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The Dynamics of Local Government in Six Upper Canadian Towns During the Era of Commercial Capitalism, 1832-1860

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The Dynamics of Local Government in Six Upper Canadian Towns During the Era of Commercial Capitalism, 1832-1860 LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SIX UPPER CANADIAN TOWNS, 1832-1860 BY AND FOR THE LARGE PROPERTIED INTERESTS: THE DYNAMICS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SIX UPPER CANADIAN TOWNS DURING THE ERA OF COMMERCIAL CAPITALISM, 1832-1860 By WILLIAM THOMAS MATTHEWS, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University February, 1985 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (1985} McMASTER UNIVERSITY (Hi story} Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: By and For the Large Propertied Interests: The Dynamics of Local Government in Six Upper Canadian Towns During the Era of Commercial Capitalism, 1832-1860 AUTHOR: William Thomas Matthews, B.A. (University of Western Ontario) M.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Doctor John C. Weaver NUMBER OF PAGES: vi, 407 i i HiES IS ABSTRACT THESIS ABSTRACT: 11 By and For the Large Propertied Interests: The Dynamics of Local Government in Six Upper Canadian Towns During the Era of Commercial Capitalism, 1832-1860." This dissertation analyzes the dynamics of local government in six communities Brockville, Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa, St. Catharines and Toronto. Traditional politico-constitutional histories were obsessed with tracing the steady growth of participatory democracy at the local level. In contrast, this study adopts a more critical perspective, documenting the manner in which local elites utilized municipal government to shape the development of the province's urban communities. Among the relevant issues examined are the incorporation of towns and cities, the regulation of the public market, the expansion of municipal services, the subsidization of i nterna1 improvement projects, and the struggle to preserve public order and morality. By means of quantitative analysis, the author considers the essential characteristics of the men elected to civic office. Merchants and other businessmen who identified their interests with the community-at-large dominated the 1ocal councils. These i ndi vi duals were committed to the growth of the towns and cities they represented, and they implemented measures designed to facilitate commercial expansion and urban development. At the same time, however, fearing the negative consequences of massive socio-economic change, they utilized municipal government as a means to ensure that order and stabi 1 i ty prevailed in the changing urban environment. i i i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very fortunate to have a large number of people to thank for helping to bring this project through to fruition. An undertaking such as this is no easy task, and many individuals have contributed, both directly and indirectly, to its succes~ful completion. I am especially pleased to have had Or. John C. ~~eaver as my thesis supervisor. He first suggested that I examine the workings of local government in the pre-Confederation period, and his keen intellect, wealth of experience, and broad knowledge of urban history helped me to grapple with the innumerable theoretical and practical difficulties which emerged at both the researching and writing stages. In addition, I am gratified to note that we have become good friends over the course of the past three or four years. I am indebted to a number of other members of the History Department at McMaster University. Or. David P. Gagan provided me with a working knowledge of quantitative analysis. Dr. C. M. Johnston contributed, in no small way, to my development as a graduate student, and Or. David J. Russo brought to my attention the need to consider broad themes and generalizations when undertaking any historical study. Furthermore, Dr. Richard Allen, Dr. Ezio Cappadicia, Dr. Paul Fritz, Professor Harry Turner, Mrs. Vi Croydon and Mrs. Sheena Gorman helped to make my years at McMaster more rewarding and enjoyable. r~anon Jlmes has proved to be a most diligent typist, and I am indebted to her for preparing the final draft of this dissertation. I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Gerald Killan, a r~cMaster graduate, who is now teaching at King's College in London, Ontario. Dr. Kil1an first sparked my interest in Canadian history more than ten years ago when I iv was a student in his first year survey course, and he was largely responsible for my decision to apply for admission to the M.A. programme at McMaster University. This dissertation could not have been completed without the assistance of a number of i nstitutions. I am grateful to i~cMaster University, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Fund, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for providing me with the financial support which allowed me to undertake a project of this magnitude. In addition, a generous grant awarded by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs covered the cost of my numerous researching expeditions. While pursuing my research, I visited a number of libraries and archival collections scattered throughout the province. I