Revolution Rejected: Canada and the American Revolution, curated by staff historian Peter MacLeod, uses artifacts, a scale-model diorama, audio-visual material, maps, images and personal accounts to tell the story of the American invasion of Canada in 1775–1776 and the migration of American Loyalists to Canada after 1783.

When the American Revolution broke out in 1775, George Washington sent two armies north to besiege Quebec City and conquer Canada. In the early morning of December 31, American generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold launched a desperate assault on Quebec.

In Revolution Rejected, a detailed diorama freezes the action at a crucial moment in Canadian history. Montgomery has been killed and Arnold wounded, but Arnold's troops have fought their way into Quebec's Lower Town. They begin to scale the barricade that forms Lower Town's last line of defence.

Behind the barricade, British regulars and French- and English-speaking militia form up to meet them. The Americans break into a house that overlooks the barricade and open fire on the defenders; Canadian militia and British regulars charge up a ladder into a second-story window of the closest house.

As visitors observe the action, they hear the shrieking wind of a vicious blizzard, loud shouts, volleys of musketry and boots crunching on snow. A narrator provides a brief commentary, as resolute defenders overcome the invaders. Off to one side, tiny figures on a unique, beautifully carved powder horn commemorate Arnold's march to Quebec and the dramatic night attack.

Revolution Rejected then shifts its attention from the clash of armies in the streets of Quebec to the impact of a great war on one young girl. Born in the British colony of New York, Hannah Ingraham was three years old when the revolution began in 1775, eleven when it ended in 1783. Her parents were Loyalists — Americans who supported the British. Trapped behind American lines, Hannah watched as local rebels confiscated the Ingraham farm and her father escaped to serve with a Loyalist regiment. When the war ended, her family became refugees who built new lives in what is now New Brunswick.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Hannah dictated her reminiscences to a neighbour. Extracts from this powerful memoir in Revolution Rejected let visitors experience the war through the eyes of a frightened child. A photograph of an elderly Hannah lets them look into the eyes of a woman who survived the American Revolution and personifies the human consequences of the war.

Visitors will also notice the blazing scarlet of a British provincial uniform, worn by Loyalist Jeremiah French during the later years of the war. This is one of the oldest complete uniforms in Canada, and the oldest in the Canadian War Museum collection.

The American Revolution is one of Canada's least-known, most important wars. For most Canadians, the revolution is something that happened somewhere else, south of the border. Yet without the events portrayed in Revolution Rejected, the Canada we know today might not exist. The Canadian victory at the siege of Quebec in 1775–1776 saved Canada from conquest and incorporation into the new United States. Loyalist refugees added a significant English-speaking element to the population and led to the creation of the provinces of Upper Canada (Ontario) and New Brunswick. In 1867, the British colonies that rejected the American Revolution came together to form the Dominion of Canada.