He went on to heavily criticise the work of the American historian, Francis Parkman, accusing him an Anglo-American bias, and a prejudiced view of First Nations peoples and the French.
[5] Instead of the anglo-centric view which he considered Parkman espoused, Eccles argued that the formative value of New France was the 17th century French nobility, which emphasised the hiererarchy of the seigneurial class and the value of the military establishment.
[1] He also developed the thesis that there was an inherent tension between the colonial policy of the French government, and the economic realities of the fur trade.
Eccles argued that the French government wanted to develop a "compact colony", of settlers farmers and minor industries, based on the St Lawrence river.
He discouraged attempts to build elaborate fur-trading chains to the Great Lakes and the Ohio country, which he considered would over-extend the resources of the colony, and the ability of France to defend it.
[9] His book Frontenac: The Courtier Governor received the 1959 Award of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association.