found the staff at all of these institutions to be most helpful and cooperative, and I am especially grateful to George Henderson at the Queen•s University Archives and Mrs. Wilson at the St. Catharines Public Library for their enthusiastic assistance. Finally, I must attempt to thank the various members of my family who have done so much to facilitate the completion of this project. My parents have always offered me unquestioning support and encouragement, and I can only begin to thank them for their selfless contribution. Similarly, I can never hope to repay Sheena Matthews for all that she has done while I have been engaged in the arduous and, at times, frustrating task of writing this dissertation. In addition to assisting me witn the coding and proof-reading the completed manuscript, she furnished me with the stability and sense of purpose that made it all worthwhile. v TABLE OF CONTENTS · Page Introduction 1 Chapter One: "The Corporation Fever": The Reorgani zaton 13 of Local Government in Upper Canadian Towns Chapter Two: "Men of Experience and Property": Municipal 63 Politicians in Six Urban Communities Chapter Three: "To protect the fair dealer and detect the 132 fraudulent one": Local Government and the Regulation of the Public Market Chapter Four: "To prevent vice and preserve good order": 177 Local Government and the Pathology of the Tmm Chapter Five: "For the health .and comfort of the 244 inhabitants:" Fire, Disease and the Construction of Public Waterworks C~apter Six: "To sacrifice much to ensure the 306 building of the road": Civic Finance, Urban Boosterism and the Economic Crisis of 1857-1864 Conclusion 379 Bibliography 389 vi INTRODUCTION The unfolding of colonial "home rule" during the early decades of the nineteenth century is a theme that has dominated the writing of Canadian history. Indeed, as Carl Berger observed in his swee~ing analysis of English Canada•s historiographical tradition, the advent of responsible government "preoccupied amateur writers and politicians alike in the Victorian age, and in the decade after the First World War it was regarded by a group of historians as the single most significant development in the Canadian past."1 Focussing exclusively on politico­ constitutional developments while detailing the struggle between the elected assemblies and appointed councils, George M. Wrong, ~dam Shortt, Chester Martin, W. P. M. Kennedy and innumerable subsequent historians laid the foundations of the traditional interpretation of Canadian history which still commands a sizeable following to this day. In view of the predominance of the "whig" or ljberal-nationalist approach, it is not surprising that scholars have tended to examine the development of local government from a similar perspective. Adam Shortt•s 1907 monograph, Municipal Government in Ontario: An Historical Sketch, represented the earliest and, in many ways, the most impressive analysis of local government in the future province of Ontario. This work defined the main parameters of investigation, and it articulated the mode of interpretation that would prevail in subsequent studies. 1 2 Emphasizing the continuity between the American and British North American experiences, Shortt began by describing the limited form of local self-government which took root in Upper Canada during the late eighteenth century. The American settlers arriving in the newly-created province wished to establish the institution of the town meeting as it had functioned in New England for more than a century. British authorities recognized the need for a decentralized administrative framework, but they were reluctant to grant local self-government since it was widely believed that the overly-democratic townhall meetings of New England had been a primary cause of the American Revolution. According to Shortt, the Parish and Town Officers Act of 1793 represented the resultant compromise. While authorizing annual town meetings and permitting ratepayers to elect certain officials. the Parish and Town Officers Act restricted the legislative powers of the local councils to unimportant functions such as determining the optimum height of fences. The Court of Quarter Sessions remained "the only living centre of municipal affairs," and the Justices of the Peace, who were appointed by the Crown, retained capacious legislative, administra­ tive and judicial prerogatives.2 The decades following the introduction of the Parish and Town Officers Act witnessed an upsurge in popular agitation for "home rule'' at the local level. Exasperated by their inability to take charge of local affairs, a steadily increasing number of Upper Canadians began to call for the creation of a less authoritarian system of municipal government. Colonial officials eventually recognized the futility of further resistance, and they resolved to implement a series of reformist 3 measures which brought about an unprecedented decentralization of power. In Municipal Government in Ontario, Adam Shortt meticulously detailed the legislation which he considered to be the most important landmarks on the road to local self-government. The Public School Act of 1816 was especially significant, he exclaimed, because it 11 gave to the people of the different towns, villages and townships the first real measure of local self-government .
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