the evolution of French Catholic parishes in New England. The predominantly Irish hierarchy of the 19th century was slow to recognize the need for French-language parishes; several bishops even called for assimilation and English language-only parochial schools. In the 20th century, a number of parochial schools for Francophone students opened, though they gradually closed toward the end of the century and a large share of the French-speaking population left the Church. At the same time, the number of priests available to staff these parishes also diminished. By the 21st century the emphasis was on retaining local reminders of French American culture rather than on retaining the language itself.^[18] With the decline of the state's textile industry during the 1950s, the French element experienced a period of upward mobility and assimilation. This pattern of assimilation increased during the 1970s and 1980s as many Catholic organizations switched to English names and parish children entered public schools; some parochial schools closed in the 1970s. Although some ties to its French Canadian origins remain, the community was largely anglicized by the 1990s, moving almost completely from 'Canadien' to 'American'.^[12][19]

Representative of the assimilation process was the career of singer and icon of American popular culture Rudy Vallée (1901–1986). He grew up in Westbrook, Maine, and after serving in World War I attended the University of Maine, then transferred to Yale, and went on to become as a popular music star. He never forgot his Maine roots, and maintained an estate at Kezar Lake.^[20]

Civil War[link]

French Americans in the Union forces were one of the most important Catholic groups present during the American Civil War. The exact number is unclear, but thousands of French Americans appear to have served in this conflict. Union forces did not keep reliable statistics concerning foreign enlistments. However, historians have estimated anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 French Americans serving in this war. In addition to those born in the United States, many who served in the Union forces came from Canada or had resided there for several years. Canada's national anthem was written by such a soldier named Calixa Lavallée, who wrote this anthem while he served for the Union attaining the rank of Lieutenant.^[21] The French government and British government supported the Confederate cause, but no soldiers were sent.^[22] Leading Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard was a noted French American from Louisiana.

Politics[link]

Walker (1962) examines the voting behavior in U.S. presidential elections from 1880 to 1960, using election returns from 30 French American communities in New England, along with sample survey data for the 1948-60 elections. From 1896 to 1924, French Americans typically supported the Republican Party because of its conservatism, emphasis on order, and advocacy of the tariff to protect the textile workers from foreign competition. In 1928, with Catholic Al Smith as the Democratic candidate, the French Americans moved over to the Democratic column and stayed there for six presidential elections. They formed part of the New Deal Coalition. Unlike the Irish and German Catholics, very few French Americans deserted the Democratic ranks because of the foreign policy and war issues of the 1940 and 1944 campaigns. In 1952 many French Americans broke from the Democrats but returned heavily in 1960.^[23]

As the ancestors of most French Americans had for the most part left France before the French Revolution, they usually prefer the Fleur-de-lis to the modern French tricolor.^[24]

Franco-American Day[link]

In 2008, the state of Connecticut made June 24 Franco-American Day, recognizing French Canadians for their culture and influence on Connecticut. The states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have now held Franco-American Day festivals on June 24.^[25]

Population[link]

Distribution of Franco Americans according to the 2000 census

According to the U.S. Census Bureau of 2000, 5.3% of Americans are of French or French Canadian ancestry. French Americans made up close to, or more than, 10% of the population of:

In states that once made up part of New France (excluding Louisiana):

Franco Americans also made up more than 4% of the population in

States with the largest French communities including (according to the 2010 U.S. Census)

French and French Canadian

Religion[link]

Most Franco Americans have a Roman Catholic heritage (which includes most French Canadians and Cajuns). Besides the Protestant Huguenots who fled from France in the colonial era, there were some Protestants from Switzerland who came in the 19th century.^[27]

There was tension between the English-speaking Irish Catholics, who controlled the Church in New England, and the French immigrants, who wanted their language taught in the parochial schools. The Irish controlled all the Catholic colleges in New England, except for Assumption College in Massachusetts, controlled by the French, and one school in New Hampshire controlled by Germans. Tension reached a breaking point during the Sentinelle affair of the 1920s, in which Franco-American Catholics of Providence, Rhode Island, challenged their bishop over control of parish funds in an unsuccessful bid to wrest power from the Irish American episcopate.^[28]

Marie-Rose Ferron was a mystic stigmatic; she was born in Quebec and lived in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Between about 1925 and 1936, she was a popular "victim soul" who suffered physically to redeem the sins of her community. Father Onésime Boyer, promoted her cult.^[29]

French language in the United States[link]

According to the National Education Bureau, French is the second most commonly taught foreign language in U.S. high schools, colleges, and universities behind Spanish. French was the most commonly taught foreign language until the 1980s; when the influx of Hispanic immigrants aided the growth of Spanish. According to the U.S. 2000 Census, French is the third most spoken language in the United States after English and Spanish, with 2 097 206 speakers, up from 1 930 404 in 1990. In addition to parts of Louisiana, the language is also commonly spoken in Florida, northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York City; home to large French-speaking communities from France, Quebec, and Haiti.

