New France Failure

During the 1400s the continent of North America was discovered by numerous different explorers, such as Giovanni Caboto, Columbus, and Jacques Cartier. This set off a great race for the ownership of this new continent, and France and England would fight over the country known as Canada. New France was first established by Jacques Cartier in 1534. While Montcalm deserves much of the blame for the loss of Quebec in 1759, New France, in fact, was destined to fall because of the policies and approaches that had been taken since the earliest foundations of the colony. The mercantilist standpoint of Jean-Baptist Colbert was also a large benefactor to the downfall of New France. This policy crippled New France and constricted its growth economically,
Jean Talon, the Intendant of New France during the reign of Louis XIV from 1665–1672 wanted New France to become a powerful state but the response given to him by Jean-Baptist Colbert, the Minister of Marine and Colonies, was as follow’s “The King cannot concur with you [Jean Talon] in the whole of your reasoning as to the means of rendering Canada a great and powerful State, perceiving many obstacles thereto which cannot be overcome except by a long lapse of time;”[1] With this Colbert literally stated that France does not want New France to become strong and independent or they would not lose their hold over the colony in North America. This meant a long period of struggle for the colony in North America since they received only small amounts of help from France, at any given time. Even at the siege of Quebec Talon was told by a messenger of Colbert "When the house is on fire, who worries about the stable?"[2] ,another indication that France was not too concerned about its Colony in North