Module 4

Early Stages of Parliamentary Government

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Module Outline Unit 1: Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840)

Topic 1: The Constitutional Act (1791)

Topic 2: Economic Changes

Topic 3: Social Changes

Unit 2: Rebellions of 1837-1838

Topic 1: The Parti Canadien vs The British Party

Topic 2: Stages in the Confrontation

Unit 3: Union of the Two Canadas

Topic 1: Lord Durham's Report

Topic 2: Political Changes After 1840

Topic 3: Economic Changes After 1840

Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840)

Constitutional Act – 1791 Why?To make the Loyalists happy

• Replaces Quebec Act• Province of Quebec

divided – 2 new provinces!– Upper Canada

– Lower Canada

• Each province had their own structure of Government

First time EVER in Canada – Legislative Assembly!

Representative Gov’t NOT Responsible

Governor had power of veto for laws passed by the Legislative Assembly

Upper is low, Lower is up…

Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840) Constitutional Act 1791

• Political Structure created by the Constitutional Act

• French Civil Laws in Lower Canada

• English Criminal Code in Lower AND Upper Canada

Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840)

Economic Changes• Economy turned to TIMBER (wood)

– Why? Big demand for timber because of NAPOLEANIC WARS

• Needed to build warships– War of 1812

Canada has

LOTS of wood

Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840)

Economic Changes• What about our friend the

FUR TRADE?

• Went way waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down really quickly

• Agriculture (wheat) also waaaay down

• Why timber so high?– Preferential British Tarifs

70% +9%1810

% of Economic Activity

0%75%1770

Timber FurYear

Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840)

Economic Changes (1800-1840)• Canals easier to

trade/transport between Upper and Lower Canada– Steamships could

travel St Lawrence

• 1st Railway – 1836– La Prairie to St Jean

• Bank of Montreal (1817)– Canada’s 1st big bank

Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840)

Social Changes (1800-1840)• Immigrants

– British Isles (Scotland, Ireland, England)– worked on canals and railways – 1815-1850 1 million immigrants came to

British North America• Mainly Upper Canada, some Lower Canada

– French in Lower Canada saw immigrants as a THREAT

Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840)

Social Changes (1800-1840)• Why a threat?

– Disease

– Competition for work/jobs

– More English speakers in Lower Canada

• Most from Ireland– Potato famine

– Poor

– Many many people together on boats

• got sick

– Cholera Epidemic in Lower Canada killed thousands (1832 + 1834)

Society in Lower Canada (1791-1840)

Social Changes (1800-1840)Conflict

Patriotes

French Canadian Professionals

(lawyers, doctors, notaries)

Spoke for the needs of French Community

Chateau Clique

English Commercial Class

(bankers, businessmen, merchants)

Spoke for commercial interests ($$ and trade)

Rebellions (1837-1838) Parti Canadien vs. British Party

Parti Canadien = Patriotes

• Assembly (elected)

• Wanted:– responsible government

– to keep the seigneurial system and French civil law

– to protect the French language and culture

– business taxes to pay for roads

– to avoid spending money on projects which only benefitted the English

– government budgets to be controlled by the assembly

– an elected legislative council

British Party=Chateau Clique

• Executive and legislative councils (not elected, appointed)

• Wanted:– laws that promoted

business

– construction of canals and railways

– French assimilation

– union with Upper Canada

– property taxes

Rebellions (1837-1838) Stages in the Confrontation

• 1830s Lower Canada – social and economic conditions got worse and worse.– food shortages --> poor harvests and drastic drops in

wheat production

– thousands of newly arrived British immigrants

– cholera epidemics "None of us go into town anymore.

Many are moving into the country. Yesterday 34 corpses passed our house. Today, 23... not counting those in the old burial Ground and in the Catholic ground. 12 carts are employed by the Board of Health to

carry away the dead who are interred without prayers."

Alexander Hart, Montreal Merchant, 1832

Rebellions (1837-1838) Stages in the Confrontation

• 1834 Papineau's 92 Resolutions– Papineau --> leader of Patriotes– Main demands

• * responsible government

• * control of public spending by the assembly

• * an elected legislative council

• 1837 Russell's 10 Resolutions– Rejected Papineau's main demands

Rebellions (1837-1838) Stages in the Confrontation

• 1837 (Fall)– Patriotes angry about the rejection– Small demonstrations lead to open rebellion

"Well I believe that the moment has come to melt down our tin plates and tin spoons and forge them into bullets."

(Dr. Wolfred Nelson, an English Canadian who supported the Patriote cause)

• Major battles --> British Army vs. Patriotes• St Denis

• St Charles

• St Eustache

Results of the Rebellions

• 1838 (Fall) – Patriotes defeated– Men exiled to Australia– 12 men hanged

• Lord Durham– Sent to Canada by British to...

• Investigate reason for Rebellions

• Suggest ways to solve political tensions in Upper and Lower Canada

Union of the Two CanadasLord Durham's Report (Feb. 1839)

• Angered the French– Said French were

inferior to English

• Said Canada is a land of two hostile groups

So...what happened?

Union of the Two CanadasAct of Union (1840)

• Upper and Lower Canada unite to become the Province of Canada

– Upper Canada --> Canada West

– Lower Canada --> Canada East

• One legislative assembly

– 42 elected officials from Canada West

– 42 elected officials from Canada East

• Debts are combined to one debt

• English becomes the official language of the Province of Canada

• @ first rejected Responsible Gov't, later leaders in East and West formed an alliance and adopted it in 1848

Union of the Two CanadasEconomic Changes after 1840

• Great Britain adopts free trade in 1846– No more preferential tariffs for colonies!– Canada has to compete on the world market

• Export trade (wheat, timber) reduced BIG TIME

• Consequence --> 1854 Reciprocity Treaty– Between British North American Colonies

(Canada) and USA.– Treaty to last 10 years

Union of the Two CanadasReciprocity Treaty (1854)

• free entry (no tariffs) for natural products (wheat, fish, timber,coal) of each country into the markets of the other.

• free access to each other's fisheries.

• Canada allowed free navigation on Lake Michigan

• United States allowed free navigation on the St. Lawrence River.

Union of the Two CanadasEconomic Changes after 1840

Transporation System 1850-1860 • more canals built and deepened

• more railways built– People and places were being connected

References

• Quotes from: Canada: A People's Historyhttp://history.cbc.ca/?MIval=HistSearch.html

• All images are from http://www.lbpsb.qc.ca/~history// , except for the following

• British North America, 1791 http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/h2/f1/nlc006838-v6.jpg

• Upper Canada, Lower Canada http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/11/79711-004-7CA7283C.gif