When those Americans who had remained loyal during the violent disturbances of the 1770s were evacuated by the British Navy to the northern wilderness as terrorized refugees, they took with them a way of thinking about politics that would meld with the notions of those already there and those to come to shape modern Canada. They left behind a population besotted with the liberal ideals sweeping Europe at the time, a population that ever since has had difficulty thinking with the Tory half of its brain.

The differences between Americans and Canadians are subtle yet profound. The Good Americans is dedicated to explaining those differences to Americans, to reminding young Canadians of our unique past and to educating newly arrived Canadians about those things that set us apart as a country.