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Britain gave the Acadians a choice that wasn't really a choice. Declare loyalty
1713 Event

June 23

Acadians Given One Year: Pledge Allegiance to Britain or Leave

Britain gave the Acadians a choice that wasn't really a choice. Declare loyalty to the Crown or abandon the farms, villages, and cemeteries their families had built since the 1600s. Most refused to sign — not out of rebellion, but because they feared being conscripted to fight against France or their Indigenous neighbors. Britain called it neutrality. Britain called it suspicious. Forty years later, British soldiers forcibly deported roughly 10,000 Acadians anyway. The people who'd tried to stay peaceful became the ones who got punished most for it.

June 23, 1713

313 years ago

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