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Responsible
Government
Rebellions, Laws & the Act of Union
The Problem With Canada
 Following the war of 1812 citizens in Canada
began to discover a problem!
 The Problem = the Constitutional Act of 1791
 Act gave the power of ruling to the elite minority
 The rest of the world was demanding rights for
the majority (aka majority rule)
How was CND Ruled?
 Upper and Lower Canada was ruled by
oligarchy.
 Oligarchy – a small ruling class
 Mostly English-speaking & members of the Anglican Church
 Used their power for large industrial projects (canals)
 Benefit of their own economic enterprises
 Canadian oligarchy:
 Upper – Family Compact
 Lower – Château Clique
The Elite Dominate
 Oligarchy gave only the Anglican Church large
amounts of land called Clergy Reserves that
would finance the church.
 The oligarchy made up the appointed men in
the Executive Council
 They would override and block laws passed by the elected
assembly
 Propose taxes and manage government operations.
 This made the average citizen ANGRY
because their voices were being ignored and
tensions grew on both sides.
Reformers
 Reformers – People who wanted responsible
government.
 Responsible Government – a government
who is held accountable to its citizens
 The Reformers used newspapers as their
primary tool for spreading their message of
injustice and change.
The Reformers
 Upper Canada leader – William Lyon
Mackenzie and his paper “The Colonial
Advocate”
 Lower Canada leader – Louis-Joseph
Papineau and his paper “Le Canadien”
 Reform in Lower Canada fought for :
 economic and political rights
 but also cultural security for the French speaking
majority of Lower Canada
Rebellion
 The tension between Oligarchy and Reformers
grew.
 The elected assembly of Canada passed two bills
demanding the appointed council to respect the
elected assembly.
 Upper Canada – The Seventh Report on Grievances
 Lower Canada – The Ninety-Two Resolutions
 These bills would be IGNORED!
 Reformers would have to take a more
DRASTIC approach!
1837 Rebellion
 In 1837 armed rebellion breaks out in Lower
Canada
 Would last less than a month.
 Reformers marched and fought government forces
in Toronto and all over Canada but would be
quickly defeated
 Results: 20 Rebels hanged and Mackenzie and
Papineau sought safety in the Untied States
 Government starts paying attention
!
Lord Durham’s Report
 England is worried about losing control of
Canada
 They send Lord Durham to Canada to develop
solutions for preventing further rebellion.
 He discovers two causes of rebellion:
 1) The oligarchy in Upper Canada
 2) Divisions between French and English in
Lower Canada
Durham’s Solutions
 Durham had two solutions:
 Upper Canada – Called for a government that would
be respectful/respond to the wishes of the majority in
the assembly/people. AKA- Responsible
Government for the colonies rather than
Representative Govt.
 Lower Canada – Called for the colonies to unite.
Upper and Lower Canada into one colony. (by doing
this Assimilating the French into the larger English
colony eliminating Upper and Lower Canada)
Act of Union 1841
 Made Upper (West) & Lower (East) Canada
one colony – Province of Canada. (Canada
East and Canada West)
 Colony has one governor
 One Elected Assembly
 One language in legislature
 Canada East & Canada West would have
equal representation (42 members each)
Act of the Union 1841
 Result of the Act of Union:
 French politicians grouped together to prevent
assimilation and often acted as a voting block.
 Politicians learnt how to work together by forming
coalition
 Coalition – is formed when two or more political
parties agree to work together for a common
purpose