Sebastian van Bastelaer, Author at Journal of the American Revolution

Author: Sebastian van Bastelaer

Sebastian van Bastelaer is the program manger at the Constitutional Sources Project in Washington, DC. He recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in History and Political Science. An avid scholar of the Founding era, he has written pieces featured in the ARCHIVE journal at the UW-Madison and in the Wisconsin Magazine of History.

Critical Thinking Posted on August 5, 2019August 4, 2019

“That Damned Absurd Word Liberty:” Les Habitants, the Quebec Act, and American Revolutionary Ideology, 1774–1776

The American invasion of Quebec of 1775-1776 failed to achieve its primary objective: to bring into the fold what the Continental Congress referred to as “the only link wanting, to compleat the bright and strong chains of union.”[1] While Canada would not join its southern brethren in outright rebellion, the Americans’ campaign furnishes important insight into […]

by Sebastian van Bastelaer

Culture Posted on July 9, 2019July 8, 2019

Les Habitants: Collaboration and Pro-American Violence in Canada, 1774–1776

The fleeting invasion of Canada in 1775, though often consigned to a bit-part in the American Revolutionary drama, proved vital to the emergence of American nationhood. The abortive attack at the walls of Quebec City on New Year’s Eve was one of the first of many major setbacks for the Continental Army and ensured there […]

by Sebastian van Bastelaer