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Home , 1830s, Family Compact, John Strachan, Upper Canada

Rebellions in Upper & Lower

Keywords: ,

In 1837 there were uprisings in both Upper and against the conservative minority in power. In Lower Canada there was the added dimension of French animosity toward the governing English elite. The uprisings in Lower Canada were led by Louis-Joseph Papineau and the Parti patriote. Papineau published his grievances in a document called the Ninety-Two Resolutions. The Patriotes wanted greater control of civil salaries and patronage by the elected Assembly (which was primarily francophone); more economic development at the local level (which would also give the opportunity to issue patronage); and more access to government positions by the francophone middle class. Recurrent violent rioting characterized politics in in the early and in November 1837 English and French groups began fighting in the streets to such an extent that British troops were brought in to put down the uprising. Fifty-eight Patriotes were killed and British authorities implemented a temporary dictatorship by Governor and Council.

In the rebellion was led by William Mackenzie, whose grandson, King, would become a famous and long-serving Prime Minister of Canada. Mackenzie and many of his followers were recent immigrants from Great Britain who were already hostile to the British upper classes and the Anglican Church. These feelings were intensified by the monopoly of power held by the Family Compact [name given to the oligarchy that controlled the government of Upper Canada]. Mackenzie led a small band of rebels down Yonge St. in in an attempt to overthrow the government and set up an American-style republic [democratic system of government in which the head of government is a president rather than a monarch]. The rebels were quickly defeated and Mackenzie fled to the United States where he lived in .

Both rebellions called for a more accountable government where the Executive (or what we call today the Cabinet) was drawn from the elected majority of the Assembly. In 1837, all important decisions were made by an appointed council that had no connection or obligation to the elected Assembly and therefore did not have to pay attention to the wishes of the voters.

SOURCE: http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca

Family Compact & Chateau Clique

FAMILY COMPACT

Keywords: Family Compact, Clergy Reserves

The Family Compact [name given to the oligarchy that controlled the government of Upper Canada] was a small group of conservative families who dominated business and government in Upper Canada in the and 30s. These people favoured British like the and they supported the idea of keeping government in the hands of appointed legislative and executive councils. They opposed the idea of having an elected Assembly and felt that they were superior to the rest of the masses and power should rest with them. Economically, the Family Compact represented progressive industrialization and they promoted such activities as building and establishing banks. Among the most well-known members of the Family Compact was Bishop , head of the Anglican Church. As the official Church of , the Anglican Church benefited from a system of Clergy Reserves [lands set aside for the Protestant clergy. which set aside one-seventh of all Crown land for the use of the church. Later, people of other Protestant faiths, like the Presbyterians, began to challenge these privileges held by the Anglican church.

CHATEAU CLIQUE

Keywords: Chateau Clique, oligarchy, legislature, assimilation

In Lower Canada government and business were controlled by a small group of upper class families which became known as the Chateau Clique [small, upper class, mostly English group that controlled the government of Lower Canada]. This was a group similar to the Family Compact in Upper Canada, but with the additional factor that, with a few exceptions, they were an English-speaking elite within a French-speaking majority. This oligarchy [form of government in which power is held by only a few people; also the people who form such a government] was quietly trying to convince Britain to unite Upper and Lower Canada into a single with a single legislature [branch of government responsible for making laws], which would give anglophones the majority and eventually lead to the assimilation [to adopt the values, and behaviour of another society; to be absorbed into it] of the French.

SOURCE: http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca

Louis-Joseph Papineau

Keywords: seigneury, Jacksonian , Chateau Clique

Louis-Joseph Papineau had been raised in a seigneury [a seigneur's estate] in Lower Canada and was a well-to-do seigneur himself with large land holdings in the Valley. Yet his political education had acquainted him with the Republican ideas of President Jackson [the belief of U.S. president that government should be for the good of all the people, not just the privileged few] in the United States and he became a leader of a radical party, the Patriotes. He first joined the Assembly of Lower Canada in 1809 and became Speaker in 1815. In 1828, the assembly sent a petition to asking for reforms which would reduce the power of the executive and the Chateau Clique [the small, upper class, mostly English group that controlled the government of Lower Canada]. In 1834, the Patriotes drew up their demands as 92 Resolutions which included an elected second chamber, like the American Senate.