As a result of French immigration to what is now the United States in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the French language was once widely spoken in much of the country, especially in the former Louisiana Territory, as well as in the Northeast. French-language newspapers existed in many American cities; especially New Orleans and in certain cities in New England. Americans of French descent often lived in predominately French neighborhoods; where they attended schools and churches that used their language. In New England, Upstate New York, and the Midwest, French Canadian neighborhoods were known as "Little Canada".

Cities founded by the French and French Canadians[link]

• Biloxi, Mississippi founded in 1699 by Canadien Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.
• Boise, Idaho, founded in the 1820s by French fur traders, means "wooded."
• Bourbonnais, Illinois named after French Canadian fur trader Francois Bourbonnais. The first permanent resident was French Canadian fur trader Noel LeVasseur in the 1830s.
• Chicago, Illinois founded by the French and the Indians, is pronounced with the French pronunciation of the sound ché as opposed to the English chi. It also contained a u at the end, Chécagou.
• Coeur d'Alene, Idaho French Canadian fur traders allegedly named the local Indian tribe the Coeur d'Alene out of respect for their tough trading practices. Coeur d'Alêne literally means "heart of the awl."
• Detroit, Michigan was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701, a French army captain, and was originally called Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, after the minister of marine under Louis XIV and the French word Détroit for "strait."
• Dubuque, Iowa was established as a lead mining site by Canadien Julien Dubuque in 1788
• French Camp, California was the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail used by French-Canadian fur traders (including Michel Laframboise)in the 1830s and 1840s, making it one of the oldest settlements in San Joaquin County.
• Green Bay, Wisconsin or La Baye, was founded by Jean Nicolet in 1634. Many descendants of Green Bay are direct descendants of the French Canadian habitants and their families.
• Juneau, Alaska was founded in 1891 and named in honour of Joseph Juneau, a gold prospector from the region of Montreal, who settled the first mining camp in the area.
• Kaskaskia, Illinois was founded in 1703 by French Jesuit missionaries and was Illinois's first capital.
• Mobile, Alabama founded in 1702 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne. It was the first capital of Louisana.
• Natchitoches, Louisiana was founded in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis.
• New Orleans, Louisiana was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne.
• Pierre, South Dakota was named after Pierre Chouteau, Jr., a fur trader of French Canadian origin, who built Fort Pierre, where the capital of Pierre stands today.
• Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin established in 1685 by Nicholas Perrot as a fur trading post.
• Prairie du Rocher, Illinois was founded in 1722 by Sister Thérèse Langlois, four years after Fort de Chartres was built by Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand.
• Saint Charles, Missouri was founded by Louis Blanchette, a French Canadian, in 1769.
• Saint Louis, Missouri was founded by a French trader, Pierre Laclède, and his stepson, a trader from Louisiana, René Auguste Chouteau in 1764.
• Sainte Genevieve, Missouri was founded in 1735 by habitants.
• Saint Ignace, Michigan was founded by father Jacques Marquette in 1671.
• Saint Paul, Minnesota was established in 1838 by Pierre Parrant and settled by French Canadians. In 1841, it was named Saint-Paul by Father Lucien Galtier in honor of Paul the Apostle.
• Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan was founded in 1668 by fathers Jacques Marquette and Claude Dablon
• Vincennes, Indiana was established in 1732 by François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes and rallied to the cause of the American revolution with Father Pierre Gibault.
• San Antonio

State names given to American states[link]

Most of the names were bestowed by early French explorers who were not permanent residents of the area that became the U.S. Upwards of 10 U.S. states have names of either direct French origin (Louisiana, Vermont, Illinois), indirect French origin through other languages (Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Delaware, New Jersey) or possible / disputed French origin (Maine, Oregon).

