{"id":396,"date":"2011-04-07T20:15:47","date_gmt":"2011-04-07T20:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/nouvelle-france\/"},"modified":"2012-06-01T16:16:37","modified_gmt":"2012-06-01T20:16:37","slug":"governance-and-sites-of-power","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/colonies-and-empires\/governance-and-sites-of-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Governance and Sites of Power"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1074\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width:225px\"><a class=\"popup-gallery-opener group-2_9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms.jpg\" data-title=\"<strong>French royal coat of arms, c.1727<\/strong><br \/>Commissioned in 1727 by the military engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de L\u00e9ry and executed by the master woodworker No\u00ebl Levasseur, this polychrome wood scroll representing the French royal coat of arms graced one of the gates of Quebec City until 1759.  \r\n<div class='credit'> CWM 19940024-001 \u00a9 Canadian War Museum<\/div>\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1074\" src=\"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms-225x269.jpg\" alt=\"French royal coat of arms, c.1727\" width=\"225\" height=\"269\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms-225x269.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms-417x500.jpg 417w, https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms-62x74.jpg 62w, https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms-106x126.jpg 106w, https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms-490x586.jpg 490w, https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms-195x233.jpg 195w, https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms-132x158.jpg 132w, https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/04\/New-France_2_9_French-royal-coat-of-arms.jpg 501w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span>French royal coat of arms, c.1727<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p>In New France, as in Ancien R\u00e9gime France, the monarch, and not the people, held sovereign power. From Paris and their chateaux in the countryside, the kings of France and their entourage, depending on the circumstances, took a more or less keen interest in the colonies. In the beginning, they simply delegated administration to trading companies. However, during the last third of the 17th century, the crown took over the administration of the colony, instituting tighter control and stability.<\/p>\n<p>From then on, the various colonies came under the authority of the Minister of the Navy and his clerks at Versailles. On the other side of the Atlantic, at Qu\u00e9bec, the governor and the intendant shared the tasks of senior administration. The Superior Council, together with minor civil servants, and in the rural parishes, militia officers, took part in the administration of Canada. With the founding of Louisiana and \u00cele Royale, more new governments were established which would require the creation of parallel structures.<\/p>\n<p>The following text from Marie-\u00c8ve Ouellet\u00a0presents a portrait of the colonial administration, describing its structure and the way it worked. It demonstrates how systems of governance evolved over time and, depending on the region, how the territory of New France proved to be a land of experimentation for the crown. It also shows how the absolute nature of royal power was mitigated in practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In New France, as in Ancien R\u00e9gime France, the monarch, and not the people, held sovereign power. From Paris and their chateaux in the countryside, the kings of France and their entourage, depending on the circumstances, took a more or less keen interest in the colonies. In the beginning, they simply delegated administration to trading [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":298,"menu_order":18,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/396\/revisions\/691"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}