Nova Scotia in the Critical Years 1775-6

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“That from 1758 until the end of the American Revolution, Nova Scotia was in essentials a New England colony is, of course, an elementary fact in the history of the province. Eaton, the local historian, estimates the number of inhabitants in 1775 at under 20,000, of whom three-quarters came from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Since the people were in such large proportion New Englanders, and since they suffered from exactly the same restrictions on trade and navigation as the thirteen colonies to the south, the question has been raised why they did not join in the American Revolution. In view of two recent studies of this problem, one by Professor Martin in Empire and Commonwealth, and one by Miss Barnes in New England Quarterly for July, 1931, which emphasizes the attitude of the merchants, it may not be amiss to attempt to discover the exact state of opinion among non-merchant classes in the province during the critical years of the American Revolution.”

Kerr, W.B. “Nova Scotia in the Critical Years 1775-6” Dalhousie Review, Volume 12, Number 1, 1932 https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/64201/dalrev_vol12_iss1_pp97_107.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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