• Arkansas – named by French explorers from the corrupted Indian word meaning "south wind";
• Delaware – named after Lord de la Warr (Anglo-Norman surname originally de la Guerre meaning; "of the war");
• Illinois – French for the land of the Illini, a Native American tribe;
• Louisiana – from the French "Louisiane", in honor of king Louis XIV of France;
• Maine – most likely from the French province of the same name. because Henrietta Maria of France, queen of Charles I of England was said to have owned the province of Maine in France.^[30][31]
• Michigan – French transcription of Ojibwe word Mishigamaw which means "great lake"
• New Jersey – named after the Bailliage de Jersey, the largest of the British Channel Islands, whose inhabitants are of Norman descent and many of whom still speak a Norman-French dialect. English and French are the official languages of Jersey and Guernsey;
• Oregon – may have been named by early French explorers after "le fleuve aux ouragans", the hurricane river, a name used to describe the windiness of the Columbia River;
• Vermont – comes from a contraction of French words, Vert, green, and mont, mount, mountain. Hence the "Green Mountain" (la montagne verte) state;
• Wisconsin – named after the Meskousing River. This spelling was later corrupted from the local Native American language to "Ouisconsin" by French explorers, and over time this version became the French name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the early 19th Century;^[30]

Historiography[link]

Richard (2002) examines the major trends in the historiography regarding the Franco-Americans who came to New England in 1860-1930. He identifies three categories of scholars: survivalists, who emphasized the common destiny of Franco-Americans and celebrated their survival; regionalists and social historians, who aimed to uncover the diversity of the Franco-American past in distinctive communities across New England; and pragmatists, who argued that the forces of acculturation were too strong for the Franco-American community to overcome. The 'pragmatists versus survivalists' debate over the fate of the Franco-American community may be the ultimate weakness of Franco-American historiography. Such teleological stances impede the progress of research by funneling scholarly energies in limited directions while many other avenues, for example, Franco-American politics, arts, and ties to Quebec, remain unexplored.^[15][17]

Immigration from France, Canada, and Acadia[link]

See also[link]

	United States portal
	Franco-Americans portal
	Quebec portal
	Canada portal
	France portal
	Acadia portal

• Acadians
• Canadian American
• European American
• French Argentine
• French Canadian
• Hyphenated American
• List of French Americans
• The Huguenot Society of America

Citations[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Robbins, Rhea Cote. Wednesday's Child (2008)
• Robbins, Rhea Cote, ed. Canuck and Other Stories (2006)

External links[link]

• Extensive studies, Documents, Statistics and Resources of Franco American History
• Franco American Center
• Franco American Women's Institute
• Institut français
• Dave Martucci, Franco-American flags, in Flags of the World
• Vivre en Orange County - French Community in Orange County, California
• Bonjour L.A. !- Bonjour L.A. ! Los Angeles with a French touch
• Council for the Development of French in Louisiana - a state agency.
• [2] Oral History of French Canadians in Franklin County, New York and of a small sawmill and logging community in the Northern New York State populated by French Canadians

Paul Revere
Portrait of Paul Revere by John Singleton Copley, c. 1768–70
Born	(1735-01-01)January 1, 1735 (O.S.: December 21, 1734) Boston (North End)
Died	May 10, 1818(1818-05-10) (aged 83) Boston, Massachusetts
Occupation	silversmith, colonial militia officer
Spouse	Sarah Orne (1757–73) (her death) Rachel Walker (1773–1813) (her death)
Children	8 with Sarah Orne (6 survived) 8 with Rachel Walker (5 survived)

Paul Revere (December 21, 1734 – May 10, 1818)^{[N 1]} was an American silversmith, early industrialist, and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride."

Revere was a prosperous and prominent Boston silversmith, who helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military. Revere later served as a Massachusetts militia officer, though his service culminated after the Penobscot Expedition, one of the most disastrous campaigns of the American Revolutionary War, for which he was absolved of blame. Following the war, Revere returned to his silversmith trade and used the profits from his expanding business to finance his work in iron casting, bronze bell and cannon casting, and the forging of copper bolts and spikes. Finally in 1800 he became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels.

