Transcript Life in Upper Canada: 1815-1838

A New Home
 Government in Canada
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 Family Compact
 The Reformers
 Sir Francis Bond Head
Armed Rebellion in Upper Canada
 Aftermath of the Rebellions
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Upon arrival land was in its natural state
 First Nations were forced inland
 Establishing oneself was difficult work
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The first house
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Log cabin
One room
Dirt floor
Wooden chimney
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A family would eventually build a more
comfortable house
 Field stone
 Sawn lumber
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Upwards of 30 years till a pioneer
homestead is comfortable
Lived on the forest frontier
 Were subsistence farmers
 Were isolated from neighbors
 Received little education
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 Parents
 Neighbors
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Attended “bees” to get big projects
accomplished and to have some social
activity
Rd pg 152
Family Compact
 The Reformers
 Sir Francis Bond Head
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Was a small powerful group in Upper
Canada
Opposed people from the U.S. to be a part
of government
Defended tradition—Wanted to keep things
the way they had always been
Thought they should hold all the power
Believed the Church of England should be
powerful in the colony
Were loyal to Great Britain & to the British
system of government
Opposed the power of the Family
Compact
 Wanted changes in the government and
society of Upper Canada
 Did not want to treat the Americans
within the colony badly
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Mackenzie Description
1835 became lieutenant-governor of Upper
Canada
 Initially was welcomed by Reformers, but
this later changed when he ignored the
advice from his advisors (Reformers)
 The legislative assembly did not cooperate
with him
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 No incoming money
 This halted bridges, roads, and docks
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Sir Francis called an election to try and
reform a new legislative assembly
Friends of the Family Compact (Tories)
took over the legislative assembly
 They won because many voters were
worried about the development of roads
and bridges as well as the ProAmericanism of the Reformers
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Mackenzie and his radicals gathered
 They wanted Upper Canada to have a
government like the U.S.
 October 9, 1837, news came that
Papineau’s Patriotes were going to take
up arms
 Mackenzie suggests its time
for armed rebellion
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Yet his followers were not ready
 They wanted to petition against the
government to change the legislative
assembly
 Mackenzie went north and collected
4000 names and during the
process was not to speak of
rebellion
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Mackenzie led a group of 800 men
down Yonge Street into Toronto
 The men brought guns, pitchforks, clubs,
and carving knives strapped to poles
 Immediately they were fired upon and
those that fired fled
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600 of the colony’s militia marched up
(Yonge Street)
 Rebels were now running away
 Mackenzie stood fast till the end and
then escaped to the U.S.
 While in the U.S. he tried to gather an
army to liberate Canada
 That led to his arrest for breaking the
legal neutrality between the province of
Canada and the U.S
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Temporarily things became worse in Lower
Canada
The Legislative Assembly was suspended
until 1841
People were afraid to speak out because
they didn’t want to be branded as rebels
The British response—John George Lambton
(Lord Durham) was to become Governor
General
Lord Durham was to investigate the causes
of the rebellions and suggest solutions
Some historians say it is a legitimate
struggle for democracy
 Others say the rebellions were nothing
more than a series of armed riots,
unplanned, purposeless, and hopeless
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They set in motion a chain of events that
would eventually lead to responsible
government not just in the Canadas, but
throughout the colonies of the British
Empire
“The Rebellions were American Revolutions in
miniature, and though at the time they seemed
to have failed, they cleared the way for
self-government; and just beyond self-government
stood national life.”
-Historians J.W. Chafe & Arthur Lower