Who was the leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion?
Reform movement (pre-Confederation Canada)
In Upper Canada (Ontario), the Reform movement was formed in opposition to the Family Compact. It was led initially by William Lyon Mackenzie, who became the principal figure in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Mackenzie went into exile as a result of the failed rebellion. The uprising led to the 1839 Durham Report, which recommended responsible government and the union of Upper and Lower Canada as a means of assimilating Francophones. Only the union of the Canadas was to be immediately implemented.
Pass system (Canadian history)
The North-West Rebellion brought security concerns for the Canadian Government. The Rebellion started on March 18, 1885. Louis Riel, the Metis leader, ceased the Indian agent and other officials. The Rebellion was because of outstanding grievances Riel had with the Canadian government. The Indians joined the rebellion because in 1884 the Federal Government had stopped or banned the sale or giving of ammunition and ball cartridges to First Nations members in the Manitoba and Northwest Territories, even though this was contrary to treaty agreements. There were fears that Indians would start attacking and killing settlers on the Prairies. Hayter Reed, the Indian agent for the Saskatchewan region, asked Prime Minister John A. Macdonald to restrict the movement of Indians. He stressed to the Prime Minister that the security and well-being of the country and the white settlers was at risk. On March 26, 1885, the Superintendent of the North West Mounted Police attempted to seize what he considered an important supply point. As a result of this confrontation in the Rebellion, 12 men of the NWMP were dead and 11 were wounded. Five Metis and 1 Cree were also killed in the battle.
Though Riel would be tried, found guilty of insurrection, and eventually hanged, the incident created fear among the white settlers and government officials. In the minds of government officials Indians had to be contained, even for the good of the Indians themselves.
John Elmsley
John Elmsley (1762 – April 29, 1805) was Chief Justice of Upper Canada and afterwards Lower Canada. In both the Canadas he served as President of the Executive Council and Speaker of the Legislative Council. During the Hunter administration, he was the most powerful man in Upper Canada. In Lower Canada, from 1802 until his death he was second only in rank to the Lieutenant Governor.
Upper Canada College
UCC maintained a cadet corps from around 1837, which became a rifle company attached to the Volunteer Militia Rifles of Canada (later The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada) in 1860 and the only student corps called to duty in Canadian military history when it assisted in staving off the Fenian Raids in 1866. Through the two World Wars, a number of UCC graduates gave their lives and provided leadership; historian Jack Granatstein, in his book "The Generals", demonstrated that UCC graduates accounted for more than 30% of Canadian generals during the Second World War and 26 Old Boys achieved brigadier rank or higher. A war memorial display case and plaque (memorial number 35081-002) in the Upper School's main entrance hall is dedicated to the UCC Old Boys who distinguished themselves during Canadian military service periods.
Louis Riel
Louis David Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people of the Canadian Prairies. He led two rebellions against the government of Canada and its first post-Confederation prime minister, John A. Macdonald. Riel sought to preserve Métis rights and culture as their homelands in the Northwest came progressively under the Canadian sphere of influence. Over the decades, he has been made a folk hero by Francophones, Catholic nationalists, native rights activists, and the New Left student movement. Arguably, Riel has received more scholarly attention than any other figure in Canadian history.
Upper Canada Rebellion
Before the direct confrontation between Mackenzie’s rebels and Bond Head’s militia forces on December 7, there were various encounters between both sides which resulted in small skirmishes. On December 4, Mackenzie and some fellow rebels encountered Alderman John Powell (Canadian politician) and Archibald McDonald when riding down Yonge Street to scout the city. Upon meeting them, Mackenzie took both men prisoner and sent them to Montgomery’s Tavern. Although there were concerns over whether Powell and McDonald possessed arms, Mackenzie accepted their denials and said, “well, gentlemen, as you are my townsmen, and men of honor, I would be ashamed to show that I question your words by ordering you to be searched.” Despite such assurances, Powell had hidden a pistol and shot rebel Captain Anthony Anderson before escaping back to Toronto, thereby dealing a large blow to the rebel’s military expertise.
Edward Hale (seigneur)
Edward Hale ( 1812 – October 15, 1862) was a member of the Special Council of Lower Canada that was formed in the aftermath of the Lower Canada Rebellion.
Lower Canada Rebellion
The following year, leaders who had escaped across the border into the United States raided Lower Canada in February 1838. Two major armed conflicts occurred when groups of Lower Canadian Patriotes, led by Robert Nelson, crossed the Canada–US border in an attempt to invade Lower Canada and Upper Canada, drive out the British army and establish two independent republics. A second revolt began with the Battle of Beauharnois in November 1838. It was also crushed by forces of the colonial government.
John Charles Dent
Dent's second book was "The Last Forty Years: Canada since the Union of 1841", which received praise. His third work was a "History of the Rebellion in Upper Canada" (1885–6). Through careful research, Dent was able to throw new light on the characters of the men who took part in the Upper Canada Rebellion. This work met with severe criticism when first published, as it contradicted commonly held beliefs at the time.
Rebellions of 1837–1838
The Rebellions of 1837–1838 () were two armed uprisings that took place in Lower and Upper Canada in 1837 and 1838. Both rebellions were motivated by frustrations with political reform. A key shared goal was responsible government, which was eventually achieved in the incidents' aftermath. The rebellions led directly to Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America and to The British North America Act, 1840 which partially reformed the British provinces into a unitary system and eventually led to the British North America Act, 1867 which created Canada and its government.
Robert de La Berge
Jean Baptiste LaBerge (1804–1883) - Leader of Rebellion of 1838, also called Lower Canada Rebellion in Beauharnois, Quebec. For his part in the uprising, Jean-Baptiste Laberge was imprisoned in Montreal on November 16, 1838 and received the death sentence on January 26, 1839. The sentence was changed to deportation and he was exiled to Australia, arriving in February 1840. Laberge and his fellow prisoners were later pardoned and Laberge was back with his family by the spring of 1844 and was regarded as a hero in his local community.
Archibald McLean (judge)
He was named colonel in the militia during the Upper Canada Rebellion and commanded the left flank of the loyalist forces under Colonel James FitzGibbon at the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern. McLean initially opposed the Union of Upper and Lower Canada out of fear that Upper Canadians would be dominated by French Canadians. He saw responsible government as a danger to the British connection and to the ordered freedom and the recognition of class and property of the British tradition, but he quickly adjusted to the new reality.
Ontario
Meanwhile, Ontario's numerous waterways aided travel and transportation into the interior and supplied water power for development. As the population increased, so did the industries and transportation networks, which in turn led to further development. By the end of the century, Ontario vied with Quebec as the nation's leader in terms of growth in population, industry, arts and communications.