Early years[link]

Paul Revere was born in the North End of Boston on December 21, 1734, according to the Old Style calendar then in use, or January 1, 1735, in the modern calendar.^[1] His father, a French Huguenot born Apollos Rivoire, came to Boston at the age of 13 and was apprenticed to the silversmith John Coney.^[2] By the time he married Deborah Hitchborn, a member of a long-standing Boston family that owned a small shipping wharf, in 1729, Rivoire had anglicized his name to Paul Revere. Their son, Paul Revere, was the third of 12 children and eventually the eldest surviving son.^[3] Revere grew up in the environment of the extended Hitchborn family, and never learned his father's native language.^[4] At 13 he left school and became an apprentice to his father. The silversmith trade afforded him connections with a cross-section of Boston society, which would serve him well when he became active in the American Revolution.^[5] As for religion, although his father attended Puritan services, Revere was drawn to the Church of England.^[6] Revere eventually began attending the services of the political and provocative Jonathan Mayhew at the West Church.^[6] His father did not approve, and as a result father and son came to blows on one occasion. Revere relented and returned to his father's church, although he did become friends with Mayhew.^[7]

Revere's dentistry tools

His father died in 1754, and Paul was legally too young to officially be the master of the family silver shop.^[8] In February 1756, during the French and Indian War (the North American theater of the Seven Years' War), he enlisted in the provincial army. Possibly he made this decision because of the weak economy, since army service promised consistent pay.^[9] Commissioned a second lieutenant in a provincial artillery regiment, he spent the summer at Fort William Henry at the southern end of Lake George in New York as part of an abortive plan for the capture of Fort St. Frédéric. He did not stay long in the army, but returned to Boston and assumed control of the silver shop in his own name. On August 4, 1757, he married Sarah Orne (1736–1773); their first child was born eight months later.^[10] He and Sarah had eight children, but three died young, and only one survived, Paul.^[11] Revere would later remarry.

1765–1774: the gathering storm of revolution[link]

Revere's business began to suffer when the British economy entered a recession in the years following the Seven Years' War, and declined further when the Stamp Act of 1765 resulted in a further downturn in the Massachusetts economy.^[12] Business was so poor that an attempt was made to attach his property in late 1765.^[13] To help make ends meet he even took up dentistry, a skill set he was taught by a practicing surgeon who lodged at a friend's house.^[14]

Although Revere was not one of the "Loyal Nine"—organizers of the earliest protests against the Stamp Act—he was well connected with its members, who were laborers and artisans.^[15] Revere did not participate in some of the more raucous protests, such as the attack on the home of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson.^[16] In 1765, a group of militants who would become known as the "Sons of Liberty" formed. Revere was one of them.^[17][18] From 1765 on, in support of the dissident cause, he produced engravings with political themes and other artifacts. Among these engravings are a depiction of the arrival of British troops in 1768 (which he termed "an insolent parade") and a famous depiction of the March 1770 Boston Massacre (see illustration). Although the latter was engraved by Revere and he included the inscription, "Engraved, Printed, & Sold by Paul Revere Boston", it was modeled on a drawing by Henry Pelham, and Revere's engraving of the drawing was colored by a third man and printed by a fourth.^[19] Revere also produced a bowl commemorating the Massachusetts assembly's refusal to retract the Massachusetts Circular Letter. (This letter, adopted in response to the 1767 Townshend Acts, called for united colonial action against the acts. King George III had issued a demand for its retraction.)^[19]

"The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th, 1770". Copper engraving by Paul Revere modeled on a drawing by Henry Pelham,^[20] 1770.

In 1770 Revere purchased a house on North Square in Boston's North End. Now a museum, the house provided space for his growing family while he continued to maintain his shop at nearby Clark's Wharf.^[21] Sarah died in 1773, and on October 10 of that year Revere married Rachel Walker (1745–1813). They had eight children, three of whom died young.^[22]

In November 1773 the merchant ship, Dartmouth arrived in Boston harbor carrying the first shipment of tea that would be subject to the taxes of the Tea Act. Revere and Warren, as members of the informal "North End Caucus", organized a watch over the Dartmouth to prevent the unloading of the tea. Revere took his turns on guard duty,^[23] and was one of the ringleaders in the Boston Tea Party of December 16, when colonists disguised as Indians dumped tea from the Dartmouth and two other ships into the harbor.^[24]

