The Expulsion (1755–1764) occurred during the French and Indian War and was part of the British military campaign against New France. After the British conquest of Acadia in 1710, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht allowed the Acadians to keep their lands. Over the next forty-five years, however, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. Without making distinctions between the Acadians who had been neutral and those who had resisted the occupation of Acadia, the British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council ordered them to be expelled. On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to legally return to British territories, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance. The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized the historic event in his poem about the plight of the fictional character Evangeline, which was popular and made the expulsion well known. According to Acadian historian Maurice Basque, the story of Evangeline continues to influence historic accounts of the deportation, emphasising neutral Acadians and de-emphasising those who resisted the British Empire. Historical Context: After the British officially gained control of Acadia in 1713, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of loyalty to become British subjects. Instead, they negotiated a conditional oath that promised neutrality. Some Acadians remained neutral and refused the unconditional oath. Other Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath because they were anti-British. By the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians, there was already a long history of political and military resistance by Acadians and the Wabanaki Confederacy to the British occupation of Acadia.[16] The Mi'kmaq and the Acadians were allies through their Catholicism and numerous inter-marriages.[17] While the Acadians were the largest population, the Wabanaki Confederacy, particularly the Mi'kmaq, held the military strength in Acadia even after the British conquest The Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadians fought against the British Empire in six wars, including the French and Indian Wars, Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War, over a period of seventy-five years. French and Indian War In 1753, French troops from Canada marched south and seized and fortified the Ohio Valley. Britain protested the invasion and claimed Ohio for itself. On May 28, 1754, the war began with the Battle of Jumonville Glen. French Officer Ensign de Jumonville and a third of his escort were killed by a British patrol led by George Washington. In retaliation the French and the Indians defeated the British at Fort Necessity. Washington lost a third of his force and surrendered. Major General Edward Braddock's troops were defeated in the Battle of the Monongahela, and William Johnson's troops stopped the French advance at Lake George. The British saw the Acadians' allegiance to the French and the Wabanaki Confederacy as a military threat. Source of the video https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_the_Acadians Source of the image http://www.danielnpaul.com/Map-Mi%27kmaqTerritory.html More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_St._Lawrence_Campaign_%281758%29 http://www.monctonforums.com/index.php?topic=635.0 http://www.danielnpaul.com/FrenchMi%27kmaqFriendship.html http://museeacadien.org/lapetitesouvenance/?p=1459

• published: 08 Jul 2015
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