Unrest in the colony began to chafe against the aristocratic Family Compact who governed while benefiting economically from the region's resources, and who did not allow elected bodies power. This resentment spurred republican ideals and sowed the seeds for early Canadian nationalism. Accordingly, rebellion in favour of responsible government rose in both regions; Louis-Joseph Papineau led the Lower Canada Rebellion and William Lyon Mackenzie, first Toronto mayor, led the Upper Canada Rebellion. In Upper Canada, the rebellion was quickly a failure. William Lyon Mackenzie escaped to the United States, where he declared the Provisional Republic of Canada on Navy Island on the Niagara River.
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Canadian Alliance Society was reborn as the Constitutional Reform Society in 1836, when it was led by the more moderate reformer, Dr William W. Baldwin. The Reformers experienced a disaster at the 1836 elections for the 13th Parliament of Upper Canada, and the Society took its final form as the Toronto Political Union in 1837. It was this group of the disenfranchised that began organizing local "Vigilance Committees" to elect delegates to a so-called Constitutional Convention in July 1837. This became the organizational structure for the Rebellion; most of the rebel organizers were elected Constitutional Convention delegates.
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.
Upper Canada
The Canadian Alliance Society was reborn as the Constitutional Reform Society (1836), when it was led by the more moderate reformer, Dr William W. Baldwin. After the disastrous 1836 elections, it took the final form as the Toronto Political Union in 1837. It was the Toronto Political Union that called for a Constitutional Convention in July 1837, and began organising local "Vigilance Committees" to elect delegates. This became the organizational structure for the Rebellion of 1837.
York, Upper Canada
Simcoe and his family took residence in July 1793. They found the location to be an isolated wilderness, with dense forest right to the shore. A few families of Mississauga were the only residents and "immense coveys of fowl." They lived in a tent that once belonged to Captain James Cook the explorer, at the foot of today's Bathurst Street. It would be the temporary capital until 1796, when Simcoe abandoned his plans to make London the capital. The first parliament of Upper Canada convened in June 1797 in York, after Simcoe had returned to England and Peter Russell was named administrator of Upper Canada.
Jacob R. Beamer
Beamer’s father came from New Jersey in 1796 and settled in Norfolk County. It was in his tavern in 1837 that one part of the Upper Canada Rebellion was formulated. This was a rebellion against the British colonial government in 1837 and 1838. Charles Duncombe conducted the meeting at the tavern and the Beamers began recruiting and training troops. These troops headed for Toronto to join William Lyon Mackenzie but were met and defeated by Allan MacNab who led the government troops. Jacob surrendered, was released and fled to Niagara Falls in New York State where he remained active in the rebel cause.
Patriot War
While the initial rebellion in Upper Canada ended quickly with the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern, many of the rebels (including rebel leader William Lyon Mackenzie) fled to the United States. Mackenzie established a short-lived "Republic of Canada" on Navy Island in the Niagara River, but withdrew from armed conflict soon thereafter.
Military history of Canada
The Upper Canada Rebellion was quickly and decisively defeated by the British forces and Canadian Militia. Attacks the next year by Hunters' Lodges, US irregulars who expected to be paid in Canadian land, were crushed in 1838 in the Battle of Pelee Island and the Battle of the Windmill. The Lower Canada Rebellion was a greater threat to the British, and the rebels were victorious at the Battle of St. Denis on November 23, 1837. Two days later, the rebels were defeated at the Battle of Saint-Charles, and on December 14, they were finally routed at the Battle of Saint-Eustache.
History of Ontario
Many men chafed against the anti-democratic Family Compact that governed through personal connections among the elite, which controlled the best lands. This resentment spurred republican ideals and sowed the seeds for early Canadian nationalism. Accordingly, rebellion in favour of responsible government rose in both regions; Louis-Joseph Papineau led the Lower Canada Rebellion and William Lyon Mackenzie led the Upper Canada Rebellion. The rebellions failed but there were long-term changes that resolved the issue.
Charles Duncombe (Upper Canada Rebellion)
In December 1837, Duncombe heard reports of Mackenzie's rebellion in Toronto. Duncombe, with Robert Alway, Finlay Malcolm, Eliakim Malcolm, Enoch Moore and Joshua Doan, gathered about 200 men on 8 December and marched towards Toronto; this is sometimes known as the Western Rising. A few hundred more rebels joined them on their march, but they dispersed near Hamilton on December 13 when they learned of Mackenzie's defeat, and that a militia under Colonel Allan MacNab was on their way to stop them. Duncombe and Eliakim Malcolm fled to the United States. Duncombe was a central organizer of the Hunters' Lodge, a secret Masonic-like military organization with its Grand Lodge in Cleveland. This organization inducted more than 40,000 men into lodges spread across the Great Lakes and St Lawrence region. They launched the Patriot War in 1838-39, almost bringing the United States and the United Kingdom to war. The organization also declared a provisional Republic of Canada at a convention in Cleveland in September 1838, at which Duncombe established a Republican Bank of Canada to finance the war.
Duncombe remained there for the rest of his life, despite being pardoned in 1843. Joshua Doan was executed in 1839.
Upper Canada Rebellion
Both before and after the War of 1812, the government of Upper Canada continued to fear what it suspected might be a growing interest in American-inspired republicanism in the province. Reasons for this can be found in the pattern of settlement across the province over the previous half-century. Although the British had originally hoped that an orderly settlement in Upper Canada would inspire the former American colonies to abandon their republican form of government, demographic realities intervened. After an initial group of about 70,000 United Empire Loyalists were thinly settled across the province in the mid-1780s, a far larger number of American settlers came after Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe offered cheap land grants to promote settlement. Although these settlers, known as "late-Loyalists," were required to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown in order to obtain land, their fundamental political allegiances were always considered dubious. By 1812, this had become acutely problematic since the American settlers outnumbered the original Loyalists by more than ten to one. It was this reality that led American legislators to speculate that bringing Upper Canada into the American fold would be a "mere matter of marching." Following the war, the colonial government took active steps to prevent Americans from swearing allegiance, thereby making them ineligible to obtain land grants. Relations between the appointed Legislative Council and the elected Legislative Assembly became increasingly strained in the years after the war, over issues of immigration, taxation, banking and land speculation.
Province of Canada
The appointment of Walker Head (a cousin of Sir Francis Bond Head, whose inept governance of Upper Canada led to the Rebellion of 1837) is ironic. Some have argued that the Colonial Office meant to appoint Walker Head to be Lt. Governor of Upper Canada in 1836. The difference would have meant little. Both men were Assistant Poor Law Commissioners at the time. Walker Head's appointment in Wales led to the Chartist Newport Rising there in 1839. It was under Head, that true political party government was introduced with the Liberal-Conservative Party of John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier in 1856. It was during their ministry that the first organised moves toward Canadian Confederation took place.
Ringwood, Ontario
In the 1830s both Ringwood and Stouffville were centres of radical opinion. In Stouffville, reformer William Lyon Mackenzie hatched his plan for the Upper Canada Rebellion (1837–1838); the meeting was chaired by a Ringwood farmer, Ludwig Wideman, who became the first casualty of the insurgency in Toronto at Montgomery's Tavern. Wideman is buried in the neighboring hamlet of Dickson Hill. Architectural reminders of Ringwood’s small contribution to Canadian institutions defined by justice and liberty have all but disappeared.
John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
Lord Durham first set foot on the soil of British North America in Lower Canada on 29 May 1838. One of his tasks as Governor-General was to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Lower Canada Rebellion of Louis-Joseph Papineau and the Upper Canada Rebellion of William Lyon Mackenzie, which had both occurred earlier that year. His decisions with regard to the Rebellion prisoners encountered stiff opposition at Westminster, and he lost the support of the Prime Minister, Melbourne, whereupon he published his repudiation and resignation 9 October 1838 and set sail for London on 1 November.
Upper Canada Rebellion
The rebellion led directly to Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America, and to "The British North America Act, 1840", which partially reformed the British provinces into a unitary system, leading to the formation of Canada as a nation in 1867.
Parliament of Upper Canada
Following the Rebellions of 1837 and Lord Durham's 1839 Report to the British Government, Upper Canada and Lower Canada were rejoined in 1841 to create the Province of Canada. The Parliament of Upper Canada was therewith replaced by the newly created Parliament of the United Province of Canada.
Upper Canada Rebellion
Among the more than 150 lawsuits they launched that year, the Bank of Upper Canada, which served the same purpose as the Bank of the United States, launched a suit against Sheldon, Dutcher & Co., a foundry and Toronto's largest employer with over 80 employees in late 1836, bankrupting the company. Not surprisingly, Mackenzie's first plan for rebellion involved calling on Sheldon & Dutcher's men to storm the city hall, where the militia's guns were stored.
Rebellions of 1837–1838
The Lower Canada rebellion was widely supported by the populace, due to economic and political subordination of the French Canadians, resulting in mass actions over an extended period of time, such as boycotts, strikes and sabotage. These drew harsh punitive reprisals such as the burning of entire villages, rapes and other forms of psychological humiliation by government troops and militias, which had been concentrated in Lower Canada to deal with the crisis. By contrast, the Upper Canada Rebellion was not as broadly supported by local populations, was quickly quelled by relatively small numbers of pro-government militias and volunteers and was consequently less widespread and brutal by comparison.
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the rebellion in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) that emboldened rebels in Upper Canada to openly revolt soon after.
Lower Canada Rebellion
Britain dispatched Lord Durham to investigate the cause of the rebellion. His report in 1839 recommended that the Canadas be united into one colony (the Province of Canada) to assimilate the French-speaking Canadiens into Anglophone British culture. He also recommended acceding to the rebels' grievances by granting responsible government to the new colony.
Magasin Royal
For a time after the defeat of the French, Canadian-born French Canadian fur trader Jean-Baptise Rousseau (1758-1812) lived in a house at Portneuf from 1792. After the establishment of Upper Canada in 1793, the land along the east bank of the Humber was reserved for timber for the saw mill. Rousseau accepted a land grant at Head of the Lake near Ancaster in 1795 and moved his family there to continue his trading with the first nations peoples.
Upper Canada
The plan for the Canada Company was promoted by the province's Attorney General, John Beverly Robinson, then studying law at Lincoln's Inn in London. The Lt. Governor's financial crisis led to a quick adoption of Robinson's scheme to sell the Crown reserves to a new land company which would provide the provincial government with annual payments of between £15,000 to £20,000. The Canada Company was chartered in London in 1826; after three years of mismanagement by John Galt, the company hired William Allan and Thomas Mercer Jones to manage the company's Upper Canadian business. Jones was to manage the "Huron Tract," and Allan to sell the Crown reserves already surveyed in other districts.
Lower Canada Rebellion
After hearing about the 99 grievances submitted by Robert Gourlay, Papineau wrote the "Ninety-two Resolutions" while secretly coordinating with Upper Canada. After protestors were shot in Montreal in 1832, Papineau had no choice but to submit the list of "resolutions" to the governor himself. By 1834, the assembly had passed the Ninety-two Resolutions, outlining its grievances against the legislative council. At that point, the Patriote movement was supported by an overwhelming majority of the Lower Canada population of all origins.
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Family Compact was a small, tightly knit group of men who dominated the government of Upper Canada and the financial and religious institutions associated with it. They were the leading members of the administration: executive councillors, legislative councillors, senior officials and some members of the judiciary. Their administrative roles, however, were intimately tied to their business activities: "they were not a political elite taking political decisions in a vacuum, but an overlapping elite whose political and economic activities cannot be entirely separated from each other. They might even be called 'entrepreneurs', most of whose political views may have been highly conservative but whose economic outlook was clearly 'developmental'." For example, William Allan, one of the most powerful, "was an executive councillor, a legislative councilor, President of the Toronto and Lake Huron Railroad, Governor of the British American Fire and Life Assurance Company and President of the Board of Trade."
History of Ontario
In the absence of a hereditary aristocracy, Upper Canada was run by an oligarchy or closed group of powerful men who controlled most of the political, judicial and economic power from the 1810s to the 1830s. Opponents called it the "Family Compact", but its members avoided the term. In the religious sphere, a key leader was John Strachan (1778–1867), the Anglican bishop of Toronto. Strachan (and the Family Compact generally) was opposed by Methodist leader Egerton Ryerson (1803–1882). The Family Compact consisted of English gentry who arrived before 1800, and the sons of United Empire Loyalists, who were exiles who fled the American revolution. The term "family" was metaphorical, for they generally were not related by blood or marriage. There were no elections and the leadership controlled appointments, so local officials were generally allies of the leaders.
Rebellions of 1837–1838
The root cause of resentment in Upper Canada was not so much against distant rulers in Britain, but rather against the corruption and injustice by local politicians—the so-called "Family Compact". However, the rebels were not really convicted because their views aligned with the liberalism of the US, and thus caused some kind of offense to the Tory values of the Canadian colonies. Rather, as revealed in the ruling of Chief Justice Sir John Robinson, a Lockean justification was given for the prisoners' condemnation, and not a Burkean one: the Crown, as protector of the lives, liberty and prosperity of its subjects, could "legitimately demand allegiance to its authority." Robinson went on to say that those who preferred republicanism over monarchism were free to emigrate, and thus the participants in the uprisings were guilty of treason.
Canada First
John Christian Schultz, Canadian Party founder, became a leading member of the Canadian Party and was a chief opponent of Louis Riel.
The execution of Thomas Scott during the 1870 Red River Rebellion was a major catalyst in the formation of the Canada First movement. Caught in the middle of the rebellion, Schultz and Mair narrowly escaped execution themselves. Upon their return to Ontario the two men were featured prominently in a massive Toronto protest organized by the Canada Firsters. Tapping into Orange Protestant outrage over the killing of Scott the movement's leaders stressed the theme of national betrayal at the hands of the Red River rebels and Louis Riel.
Nationalisms in Canada
The influx of British settlers into Canada helped to prompt the development of French-Canadian nationalism which was quite evident during the 1837 rebellion against British rule in Lower Canada. At the same time a few English-speakers in Upper Canada were switching from a British to a Canadian form of identity, as evidenced in the contemporaneous Upper Canada Rebellion, although this was a minority position.