From December 1773 to November 1775, Revere served as a courier for the Boston Committee of Public Safety, traveling to New York and Philadelphia to report on the political unrest in Boston. Research has documented 18 such rides. Notice of some of them was published in Massachusetts newspapers, and British authorities received further intelligence of them from Loyalist Americans.^[25] In 1774, his cousin John on the island of Guernsey wrote to Paul that John had seen reports of Paul's role as an "express" (courier) in London newspapers.^[26]

In 1774, the military governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, dissolved the provincial assembly on orders from Britain. Governor Gage also closed the port of Boston and all over the city forced private citizens to quarter (provide lodging for) soldiers in their homes.^{[N 2]}

During this time, Revere and a group of 30 "mechanics" began meeting in secret at his favorite haunt, the Green Dragon, to coordinate the gathering and dissemination of intelligence by "watching the Movements of British Soldiers", as he would write in an account of his April 18, 1775 ride. Around this time Revere contributed engravings to the patriot monthly, Royal American Magazine.^[27][28]

He rode to Portsmouth, New Hampshire in December 1774 upon rumors of an impending landing of British troops there, a journey known in history as the Portsmouth Alarm. Although the rumors were false, his ride sparked a rebel success by provoking locals to raid Fort William and Mary, defended by just six soldiers, for its gunpowder supply.^[29]

"Midnight Ride"[link]

When British Army activity on April 7, 1775, suggested the possibility of troop movements, Joseph Warren sent Revere to warn the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, then sitting in Concord, the site of one of the larger caches of Patriot military supplies. After delivering the warning, Concord residents began moving the military supplies away from the town.^[30]

One week later, General Gage received instructions from Secretary of State William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, to disarm the rebels, who were known to have hidden weapons in Concord, among other locations, and to imprison the rebellion's leaders, especially Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Dartmouth gave Gage considerable discretion in his commands.^[31][32] Gage issued orders to Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to proceed from Boston "with utmost expedition and secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and destroy... all Military stores.... But you will take care that the soldiers do not plunder the inhabitants or hurt private property." Gage did not issue written orders for the arrest of rebel leaders, as he feared doing so might spark an uprising.^[33]

Between 9 and 10 p.m. on the night of April 18, 1775, Joseph Warren told Revere and William Dawes that the king's troops were about to embark in boats from Boston bound for Cambridge and the road to Lexington and Concord. Warren's intelligence suggested that the most likely objectives of the regulars' movements later that night would be the capture of Adams and Hancock. They did not worry about the possibility of regulars marching to Concord, since the supplies at Concord were safe, but they did think their leaders in Lexington were unaware of the potential danger that night. Revere and Dawes were sent out to warn them and to alert colonial militias in nearby towns.^[34][35]

In the days before April 18, Revere had instructed Robert Newman, the sexton of the North Church, to send a signal by lantern to alert colonists in Charlestown as to the movements of the troops when the information became known. In what is well known today by the phrase "one if by land, two if by sea", one lantern in the steeple would signal the army's choice of the land route while two lanterns would signal the route "by water" across the Charles River.^[36] Revere first gave instructions to send the signal to Charlestown. He then crossed the Charles River by rowboat, slipping past the British warship HMS Somerset at anchor. Crossings were banned at that hour, but Revere safely landed in Charlestown and rode to Lexington, avoiding a British patrol and later warning almost every house along the route. The Charlestown colonists dispatched additional riders to the north.^[35][37]

Riding through present-day Somerville, Medford, and Arlington, Revere warned patriots along his route, many of whom set out on horseback to deliver warnings of their own. By the end of the night there were probably as many as 40 riders throughout Middlesex County carrying the news of the army's advance. Revere did not shout the phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"): His mission depended on secrecy, the countryside was filled with British army patrols, and most of the Massachusetts colonists (who were predominantly English in ethnic origin^[38]) still considered themselves British.^{[39] [40]} Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "The Regulars are coming out."^[41] Revere arrived in Lexington around midnight, with Dawes arriving about a half hour later. They met with Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were spending the night with Hancock's relatives (in what is now called the Hancock-Clarke House), and they spent a great deal of time discussing plans of action upon receiving the news. They believed that the forces leaving the city were too large for the sole task of arresting two men and that Concord was the main target.^[42] The Lexington men dispatched riders to the surrounding towns, and Revere and Dawes continued along the road to Concord accompanied by Samuel Prescott, a doctor who happened to be in Lexington "returning from a lady friend's house at the awkward hour of 1 a.m."^[35][43]