Exports from Quebec had always suffered from the competition of the Thirteen Colonies, and the colonists continuously paid the habitants paper money, worthless to them, for supplies seized from their farms.vii In general, they did not support the rebellion because the Protestants in the Thirteen Colonies, who were their commercial rivals and hereditary enemies, were leading it. Under the various circumstances, Quebec people tended to resent the colonists more though they still disliked the British. However, these circumstances were solely the most direct incidences that had driven the Province of Quebec to the opposite side of the Thirteen Colonies but not the reason why Quebec did not to choose to fight against Britain.
The attitudes toward British reign between the Thirteen Colonies and the Province of Quebec had been widely different long prior to the Revolutionary War. After the Seven Years' War, the British parliament enacted a number of bills to pay off its national debts. Since then, the New England colonists engendered countless movements. One of the most noteworthy incidents was the destruction of the tea. As a political protest opposing to the Townshend Act, which placed new duties on various imports, members of a Patriotic organization named "Sons of Liberty" disguised as American Indians and destroyed a total of 42,009.9 kilograms of tea on December 16, 1773.viii Patriots clearly demonstrated their dissatisfaction toward the British government. Nonetheless, involving the Townshend Act, most crucial revenue acts like the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Tea Act were directly enforced in "the British colonies and plantations in America" which would naturally include the Quebec area since 1763, whilst notable political demonstrations were virtually unheard-of in Quebec.ix Although with minor conflicts, the Francophone residents adapted to their new governor quickly.