Upper Canada Rebellion
Unlike previous Lt. Governors, Bond Head threw himself into the electoral fray in support of the Tory candidates, and utilized Orange Order violence in order to ensure their election. In the face of what was believed to be widespread fraud, William Lyon Mackenzie and Samuel Lount lost their seats in the Legislature. The reformers prepared a petition to the Crown protesting the abuses, carried to London by Charles Duncombe, but the Colonial Office refused to hear him. These three men became core organizers of the Rebellion.
13th Parliament of Upper Canada
In the election campaign of June 1836, the Lieutenant Governor Sir Francis Bond Head appealed to the United Empire Loyalists of the colony, proclaiming that the reformers were advocating American republicanism. The Conservative party, led by the wealthy landowners known as the "Family Compact", won the election resulting in a conservative majority in the legislative assembly and triggering dissent in the province. This was the last parliament for Upper Canada. This parliament was dissolved 10 February 1840. The Act of Union 1840 abolished the legislative assemblies for Upper and Lower Canada and created a new Province of Canada with a common Legislative Assembly. This came as a result of the Rebellions of 1837.Notes:
Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada
Following the war, the Executive and Legislative Councils became increasingly dominated by the Family Compact, a clique of wealthy individuals led primarily by John Strachan (a member of the powerful Executive Council of Upper Canada), which emerged in 1815. The Compact was deeply opposed to American republicanism and favoured full establishment for the Anglican church in Upper Canada. Their increasingly authoritarian style of governance and disregard for the will of the Legislative Assembly led to demands for government that was more responsible to the people and eventually the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Opposing the Family Compact were initially an assortment of anti-establishment members, but it did not gain strength until a more formal group of reformers emerged, initially led by William Warren Baldwin starting 1820s and then by William Lyon Mackenzie in the 1830s.
Upper Canada
After the Rebellions, the new governor, Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham, proved an exemplary Utilitarian, despite his aristocratic pretensions. This combination of free trade and aristocratic pretensions needs to be underscored; although a liberal capitalist, Sydenham was no radical democrat. Sydenham approached the task of implementing those aspects of Durham's report that the colonial office approved of, municipal reform, and the union of the Canadas, with a "campaign of state violence and coercive institutional innovation ... empowered not just by the British state but also by his Benthamite certainties." Like governors Bond Head before him, and Metcalfe after, he was to turn to the Orange Order for often violent support. It was Sydenham who played a critical role in transforming Compact Tories into Conservatives.
Constitutional history of Canada
Most of the recommendations brought forth by the elected assemblies were systematically ignored by the Executive Councils. This was particularly true in Lower Canada with an assembly consisting mostly of French-Canadian members of the Parti Patriote. This impasse created considerable tensions between the French-Canadian political class and the British government. In 1834 Louis-Joseph Papineau, a French-Canadian political leader, submitted a document entitled the Ninety-Two Resolutions to the Crown. The document requested vast democratic reforms such as the transfer of power to elected representatives. The reply came three years later in the form of the Russell Resolutions, which not only rejected the 92 Resolutions but also revoked one of the assembly's few real powers, the power to pass its own budget. This rebuff heightened tensions and escalated into armed rebellions in 1837 and 1838, known as the Lower Canada Rebellion. The uprisings were short-lived, however, as British troops quickly defeated the rebels and burned their villages in reprisal.
Upper Canada
The Upper Canada Central Political Union was organised in 1832–33 by Dr Thomas David Morrison (mayor of Toronto in 1836) while William Lyon Mackenzie was in England. This union collected 19,930 signatures on a petition protesting Mackenzie's unjust expulsion from the House of Assembly by the Family Compact.
Upper Canada Rebellion
A number of the rebels were hanged including Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews, others were shot. Their deaths were a strong motivation for the continuing Patriot War. Many more prisoners were transported, but most were pardoned, e.g. Enoch Moore (Loyalist turned rebel). A general pardon (for everyone but Mackenzie) was issued in 1845, and Mackenzie himself was pardoned in 1849 and allowed to return to Canada, where he resumed his political career. Mackenzie was strongly disillusioned after his time in the United States, writing to his son that "after what I have seen here, I frankly confess to you that, had I passed nine years in the United States before, instead of after, the outbreak, I am sure I would have been the last man in America to be engaged in it." In later life however, Mackenzie advocated annexation of Canada by the United States.
Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer
Lord Aylmer had no previous experience as a civil administrator and no political experience. He was unable to pacify the growing demands in Lower Canada for responsible government and, in 1834, the radical Assembly of Lower Canada passed 92 "resolutions of grievance" including a demand that Aylmer be recalled. Lord Aylmer exacerbated ethnic tensions in Lower Canada by favouring the English over the French. The deterioration of the situation led to his recall in 1835. His administration may have been a contributing factor to the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837.
The Reform Movement (Upper Canada)
In January 1835, shortly after the elections, the Upper Canada Political Union was reorganized as the Canadian Alliance Society, with James Lesslie, a city Alderman, as president, and Timothy Parsons as secretary. They were also leaders in the Toronto Mechanics Institute. It was at this time that they moved into Turton's Building, built on land owned by Dr William W. Baldwin. The Canadian Alliance Society adopted much of the platform (such as secret ballot & universal suffrage) of the Owenite National Union of the Working Classes in London, England, that were to be integrated into the Chartist movement in England.
Upper Canada
There were many outstanding individual reform politicians in Upper Canada, including Robert Randal, Peter Perry, Marshall Spring Bidwell, William Ketchum and Dr. William Warren Baldwin; however, organised collective reform activity began with Robert Fleming Gourlay. Gourlay was a well-connected Scottish emigrant who arrived in 1817, hoping to encourage "assisted emigration" of the poor from Britain. He solicited information on the colony through township questionnaires, and soon became a critic of government mismanagement. When the local legislature ignored his call for an inquiry, he called for a petition to the British Parliament. He organised township meetings, and a provincial convention – which the government considered dangerous and seditious. Gourlay was tried in December 1818 under the 1804 Sedition Act and jailed for 8 months. He was banished from the province in August 1819. His expulsion made him a martyr in the reform community.
Charles Duncombe (Upper Canada Rebellion)
Debates within Upper Canada on the nature of the relationship of the provincial Grand Lodge and the English Grand Lodge paralleled political discussions on the colony's constitution. Those Freemasons who immigrated from the United States favoured an independent Provincial Grand Lodge. Duncombe was a Freemason, serving as first master of the Mount Moriah lodge at Westminster. In 1836, in a move that presaged the Rebellion, he set up a Grand Lodge independent from the British lodges and became its first Grand Master.
Canada under British rule
Louis-Joseph Papineau was elected speaker of the colonial assembly in 1815. His attempts at reform were ignored by the British, and in 1834, the assembly passed The Ninety-Two Resolutions, outlining its grievances against the legislative council. Papineau organized boycotts and civil disobedience. The colonial government illegally ordered the arrest of Papineau. The "Patriotes" resorted to armed resistance and planned the Lower Canada Rebellion in the fall of 1837. British troops in the colony quickly put down the rebellion and forced Papineau to flee to the United States. A second rebellion by the Frères chasseurs of Robert Nelson broke out one year later, but the British put it down as well, with much loss of life and destruction of property.
Upper Canada
Although the province is frequently referred to as "English Canada" after the Union of the Canadas, and its ethnic homogeneity said to be a factor in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, it should be noted that there was range of ethnic groups in Upper Canada. However, due to the lack of a detailed breakdown, it is difficult to count each group, and this may be considered abuse of statistics. An idea of the ethnic breakdown can be had if one considers the religious census of 1842, which is helpfully provided below: Roman Catholics were 15% of the population, and adherents to this religion were, at the time, mainly drawn from the Irish and the French settlers. The Roman Catholic faith also numbered some votaries from amongst the Scottish settlers. The category of "other" religious adherents, somewhat under 5% of the population, included the Aboriginal and Metis culture.
Upper Canada
The next wave of organised Reform activity emerged in the 1830s through the work of William Lyon Mackenzie, James Lesslie, John Rolph, William John O'Grady and Dr Thomas Morrison, all of Toronto. They were critical to introducing the British Political Unions to Upper Canada. Political Unions were not parties. The unions organised petitions to Parliament.
William Osgoode
William Osgoode (March 1754 – January 17, 1824) was the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada (now known as Ontario, Canada).
Trent–Severn Waterway
In the midst of construction, in 1837 the Upper Canada Rebellion broke out. Although quickly suppressed, the Rebellions of 1837 served to worry the Imperial government enough to appoint John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham to fix the problems. In spite of holding the position of Governor General for only a brief period before resigning, his "Report on the Affairs of British North America" was implemented in large part and caused sweeping changes to the government. The newly merged Province of Canada had a single parliament with special rules intended to balance the power of the French and English speaking colonies.
Upper Canada Rebellion
When the Lower Canada Rebellion broke out on October 9, 1837, Bond Head sent all the British troops stationed in Toronto to help suppress it. At the beginning of November, a meeting of 15 reformers at John Doel's house rejected Mackenzie's call for an immediate attack on City Hall. They instead decided to send Mackenzie north to investigate public sentiment. At a secret meeting in East Gwillimbury, Samuel Lount, Silas Fletcher, Peter Matthews of Pickering, Nelson Gorham of Newmarket, Jesse Lloyd of King township and James Bolton of Albion township heard Lloyd report on the revolt in Lower Canada. All were delegates to the Constitutional Convention. They decided to set the date for a supportive Upper Canadian revolt on December 7.
Upper Canada Guardian
Being the first politically critical newspapers in Upper Canada in the 19th century, the "Upper Canada Guardian" gave Willcocks the opportunity to lead groups in opposition of the administration. Although his jail prosecution served as a minor setback, it also gained him the sympathy of the victims of the issues that he addressed (such as small farmers and/or loyalists who wanted land grant privileges), a seat in parliament and more readers. Willcocks claimed he was the: “only man in Canada that dare speak the truth.” Even though controversy creates problems, there are some benefits that can always be gained from them eventually. In this case, Joseph Willcocks gained the reputation of a man who was not afraid to publish his opinion to the public; a near first in Upper Canada in the early 19th century. Even though the "Upper Canada Guardian" exhibited Willcocks' seditiousness against the government, it was not his goal to be perceived as a radical personage:
"It is not my intention, Gentlemen, by a recital of sufferings, to influence or irritate the minds of an injured, insulted, and loyal people. No: but it is my intention and my wish to impress upon the public mind the indispensable necessity there is of sending men to the new parliament, whose livelihood or prospects in life do not depend upon the will or caprice of any tyrannic individual, and whose principles are unambitious, and beyond the reach of corruption."
The "Upper Canada Guardian" was Willcocks' biggest achievement because it initiated opposition through action and press in Upper Canada in the 19th century.
Scottish Canadians
Alexander Mackenzie was the first Liberal Prime Minister of Canada (1873–78). Another Scot, William Lyon Mackenzie, who led the revolt in Upper Canada against the Canadian government in 1838, became a symbol of Canadian radicalism. His rebellion dramatized the need to reform the country's outmoded constitution and led to the 1841 union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Another Scot, William McDougall, was known as one of the fathers of the Confederation; Sir Richard McBride (1870–1917) was from 1903–1915 the Premier of British Columbia, where his was the first government under the new system of political parties. McBride was also known for his tireless work on behalf of the extension of the Pacific Great Eastern Railroad, which was to bind British Columbia together the way the CPR had Canada..
William Hume Blake
William Hume Blake, (10 March 1809 – 15 November 1870) was an Irish-Canadian jurist and politician. He was the father of Edward Blake, an Ontario Premier and federal Liberal party of Canada leader, and the first Chancellor of Upper Canada.
The Reform Movement (Upper Canada)
The rebellions in 1837 must be viewed in the wider context of the late-18th- and early-19th-century Atlantic revolutions. The American Revolutionary war in 1776, the French Revolution of 1789–1799, the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804, the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and Spanish America (1810–1825) were all inspired by the same republican ideals. Even Great Britain's Chartists sought the same democratic goals. The Canadian rebels believed that the right of citizens to participate in the political process through the election of representatives was the most important right, and they sought to make the legislative council elective rather than appointed. When the British military crushed the rebellions, they ended any possibility the two Canadas would become republics.
Secessionist movements of Canada
The Métis, under the leadership of Louis Riel staged the Red River Rebellion in Manitoba against Canada in 1870, and the North-West Rebellion in Saskatchewan in 1885. At the time, this part of the West was relatively independent, francophone, culturally distinct, and facing the stress of dealing with aggressive colonization by Anglophones from Ontario.
Family Compact
The Legislative Council of Upper Canada was the upper house governing the province of Upper Canada. It was modelled after the British House of Lords. Members were appointed, often for life. The longest serving members were James Baby (1792–1833), Jacob Mountain Anglican Bishop of Quebec (1794–1825), John Strachan (1820–1841), George Markland (1822–1836), Peter Robinson (1823–1836), Thomas Talbot (1809–1841), Thomas Clark (1815–1841), William Dickson (1815–1841), John Henry Dunn (1822–1841), William Allan (1825–1841).
