Along with the Mi’kmaq, and all the early European settlers who had stayed on (or whose children had been able to survive here), there had been the recent immigration of Ulstermen, Yorkshiremen, Scottish Highlanders and an assortment of destitute and persecuted Roman Catholics. Nonetheless, nearly half of the Nova Scotian population h ad originated in New England. There were still strong family, social and political ties to the Americans as well as economic and religious links. Since these settlers had moved north before the abrasive Stamp Act, the Nova Scotian New Englanders had gripes and grudges against the British Empire, but they didn’t have the revolutionary fervour that had been fomented in the south after they left. Massachusetts still had certain economic powers over Nova Scotia, controlling much of the fishing business here. But almost no one in New England thought of Nova Scotia as any kind of competition in the race to develop and prosper. Compared to other settlements along the seaboard, Halifax was a still a tiny seaport.
