The Fault Lines of Empire: Political Differentiation in Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, 1760-1830

This work presents a comparative history whose broad argument is that the differences in the political cultures of Canada and the United States have their origins in changes in the governance of the British Empire in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, rather than from changes initiated at the time of the American Revolution. In an analysis of two towns, one in Nova Scotia and one in Maine, this book addresses two large historical questions. One, why have the attitudes of Americans and Canadians about the appropriate role and function of governments differed significantly, despite the similarity of being North American liberal societies and formerly parts of the British Empire? And two, how did the consolidation of power within Britain affect the basic organization of people's lives in the colonies?