The Reform Movement (Upper Canada)
The membership of the NUWC was later integrated into the London Working Men's Association, an organization established in London in 1836, that led the Chartist movement. The founders were William Lovett, Francis Place and Henry Hetherington. They were associated with Owenite socialism and the movement for general education. They published a People’s Charter on 8 May 1838 calling for universal suffrage. The London Working Men's Association was aware of the unrest in the Canadas in early 1837, and themselves petitioned the British Parliament after a public meeting to protest the "base proposals of the Whigs to destroy the principle of Universal Suffrage in the Canadas". To implement the Chartist plan, they called a series of mass meetings across the country in the summer of 1838 to select delegates to a "General Convention of the Industrious Classes". After the General Convention of the Industrious Classes met in May 1839, their Charter petition was rejected by Parliament. This rejection led to the Newport Uprising of 1839 in Wales, suppressed by Sir Francis Bond Head's cousin, Sir Edmund Walker Head. Rather than view each rebellion in isolation, the Newport Rising (1839), the two Canadian Rebellions (1837–38) and the subsequent American Patriot War (1838–39) can be seen to share a similar republican impetus. They should all be viewed in the context of the late-18th- and early-19th-century Atlantic revolutions that took their inspiration from the republicanism of the American Revolution.
History of the Canadian Army
The North-West Field Force was a body of militia and regular troops created for quelling the North-West Rebellion of 1885, which constituted Canada's first military action without British troop support, although British officers such as Frederick Middleton were in command of the Canadian forces. Middeleton's successor as the commander of the militia, Colonel Ivor Herbert, proved to be a reformer who first revealed to the Canadian press that the ratio of officers in the militia to the privates was 1:2.24 in 1894. Herbert also created the post of quartermaster general to tend to the supply notes and appointed another British officer, Percy Lake as the quartermaster general. Herbert increased spending on the Permanent Force, and founded two new regiments, the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry, the Royal Canadian Dragoons and several artillery battalions. Herbert's reforms threatened the entrenched vested interests of the militia and after much lobbying by militia colonels cum MPs, Herbert was dismissed in 1894. In 1896, the new Liberal Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier appointed Sir Frederick Borden as Defence minister, who stayed on until the Liberals lost the 1911 election. Borden was a reformer, who appointed Colonel Edward Hutton of the British Army as the militia commander. During this period, the Permanent Force acquired a medical corps, transport corps, signalling corps, intelligence corps and an ordnance corps.
Upper Canada Rebellion
On November 15, Mackenzie published his draft constitution. On November 27, Mackenzie printed a handbill declaring "Independence!". On November 29, Mackenzie set the date for the Constitutional Convention for December 21, exactly 6 months after the date of King William's death - the Tory dominated elected assembly, which refused to prorogue, would at that time become illegitimate.
Conservatism in Canada
After the failure of radical liberalism during the Rebellions of 1837, a new set of moderate liberals, led by Robert Baldwin in Canada West, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine in Canada East and Joseph Howe in Nova Scotia rose to prominence. They campaigned for and won responsible government by creating broad coalitions that took in liberals, moderates, and conservatives.
Francis Bond Head
Head was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada in 1835 in an attempt by the British government to appease the reformers in the colony, such as William Lyon Mackenzie, who wanted responsible government. He appointed reformer Robert Baldwin to the Executive Council, though this appointment was opposed by the more radical Mackenzie. In any case he ignored Baldwin's advice, and Baldwin resigned; the Legislative Assembly of the 12th Parliament of Upper Canada then refused to pass any money bills, so Head dissolved the government. In the subsequent election campaign, he appealed to the United Empire Loyalists of the colony, proclaiming that the reformers were advocating American republicanism. The Conservative party, led by the wealthy landowners known as the "Family Compact", won the election to the 13th Parliament of Upper Canada.
Upper Canada Rebellion
As Mackenzie and his forces marched towards Toronto, Bond Head sent a flag to the rebels and asked for their demands, to which Mackenzie demanded “Independence and a convention to arrange details.” By the time Mackenzie and his followers had reached College Street, Bond Head sent another party to tell Mackenzie that his demands had been rejected. That same day, Colonel Moodie attempted to ride through a roadblock to warn Bond Head, but the rebels shot him.
Indigenous peoples in Canada
Amongst notable Métis people are singer and actor Tom Jackson, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories Tony Whitford, and Louis Riel who led two resistance movements: the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885, which ended in his trial.
Republic of Canada
The Republic of Canada was a government proclaimed by William Lyon Mackenzie on December 5, 1837. The self-proclaimed government was established on Navy Island in the Niagara River in the latter days of the Upper Canada Rebellion.
John McDonell
Captain John McDonell (c. 1758-21 November 1809) was a soldier, judge and political figure in Upper Canada following the American Revolution. He was elected as the first speaker for the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada.
William Lyon Mackenzie
The rebel leaders escaped to the United States, with Mackenzie arriving in Buffalo, New York on December 11, 1837. On December 12, he delivered an address to the largest public meeting in the history of Buffalo, describing Upper Canada's desire for liberty and their oppression at the hands of the British, and asking for their help. The meeting ended with wild "cheers for Mackenzie, Papineau, and Rolph!" and Mackenzie thus began a recruiting campaign. On December 13, he declared himself the head of a provisional government, entitled the "Republic of Canada". He convinced Rensselaer Van Rensselaer (nephew of Stephen Van Rensselaer III, an American colonel during the War of 1812) to join in a scheme whereby volunteers would invade Upper Canada from Navy Island in the Niagara River. Several hundred volunteers travelled to Navy Island in the next several weeks, as did shipments of food, arms, and cannon shot. Recruitment was hurt, however, when the American government, headed by President Martin Van Buren, instructed the volunteers that they would be prosecuted as criminals if they participated in the planned invasion, and many volunteers returned home.
John Powell (Canadian politician)
John Powell (June 19, 1809 – February 24, 1881) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Toronto and played an important role in the Upper Canada Rebellion. Powell was a member of the "Family Compact," the small group of elite families that controlled the politics of Upper Canada in the first half of the nineteenth century. His father, Captain John Powell, was the son-in-law of General Æneas Shaw and his grandfather was Chief Justice William Dummer Powell. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada.
Upper Canada Guardian
The Upper Canada Guardian; or Freeman’s Journal was one of the first opposition papers in 19th century Upper Canada. Its publisher and editor Joseph Willcocks established it after moving to Niagara in 1807 to combat arbitrary power, oppressive land laws, and ultimately create liberty in the province. Willcocks claimed that the Guardian was meant: “to disseminate the principles of political truth, check the progress of inordinate power, and keep alive the sacred flame of a just and rational liberty.” In 1809, Judge William Dummer Powell complained of its widespread popularity and the fact that it was in nearly every household. It was a four-page paper (11 by 17 and a half inches) published between July 24, 1807 and June 9, 1812 and printed in with the roman cursive “f” representing the English long "s". The Upper Canada Guardian came to an end when Willcocks sold its printing press to Richard Hatt in June 1812 for $1,600.
Robert Borden
Sir Robert Laird Borden, (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada, in office from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I.
Willowdale, Toronto
David Gibson, a distinguished land surveyor, was another leader in this community. Like most of his neighbours, Gibson participated in the ill-fated Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. He was thus charged with high treason and escaped to the United States, where he found employment as the First Assistant Engineer on the building of the Erie Canal.
