Which battle in 1759 ended France’s empire in America?
- The Battle of Batoche
- The Battle of Châteauguay
- The Battle of Queenston Heights
- The Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Québec City
Answer: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Québec City
In 1759 the British beat the French at the Plains of Abraham at Québec City. This victory marked the end of France’s empire in America. Both commanders, Brigadier James Wolfe and the Marquis de Montcalm, were killed. Queenston Heights and Châteauguay were later battles, in the War of 1812.
Learn more: The British conquest and the Quebec Act
- In 1759 the British defeated the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Québec City. This ended France’s empire in America.
- The commanders of both armies, Brigadier James Wolfe and the Marquis de Montcalm, were killed leading their troops.
- After the war, Britain renamed the colony the “Province of Quebec”.
- The French-speaking Catholic people were called habitants or Canadiens. They worked to keep their way of life in the English-speaking, Protestant British Empire.
- The Quebec Act of 1774 was passed to govern the French Roman Catholic majority better. It is one of the constitutional foundations of Canada.
- The Quebec Act gave Catholics religious freedom and let them hold public office, which was not then allowed in Britain.
- The Quebec Act restored French civil law and kept British criminal law.
- Sir Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester), Governor of Quebec, defended the rights of the Canadiens and defeated an American invasion of Quebec in 1775.