Lower Canada Rebellion
When news of the arrest of the Patriote leaders reached Upper Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie launched an armed rebellion in December 1837. In the meantime, filibusters from the United States, the Hunter Patriots, formed a small militia and attacked Windsor, Upper Canada, to support the Canadian Patriots. This resulted in the declaration of martial law by the Lower Canadian government.
Upper Canada Rebellion
Mackenzie frequently complained about the manner in which members of the Family Compact utilized their official positions for monetary gain, especially through corporations such as the Bank of Upper Canada, and the two land companies (the Clergy Corporation and the Canada Company) that between them controlled two sevenths of all the land in the province. The Bank of Upper Canada, for example, had been founded by William Allan and the Rev. John Strachan, key members of the Family Compact, both of whom were Executive and Legislative Councillors. Although they lacked the minimum capital needed to found the bank, they persuaded the government to subscribe for a quarter of its shares. During the 1830s, a third of the bank's board were Legislative or Executive Councillors, and the remaining all magistrates. Despite repeated attempts, the elected Legislature - which had chartered the bank - could obtain no details about the bank's workings. Mackenzie saw the bank as a prop of the Government and demanded farmers withdraw their support from it, by withdrawing their specie. The small confidence in the security which most banks gave for their redemption of their issues and the managers refusal to answer reasonable questions put forth by the House resulted in public confidence plummeting. Mackenzie was attempting to drain the banks of their money as a political weapon against the Government in hopes to avoid an armed revolution. However, the bank rebounded from this attack, making this attempt at peaceful revolution a failure.