Reform movement (pre-Confederation Canada)
In 1841, the Act of Union went into effect. Upper Canada became Canada West, forming with Canada East (Quebec) the United Province of Canada. The leaders of the Reform movement in Canada West at this point were Robert Baldwin and Francis Hincks. The Reformers worked with Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and moderate French Canadians to form government at various points in the 1840s. They eventually succeeded in obtaining a democratically-accountable executive and the first administration under the principle of responsible government came to power in 1848.
Lower Canada Rebellion
The rebellion was preceded by nearly three decades of efforts at political reform in Lower Canada, led from the early 1800s by James Stuart and Louis-Joseph Papineau, who formed the Parti Patriote and sought accountability from the elected general assembly and appointed governor of the colony. The appointed legislative council (a type of upper house) was dominated by a small group of businessmen known as the Château Clique, the equivalent of the Family Compact in Upper Canada.
Legislative Council of Upper Canada
The Legislative Council of Upper Canada was the upper house governing the province of Upper Canada. Modelled after the British House of Lords, it was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. It was specified that the council should consist of at least seven members. Members were appointed for life but could be dropped for non-attendance. The first nine members of the council were appointed on 12 July 1792. The speaker was usually the Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. The Legislative Council was dissolved on 10 February 1841 when Upper and Lower Canada were united into the Province of Canada. Some members were reappointed to the Legislative Council of the united Province.
Joseph-Octave Plessis
Plessis cultivated a new generation of priests during the difficult period leading up to the Lower Canada Rebellion, including Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Ferland, Narcisse-Charles Fortier, Jean-Baptiste Kelly, Thomas Maguire, and Pierre-Antoine Tabeau.
Upper Canada
The First Nations occupying the territory that was to become Upper Canada were:Prior to the creation of Upper Canada in 1791 much land had already been ceded by the First Nations to the Crown in accordance with the Royal Proclamation of 1763. During the American Revolutionary War most of the First Nations supported the British. After the Americans launched a campaign that burned the villages of the Iroquois in New York State in 1779 the refugees fled to Fort Niagara and other British posts, and remained permanently in Canada.Land was granted to these allied Six Nations who had served on the British side during the American Revolution by the Haldimand Proclamation (1784). Haldimand had purchased a tract of land from the Mississaugas. The nature of the grant has been under dispute.
Caroline affair
The Reform Movement of Upper Canada (today's Ontario) was a movement to make the British colonial rule in Canada more democratic and less corrupt. William Lyon Mackenzie was one of the key leaders of this movement. He was repeatedly elected to serve in a hostile parliament that repeatedly ejected him for his reform efforts. By 1837, Mackenzie had given up on peaceful means for reform and began to prepare for an uprising.
Upper Canada Rebellion
With the truce faltering, Mackenzie and his forces continued into Toronto, eventually confronting a small loyalist force estimated to be between 15 and 30 members strong. The last real engagement prior to the Battle of Montgomery’s Tavern occurred on December 6 via a raid on a mail coach which was suspected to have government intelligence regarding future actions towards the rebels. It was from this raid that the rebels learned of government plans to soon attack Montgomery’s Tavern.
Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada
The Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada () was written in French by the patriot rebel Robert Nelson on February 22, 1838, while in exile in the United States, after the first rebellion of 1837.
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
Sir Louis-Hippolyte Ménard "dit" La Fontaine, 1st Baronet, KCMG (October 4, 1807 – February 26, 1864) was the first Canadian to become Premier of the United Province of Canada and the first head of a responsible government in Canada. He was born in Boucherville, Lower Canada in 1807. A jurist and statesman, La Fontaine was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1830. He was a supporter of Papineau and member of the "Parti canadien" (later the "Parti patriote"). After the severe consequences of the Rebellions of 1837 against the British authorities, he advocated political reforms within the new Union regime of 1841.
Quebec nationalism
The formal rejection of all 92 resolutions by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1837 led to a radicalization of the patriotic movement's actions. Louis-Joseph Papineau took the leadership of a new strategy which included the boycott of all British imports. During the summer, many popular gatherings ("assemblées populaires") were organized to protest against the policy of Great Britain in Lower Canada. In November, Governor Archibald Acheson ordered the arrest of 26 leaders of the "patriote" movement, among whom Louis-Joseph Papineau and many other reformists were members of parliament. This instigated an armed conflict which developed into the Lower Canada Rebellion.
Rebellions of 1837–1838
After the rebellions died down more moderate reformers, such as the political partners Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, gained credibility as an alternative voice to the radicals. They proved to be influential when the British government sent Lord Durham, a prominent reformer, to investigate the cause of the troubles. Among the recommendations in his report was the establishment of responsible government for the colonies, one of the rebels' original demands (although it was not achieved until 1849). Durham also recommended the merging of Upper and Lower Canada into a single political unit (the Act of Union), which became the nucleus for modern-day Canada. More controversially, he recommended the government-sponsored cultural assimilation of French Canadians to the English language and culture. In fact, the merging of the Upper and Lower Canada was intended to take any form of self-government away from the French Canadians, forcing them into becoming a smaller part of the new, larger, political unit.
William Lyon Mackenzie
On November 24, Mackenzie travelled north of Toronto to rally supporters. (There is no indication that this was coordinated with the outbreak of the Lower Canada Rebellion earlier in November.) At a meeting on December 2 in Stoufferville, Mackenzie set forth his plan for rebellion in greatest detail: British troops occupied in Lower Canada would be unable to do anything as Reformers from the country marched on Toronto; once there they would join up with Rolph, Morrison, and important men such as Peter Robinson, George Herchmer Markland, and John Henry Dunn (who were not Reformers, but who had resigned from the Executive Council in protest of Lord John Russell's Ten Resolutions). Mackenzie felt that given an armed demonstration, the Tories would be overwhelmed and there would be no need to actually use violence. Instead, Lieutenant Governor Head could be seized and the reserve lands could be used to compensate everyone who marched on Toronto with of land. The rebels were instructed to assemble at John Montgomery's tavern on Yonge Street on December 7, and then march into Toronto together. On December 1, Mackenzie wrote a declaration of independence which was to be distributed to rebels immediately before the march on Toronto. On Sunday, December 3, Mackenzie returned to Toronto, where he learned that John Rolph, having heard a false rumour that the government was preparing to mount a defence, had sent a message to Samuel Lount, instructing him to raise several hundred men and enter Toronto the next day. Mackenzie attempted to stop this action, but he could not reach Lount in time, and thus the Upper Canada Rebellion began ahead of Mackenzie's planned schedule, on December 4.
Family Compact
Mackenzie's frustration with Compact control of the government was a catalyst for the failed Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Their hold on the government was reduced with the creation of the united Province of Canada and later the installation of the system of Responsible Government in Canada.
