The Rebellions
of 1837
Family Compact
The Chateau Clique
Council of Twelve
Lower Canadian
Rebellion
Upper Canadian
Rebellion
After the War of 1812
• The War of 1812 stopped what may have been the
conquest of North America by the Americans.
• Anti-American feelings ran high at least among the
English Canadian elite.
• Democracy was viewed as “Yankee Republicanism”
• For French Canadians the struggle was not antiAmericanism but anti-Anglicization
• English and Irish immigrants made the French feel
they would lose their language, religion and culture,
in short – assimilation.
The Colonies of British North
America
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Upper Canada – Ontario
Lower Canada – Quebec
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia (with Cape
Breton)
Prince Edward Island
The senior governor was
based in Lower Canada
The other colonies had
lieutenant governors
Newfoundland was ruled
by a separate governor
• After the Pemmican Wars in
1816 the NWC and the HBC
worked on cooperation
• In 1821, the North West
Company and the Hudson’s
Bay Company united to form
the Hudson’s Bay Company
• With the merger their was a
sharp drop in liquor trade
with First Nations
• Selkirk’s Red River colony
struggled on.
Lead up to Rebellion
Papineau
Mackenzie
• Lower Canada lead by
Louis-Joseph Papineau
(aristocratic)
• Upper Canada lead by
William Lyon Mackenzie
(newspaperman)
• Reasons were the same: a
colonial administration out
of touch with its subjects
• In Upper Canada political
change
• In Lower Canada political
change with language and
culture
Political Problems
• The root problem was
having elected
assemblies under the
control of appointed
councils.
• Councils and
assemblies could not
get along.
• In Lower Canada the
elected assembly was
mostly French Canadian
and the council was
English Canadian.
Chateau Clique
• Château Clique, a nickname given to the small group of
officials, usually members of the anglophone merchant
community.
• The term referred to the governor's residence and the
location of government offices, Château St-Louis.
The Château St-Louis burned down in 1834.
Chateau Clique
James McGill
McGill University
• Included James McGill
and John Molson , who
dominated the executive
and legislative councils,
the judiciary and senior
bureaucratic positions of
Lower Canada until the
1830s.
Chateau Clique
• John Molson, brewer,
banker, steamship builder.
• He also entered the lumber
business during the
building boom of the early
1800s, built a hotel and in
1821 established the
colony's first distillery and
financed the Champlain
and Saint Lawrence
Railroad, the first railway
in Canada.
Rule by “Clique”
• The French Canadians
were still able to get
French language as the
language of government.
• The elected assemblies
could only use their power
in a negative manner.
• They could block the
government from making
laws but could make no
law.
• British immigrants poured
into Lower Canada.
• Two different types of
immigrants:
1. Poor Irish coming to
Canada to improve their
lives came as “human
ballast” on lumber ships.
2. Middle class Brits looking
to make it rich.
• Canada was settled by
extremes of middle class
and poor.
• America was settled by
middle class.
Rule by “Clique”
• In the 1820s the Clique
opposed efforts by the
assembly to control public
revenues and continued
their efforts aimed at the
assimilation of French
Canadians.
• The Clique aggressively
pursued canal building,
the establishment of
banking institutions, and
the abolition of the
Seigneurial System and
French Civil Law.
• In 1822, the Clique supported
a scheme to reunite Upper
and Lower Canada.
• In the 1830s, the Clique blocked Louis-Joseph Papineau's
resolutions demanding Responsible Government.
Family Compact
• In Upper Canada the
oligarchy was called the
Family Compact.
• Comprised of
Conservatives, members
of the Anglican Church,
Loyalists and self
proclaimed “defenders of
1812.”
• Most often the families
were related in one way or
another.
Bank of Upper Canada
• They were centered at York [Toronto], linked by family
patronage and shared political and social beliefs to the
professional and mercantile upper middle class.
The Family Compact
John Graves Simcoe
• The group emerged after
John Graves Simcoe,
Upper Canada's first
lieutenant-governor,
attempted to create a local
aristocracy by appointing
his Loyalist friends to
government posts and
granting them land.
The Family Compact
• The next generation
included Sir John
Beverley Robinson and
John Strachan, who were
drawn into the governing
Tory [conservative] elite.
John
Strachan
Sir John Beverley Robinson
The Council of Twelve
• In Nova Scotia the
oligarchy was called the
Council of 12.
• They were 12 men on the
non-elected council
appointed by the governor.
• Nova Scotia at this time
was the most successful
colony in the empire.
• Halifax, an international
seaport, had a population
of 15,000.
• Nova Scotia had the most
repressive of the colonial
governments but it was in
Upper and Lower Canada
where the rebellions
began.
Government House, Halifax
A Deteriorating Situation
• In Lower Canada the
seigneurial system had
failed to protect the elites.
• By 1830 more than ½ of
the estates were in English
hands.
• It was the Molson’s and
the McGills that
controlled the Clique.
The Patriotes
The Patriotes was the name given after 1826 to the Parti
Canadien and to the popular movement that contributed to the
Rebellions of 1837-38 in Lower Canada.
• Primarily francophone party,
• Led mainly by members of
the liberal professions and
small-scale merchants,
• Widely supported by farmers,
day-labourers and craftsmen.
• Led by Louis-Joseph Papineau,
Jean-Olivier Chénier and
Wolfred Nelson.
Louis-Joseph Papineau
The Patriotes
Besides Papineau, Wolfred Nelson and Jean-Olivier Chénier
were leading figures of the Patriotes.
Dr. Wolfred Nelson
Jean-Olivier Chénier
The Patriotes
• The Patriotes dominated the elected House of Assembly in
Lower Canada.
• Their adversaries, the merchant bourgeoisie, the aristocracy
and the colonial administration, controlled the appointed
Legislative Council, which held most of the power.
• The Patriotes demanded greater power for assembly
members, including increased ministerial responsibility and
eligibility for appointment to the council.
• Their demands, put forth in the name of democracy and the
right of peoples to self-government, marked a liberal,
nationalist and anticolonial ideology.
The Patriotes
• In 1834, the Patriotes listed
their major complaints in
the "Ninety-Two
Resolutions" sent to the
British government.
• Britain rejected this call for
reform, which caused many
demonstrations; verbal
violence soon gave way to
physical violence.
Fights in the Streets
• