What was the Quebec Act of 1774?

The Quebec Act of 1774 (14 George III, c. 83) was a British statute that restored French civil law for private matters, recognised the Catholic Church and the seigneurial system, expanded Quebec's borders to include the Ohio Valley, and granted Catholics full civil rights without requiring an oath of supremacy. The Act received royal assent on June 22, 1774 and came into force on May 1, 1775. It was one of the five 'Intolerable Acts' in the eyes of the Thirteen Colonies and a contributing cause of the American Revolution.

The Quebec Act largely replaced the Royal Proclamation of 1763's policy for the colony of Quebec. The 1763 Proclamation had introduced English common law, promised an elected assembly, restricted Catholic officeholders, and confined Quebec to a small territory. The Quebec Act made several major changes. First, French civil law (the Coutume de Paris) was restored for property and private rights, while English criminal law was retained. Second, Catholics were granted full civil rights, including the right to hold office without taking an oath of supremacy (the Test Oath). Third, the Catholic Church was permitted to collect tithes from its parishioners. Fourth, Quebec's borders were extended south to the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi River, incorporating most of what is now the US Midwest.

The Act was supported by Quebec's Governor Sir Guy Carleton (later Lord Dorchester), who believed that accommodating French-Canadian institutions would secure Canadian loyalty during the deteriorating imperial crisis with the Thirteen Colonies. Quebec's French-speaking elites generally welcomed the Act, particularly the seigneurs and the Catholic clergy. English-speaking merchants in Quebec were less pleased, particularly with the absence of an elected assembly (Quebec was governed by an appointed Legislative Council until the Constitutional Act of 1791).

American colonists were furious. The expansion of Quebec's borders into the Ohio Valley extinguished land claims by Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and other colonies. The recognition of Catholicism and French civil law alarmed Protestant colonists. The Continental Congress denounced the Quebec Act as one of the 'Intolerable Acts' (with the four Coercive Acts of 1774). When the American Revolution broke out in 1775, American forces under Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold invaded Quebec hoping the French Canadians would join the Revolution; but the French Canadians remained mostly loyal to Britain, in part because of the Quebec Act's concessions. The Act remained in force until replaced by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The Quebec Act is sometimes called the foundation of Canadian biculturalism.