Martin Van Buren
British subjects in Lower Canada (now Quebec) and Upper Canada (now Ontario) rose in rebellion in 1837 and 1838, protesting their lack of responsible government. While the initial insurrection in Upper Canada ended quickly (following the December 1837 Battle of Montgomery's Tavern), many of the rebels fled across the Niagara River into New York, and Canadian leader William Lyon Mackenzie began recruiting volunteers in Buffalo. Mackenzie declared the establishment of the Republic of Canada and put into motion a plan whereby volunteers would invade Upper Canada from Navy Island on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. Several hundred volunteers traveled to Navy Island in the weeks that followed. They procured the steamboat "Caroline" to deliver supplies to Navy Island from Fort Schlosser. Seeking to deter an imminent invasion, British forces crossed to the American bank of the river in late December 1837, and they burned and sank the "Caroline". In the melee, one American was killed and others were wounded. Considerable sentiment arose within the United States to declare war, and a British ship was burned in revenge. Van Buren, looking to avoid a war with Great Britain, sent General Winfield Scott to the border with large discretionary powers for its protection and its peace. Scott impressed upon American citizens the need for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, and made it clear that the U.S. government would not support adventuresome Americans attacking the British. Also, in early January 1838, the president proclaimed U.S. neutrality with regard to the Canadian independence issue, a declaration which Congress endorsed by passing a neutrality law designed to discourage the participation of American citizens in foreign conflicts.
Louis Riel
In 1884 Riel was called upon by the Métis leaders in Saskatchewan to articulate their grievances to the Canadian government. Instead he organized a military resistance that escalated into a military confrontation, the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Ottawa used the new rail lines to send in thousands of combat soldiers. It ended in his arrest and conviction for high treason. Despite protests and popular appeals, Prime Minister Macdonald rejected calls for clemency, and Riel was executed by hanging. Riel was seen as a heroic victim by French Canadians; his execution had a lasting negative impact on Canada, polarizing the new nation along ethno-religious lines. Although only a few hundred people were directly affected by the Rebellion in Saskatchewan, the long-term result was that the Prairie provinces would be controlled by the Anglophones, not the Francophones. An even more important long-term impact was the bitter alienation Francophones across Canada felt, and anger against the repression by their countrymen.
Upper Canada Rebellion
In November 1837, in the lead-up to the Political Union's Constitutional Convention, Mackenzie published a satire in the "Constitution", a round table discussion by such luminaries as John Locke, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and William Pitt and others, said to be a "convention sitting in this township for the purpose of circulating political information, weighing opinions as to the best means of improving the civil institutions of the country, and endeavoring to determine whether the British Constitution, Sir F. Head's government or Independence would be the most likely to prove advantageous to the people." As part of this satire, he published a draft republican constitution for Upper Canada. This constitution closely resembled the objectives spelled out in the constitution of the Canadian Alliance Society in 1834; it called for an elected governor, legislative council (senate), House of Assembly and magistracy, all by secret ballot. It was egalitarian, prohibiting both slavery and the granting of "hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honors." It also called for a separation of church and state, and barred the clergy from seeking election, or serving in any civil or military office. It guaranteed the rights to personal property, to freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. But tied to these rights to personal property and egalitarian democracy were severe restrictions on chartering corporations; starting from the premise that "Labour is the only means of creating wealth" it placed a constitutional prohibition on chartering either banks or trading companies.
Samuel Smith (Upper Canada politician)
Samuel Bois Smith (27 December 1756 – 20 October 1826) was a Loyalist British Army officer and politician. He was appointed to the Executive Council of Upper Canada and appointed Administrator of Upper Canada.
Upper Canada
The Church was led by the Rev. John Strachan (1778–1867), a pillar of the Family Compact. Strachan was part of the oligarchic ruling class of the province, and besides leading the Church of England, also sat on the Executive Council, the Legislative Council, helped found the Bank of Upper Canada, Upper Canada College, and the University of Toronto.
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was largely defeated shortly after it began, although resistance lingered until 1838 (and became more violent) - mainly through the support of the Hunters' Lodges, a secret anti-British, US-based militia that emerged around the Great Lakes, and launched the Patriot War in 1838-39.
Upper Canada Rebellion
News of the intended rebellion had reached London and the surrounding townships by December 7. It was initially thought that the Toronto rebellion was successful, contributing to Charles Duncombe wanting to rise up as well. Upon hearing more details about the rebellion in Toronto, Duncombe convened a series of public meetings to spread news of the supposed atrocities committed by Bond Head against all suspected reformers to help increase anti-government support. It is estimated that there were between 400-500 rebels who assembled under Duncombe Colonel Allan MacNab, who had just finished leading Upper Canadian militiamen during the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern, was sent to engage Duncombe's uprising. He left Hamilton, Ontario on December 12 and arrived in Brantford on December 13. Although many rebels, including Duncombe, had fled prior to the upcoming battle due to hearing about the failure of Mackenzie in Toronto and general disorganization, there were still some present in Scotland, Ontario and MacNab commenced his attack on Scotland on December 14, causing the remaining rebels to flee after only a few shots were fired. The victorious Tory supporters burned homes and farms of known rebels and suspected supporters. In the 1860s, some of the former rebels were compensated by the Canadian government for their lost property in the rebellion aftermath.
Upper Canada
The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the Family Compact by W.L. Mackenzie in December 1837. Long term grievances included antagonism between Later Loyalists and British Loyalists, political corruption, the collapse of the international financial system and the resultant economic distress, and a growing republican sentiment. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the Rebellion in Lower Canada (present day Quebec) that emboldened rebels in Upper Canada to openly revolt soon after. The Upper Canada Rebellion was largely defeated shortly after it began, although resistance lingered until 1838 (and became more violent) – mainly through the support of the Hunters' Lodges, a secret anti-British, American militia that emerged in states around the Great Lakes. They launched the Patriot War in 1838–39.
Riel Rebellion
The Riel Rebellion (or more precisely Riel Rebellions) is the name often given to two uprisings led by Louis Riel in what are now Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
William Lyon Mackenzie King
King was born in Berlin, Ontario (now known as Kitchener), to John King and Isabella Grace Mackenzie. His maternal grandfather was William Lyon Mackenzie, first mayor of Toronto and leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837. His father was a lawyer, and later a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. King had three siblings. He attended Berlin Central School (now Suddaby Public School) and Berlin High School (now Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School). Tutors were hired to teach him more politics, science, math, English and French.
Upper Canada Rebellion
Paul Romney explains this failure of historical imagination as the outcome of an explicit strategy adopted by reformers in the face of charges of disloyalty to Britain in the wake of the Rebellions of 1837. In recounting the “myths of responsible government”, Romney emphasized that after the ascendancy of Loyalism as the dominant political ideology of Upper Canada any demand for democracy or for responsible government became a challenge to colonial sovereignty. The linkage of the "fight for responsible government" with disloyalty was solidified by the Rebellion of 1837, as reformers took up arms to finally break the "baneful domination" of the mother country. Struggling to avoid the charge of sedition, reformers later purposefully obscured their true aims of independence from Britain and focused on their grievances against the Family Compact. Thus, responsible government became a "pragmatic" policy of alleviating local abuses, rather than a revolutionary anti-colonial moment.