In November 1837 the Patriotes were exasperated enough to take up arms in a short-lived unsuccessful revolt. The English dealt severely with the French rebels and introduced a temporary dictatorship by the Governor and his Council which lasted for several months. Even today this chapter of history remains one of the remembered injustices fuelling separatism although other Quebec historians point out that Papineau and his fellow Patriote leaders were from a conservative professional elite who were more interested in advancing their group than bringing about democratic reforms for the good of the francophone majority.

SOURCE: http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca

William L. Mackenzie

Keywords: Family Compact, Jacksonian democracy,

William Lyon Mackenzie emigrated to Canada from in 1820 and four years later established a newspaper, The , which he used to attack families of Upper Canada. Sons of the Family Compact [name given to the oligarchy that controlled the government of Upper Canada] retaliated by breaking into his office and destroying his typesetting equipment. Mackenzie was not deterred, however. In fact his reform politics became more and more radical with visits to President Andrew Jackson in the United States and British reformers such as in England. Mackenzie was taken by their more radical ideas and wanted an American form of government based on Jacksonian democracy [the belief of U.S. president Andrew Jackson that government should be for the good of all the people, not just the privileged few].

Most Reformers, however, supported the more moderate ideas of who advocated responsible government [a system of government in which the executive (law makers) must have the confidence (support) of a majority in the elected legislative assembly], but still on the British model. Mackenzie was elected several times to the Assembly, but was thrown out quite often, too, because of his attacks on the political elite. In 1834 Mackenzie was chosen as the first mayor of Toronto and in 1835 led a committee that tabled the Seventh Report on Grievances. This document attacked the current political system and advocated an elected , an Executive Council responsible to the Assembly, and restrictions on the lieutenant-governor's control over patronage.

In 1837 Mackenzie led an uprising in Upper Canada. On the rebels, loosely organized and ill- armed, marched down in Toronto. They were soon defeated, but the disturbance they created, following on the heels of a similar rebellion in Lower Canada in November, prompted the English to send Lord Durham over to the to find the source of the trouble.

Mackenzie went into exile in the United States. His daughter returned to Canada to marry and start a family, though, and her eldest son, William Lyon Mackenzie King, became one of our most famous Prime Ministers.

SOURCE: http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca

Durham's Report 1839

In his report to the British Parliament, Durham said that the troubles in Upper and Lower Canada were the result of a misuse of power by the oligarchy and a clash between the appointed branch and the elected Assembly. He realized the should have a more accountable government. Durham did not have an appreciation of French Canadian culture, however. He dismissed it as a static society, inferior to the English. Durham suggested a political union of the British North American colonies which would give the English a majority result in the assimilation of the French (he thought) and make it easier to complete projects like a continental system.

British reaction to Durham's Report was mixed. The colonial secretary, Lord John Russell, was opposed to giving up British parliamentary supremacy by allowing the colony to have representative government. He agreed with the proposal for union, though, and a bill to unite Upper and Lower Canada became law on , 1840, just five days before Durham died. This was the Act of Union.

SOURCE: http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca

Terms of the Act of Union

The Act of Union gave the old colony of Quebec its fourth since the Conquest (proceeding were military government, followed by the of 1774, and the Canada Act of 1791). It joined Upper and Lower Canada under a single legislature and renamed the two Canada West and (pottery from that time can still be found with a CW or CE stamped on it).

The Legislature consisted of two houses. The Upper House, or Legislative Council, was appointed for life. The members of the Lower House, or House of Assembly, were elected. Candidates had to be British subjects and own 500 pounds worth of property (about $2000).

Both Upper and Lower Canada had equal representation in the Assembly, regardless of population, even though at the time the largely French-speaking Canada East had 670 000 people and English-speaking Canada West had only 480 000.

SOURCE: http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca