When the rival empires
of France and Britain were fighting over their North American colonies,
the British Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755 took place because the
Acadians wanted to remain loyal to their native France.
False.
The Acadians, although immigrants from France, had always insisted
on staying out of the colonial rivalries between France and Britain.
The Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to the British
Crown, but offered instead an oath of neutrality, promising that if
war broke out they would not take up arms against either Britain or
France.
In 1755, the Acadians
were given a final ultimatum by the British colonists: either they
take the oath of allegiance to the British Crown or they would face
expulsion from the colony. The Acadians stood their ground. What went
on outside their colony of Acadia was of no concern to them, they
said. They had always been neutral, and neutral they would remain.
As a result, nearly 10,000
Acadians of a total population of 15,000 were deported and scattered
among Britain's Thirteen Colonies along the Atlantic coast. It wasn't
until 1764 that they were allowed to return to Acadia.
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