For a short time after the defeat of France in 1760, the British flag flew all the way from Hudson's Bay in the North to Florida in the south. Canada was one of the smallest and most fragile of the British colonies. Nevertheless, the Canadien distinctive identity remained intact thanks to a rather liberal British policy in which French remained the principal language and Roman Catholicism the main religion.
The most serious challenge to the survival of this fragile political unit came fifteen years later during the American Revolution. Thirteen of the old American colonies (such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania) rebelled against the heavy-handed colonial policy of London. During the armed conflict between 1775 and 1783, the American rebels tried to persuade Canada to join them and become the fourteenth colony in revolt.
Despite their strong appeals and a military invasion of Canada, the American efforts failed largely because of indifference among French Canadians. Thus French Canada survived the upheaval of revolution and became the base on which modern Canada was built.