<P> During the colonial period and the early years of the American republic, New England leaders like James Otis, John Adams, and Samuel Adams joined Patriots in Philadelphia and Virginia to define Republicanism, and lead the colonies to a war for independence against Great Britain . New England was a Federalist stronghold, and strongly opposed the War of 1812 . After 1830 it became a Whig party, stronghold as exemplified by Daniel Webster in the Second Party System . At the time of the American Civil War, New England, the mid-Atlantic, and the Midwest, which had long since abolished slavery, united against the Confederate States of America, ending the practice in the United States . Henry David Thoreau, iconic New England writer and philosopher, made the case for civil disobedience and individualism . </P> <P> French - Canadians, living a highly traditional life in rural Canada, were attracted to New England textile mills after 1850 . Of the 1.5 million people in French - speaking Canada, about 600,000 migrated to the U.S., especially to New England . </P> <P> The first migrants went to nearby areas of northern Vermont and New Hampshire . However, as the textile factories increased their hiring, the principle destination beginning in the late 1870s until the end of the last immigration wave in the early 1900s, was southern Massachusetts . Though many of these later immigrants were looking for short term employment that would allow them to make enough money to go back home and settle comfortably, approximately half of the Canadian settlers remained permanently . By 1900, 573,000 French Canadians had immigrated to New England . These Canadians were the second biggest wave of immigration to hit New England after the Irish . </P> <P> With a constantly growing immigrant population, these new Franco - Americans settled together in neighborhoods colloquially called Little Canada; after 1960 these faded away . There were few French language institutions other than Catholic churches . There were some French newspapers, but they had a total of only 50,000 subscribers in 1935 . The World War II generation avoided bilingual education for their children, and insisted they speak English . By 1976, nine in ten Franco Americans usually spoke English and scholars generally agreed that "the younger generation of Franco - American youth had rejected their heritage ." </P>

What form of labor predominated in new england during the colonial era