France and Britain had been arch enemies for centuries. New France (Quebec) was taken over by the British. Ben Franklin had a newspaper in Montreal. You’d think there’d be some influence and rationale for Quebec to secede from Britain and join the US during the war of independence, but it didn’t. Why not?
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Probably because the Quebec economy was much more firmly tied to Europe (being mainly tied to fur exports to UK/France and Wheat exports to british colonies in the west indies), lacking the large plantation owners that were so influential for the politics of the early United states (All the major players in early US history were plantation owners).
Great Britain had also been very careful to place British loyalists at key positions in the former french colony, putting their thumb much more firmly on Quebec than the Thirteen colonies while still making it very clear that they weren’t trying to impose protestantism on the province (allowing the french to retain language, culture and religion).
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