United Columbia is proclaimed in Quebec City

Author says: what if revolutionary forces had combined effectively such that the French-US plot succeeds and "United Columbia" is proclaimed in Quebec City. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).

6th July 1797: on this day the proclaimation of a new state called United Columbia marked the end of a revolt against the British authorities in Lower Canada.

Unbeknown to the British, American ring-leader David McLane of Rhode Island had been masquerading as a Jewish-American horse trader, known in the Richelieu Valley under the false name of "Jacob Felt". Accompanied by his French translator Charles Frechette, McLane had not been trading horses, rather he had been hatching a sophisticated plot. Because a drink mixed with laudanum (opium syrup) was distributed to the troops in Quebec garrison, putting them to sleep, so that they could easily be overwhelmed by McLane's five hundred Canadian rebel volunteers.

But McLane's actions were only a small part of a larger plan formed by the new revolutionary governments of France and America. The previous year, the Olive Branch had sailed from France to America carrying twenty-thousand muskets and twenty-four pieces of artillery to arm Vermonters and French Canadians for the uprising. And fifteen thousand Vermonters had massed at the US border, led by the well-known radical and separatist Ira Allen (pictured). Known as the "Metternich of Vermont", Allen travelled to France in 1795, and obtained French army intervention for seizing Canada.

Author says, considerable amounts of source material have been repurposed from the source articles from the April-May 2009 Edition of Canadian Beaver Magazine, "Hanged drawn and quartered: the people of lower Canada recoiled in horror as British authorities set out to make a gruesome example of an American agitator" by Andre Pelchat and Wikipedia.

Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting fictional blog.