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Canadian Theme Unit
 The Birth of a Nation

The Birth of a Nation
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.33

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    provincial, take-over, fledgling, canadians, union, fully, income, division, market, government, power, goods, territory, defend, meeting, mainly
     content words:    Sir John A., Prime Minister, Jacques Cartier, New France, Quebec City, Lawrence River, Seven Years War, Lower Canada, Upper Canada, New Brunswick

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The Birth of a Nation
By Mary Lynn Bushong 		  
1     Caption: Portrait of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada
 
2     When Jacques Cartier first came to New France, he was told that the site for Quebec City was called kanata. He thought the Iroquois word was the name of the place. Instead it was the word for village. Soon though, it became the name for much of the land north of the St. Lawrence River.
 
3     Though it started out in French hands, it became British territory after the Seven Years War. By 1791, the land was divided into two provinces, Upper and Lower Canada.
 
4     Upper Canada was mainly for the English-speaking colonists. The French-speaking colonists were mainly in Lower Canada. It wasn't just the area we now know as Quebec but also included New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and part of Newfoundland.
 
5     In 1840, Upper Canada and most of Lower Canada were joined. The Maritime Provinces were formed from part of Lower Canada. They each had a good percentage of French-speaking population.

Paragraphs 6 to 14:
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