Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GRIEVANCES
Colonial government Governors Patronage Land Issues Transportation Issues
COLONIAL GOVERNMENT
Assemblies made of elected representatives Assemblies could make plans, but needed approval Councils comprised of people appointed from upper class People had no real decision-making power
GOVERNORS
British men appointed by English monarch Unfamiliar with local issues and conditions Dependent on advice of appointed councils Usually United Empire Loyalists
PATRONAGE
Governor appointed all public officials Governor also appointed military officers Good jobs to upper class Chteau Clique and Family Compact Land grants and pensions based on patronage
LAND ISSUES
Councillors controlled almost all of the land Clergy reserves and Crown reserves Land speculation by members of Family Compact in Upper Canada Loss of land to due to increasing Anglophone population in Lower Canada
TRANSPORTATION ISSUES
Farmers needed roads to get to markets Land in reserves often blocked roadways In Lower Canada, government collected taxes, but used on canals Merchants benefitted from canals and grew rich
LOWER CANADA
Louis-Joseph Papineau and Parti Patriote Created 92 Resolutions to express discontent French dominated elected Assembly, decisions made by appointed Council Armed rebellions vs ruling elite failed
UPPER CANADA
William Lyon Mackenzie and group of reformers Called for reform leading to responsible government Demanded elected Council and Executive accountable to Assembly Opposed clergy reserves, land grants and influence of church
CONSEQUENCES
Lord Durhams Report Act of Union Responsible government Rebellion Losses Bill Confederation
DURHAMS REPORT
Durham recommended the following: -to unite Upper and Lower Canada -to assimilate or anglicize the French -to grant responsible government
ACT OF UNION
Upper and Lower Canada united in 1841 Canada West and Canada East created English was made the only official language in an attempt to assimilate Canada West and Canada East were given equal political representation
RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT
First Responsible Government in the British Empire. The first Executive Council chosen exclusively from the party having a majority in the representative branch of a colonial legislature was formed in Nova Scotia on 2 February 1848. Following a vote of want of confidence in the preceding Council, James Boyle Uniacke, who had moved the resolution, became Attorney General and leader of the Government. Joseph Howe, the long-time campaigner for this "Peaceable Revolution", became Provincial Secretary. Other members of the Council were Hugh Bell, Wm. F. Desbarres, Lawrence O.C. Doyle, Herbert Huntingdon, James McNab, Michael Tobin, and George R. Young.
CONFEDERATION
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