That's one possibility, and it may well be a large part of the puzzle, but I think there are more factors than climate. Political history is significant, too. After America broke off from England's control, a l arge number of loyalists moved to Canada, and I would presume that people who wanted to secede moved to the states.
You've maintained friendly relations with the United Kingdom on a level that many Americans would have difficulty understanding - if I'm not mistaken, the English monarch had an official role in your government up until 1982. You've spent a fraction of the time we have at war, never had a civil war over slavery, and you weren't founded after a violent rebellion over a technicality with tax classification.
Canada's culture may have been shaped by native cultures, but your government is also rooted in far more peaceful tendencies than ours; America was born in the blood of our parent nation, and that made a significant impact in how we turned out, for better or worse.
I hadn't realized you wanted to get as deep into this and you have surprised me with your knowledge...I have never met an American who was as aware.
Yes, I only used the climate aspect, geography figures in too, Canada is slightly less than three times the area and then there are thousands of other factors.
All had an impact on Canada's settlement, as did economics. By 1850 the US had become an economic engine in itself, where Canada still hadn't connected east and west by train, and in order to police the area an new kind of army had to be formed, the Northwest Mounted Police or, later the Royal Canadian Northwest Mounted Police. That lone created a huge difference, where the US was "winning the west" with gun slingers, the RCNWMP was keeping a stiff upper lip and peace across the largest ever policed area in the world. (still is I think). That move changed everything and did more to united Atlantic with Pacific and the Arctic. The RCMP remains the largest standing police force in the world and had a huge impact on the west, from transportation, to economics, to a safety of the people that did not exist in the US. "we always get our man" came from the record of RCMP to locate, arrest alive, and return wanted criminals to the US who thought they would have sanctuary.
The people who emigrated during the revolutionary war were Whigs headed south (many of whom soon returned), the people who went north were "loyalists" many of whom fought against their former neighbors. If I am not mistaken the majority of people in Vermont, North New York, and New Hampshire supported the loyalists and had a movement grow to leave the US and join the new North West British Territories, mainly all French speaking and they too moved north.
Canada has never had a war, although Canadians have fought against the US in both the revolutionary war and the war of 1812; we are making the distinction as even then, like the US many Canadians were identifying as Canadian in both languages.
But the majority all wanted Britain to stay, even if for no other reason than to not become a part of the violent chaos happening south.
We have retained civility with mother Britain sometimes friendly but never hostile enough to take serious action save a part mad man half Indian half French Metis named Louis Riel, as part of what was the rather tepid "Upper Canada Rebellion" and was hanged as one of two rebels. That civility was steeped in true love of mother Britain. And yes, we signed our first constitution in 1982 (with Quebec abstaining), but is a result of a long history of agreements between Canada and Britian: Bill of Rights (1689), Act of Settlement (1701), Treaty of Paris (1763), Royal Proclamation (1763), Quebec Act (1774), Constitutional Act (1791), Act of Union (1840), Constitution Act (1867), Supreme Court Act (1875), Constitution Act, 1886, British North America Acts, (1867–1975), Supreme Court Act (1875), Constitution Act, 1886, British North America Acts (1867–1975), Statute of Westminster (1931), Succession to the Throne Act (1937), Letters Patent (1947), Canada Act (1982), Constitution Act (1982)
Notice we had a bill of "rights" a hundred years before Tommy Jefferson got wordy.
From about 1850, the "Crown" as we call it, had what was accepted as a "ceremonial roll" in government and still does. Elizabeth is still our "Head of State" through the Lieutenant Governor in her absence and signs all bills into law, calls elections based on "advice of Parliament" and most recently played a political roll in rejecting prime minister Stephen Harper's request for an early election because he couldn't get bills passed.
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