The History of New France According to Francis Parkman

Abstract

B ETWEEN the years I85i and i892 Francis Parkman wrote his epic series, France and England in North America. From the date of their first appearance these eight volumes have continued to influence the interpretation of the early history of Canada. Recently, however, some few historians have begun to study the history of New France, not in the works of Parkman, but in the original documents, and their depictions of events and portrayals of the more important personages are markedly at variance with his. departure cannot be accounted for by the discovery of much new evidence, rather, it arises from the fact that the historian today selects and evaluates historical evidence in the light of values and basic assumptions that differ from those in vogue in Parkman's time. For example: Parkman, in company with the other Whig historians, always used the concept of Progress to judge the past. He was convinced that the onward march of Progress was inevitable; it might be hindered by reactionary forces, but eventually all opposition would be overcome. It seemed to him that this was as natural a law as that water must run downhill; a river might have to twist and turn, seep slowly through swamps, or it might be dammed, but its onward course could not be halted for long. was the basic premise that underlay his study of the history of New France. To him it was simply a conflict between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, between the nation of Progress and the nation that stood opposed to it; between Anglo-Saxon Protestant liberty-which was the hallmark of Progress-and French Roman Catholic absolutism. he made very plain in the final volume of the series when, in writing of the French and Indian War, he declared: This war was the strife of a united and concentrated few against a divided and discordant many. It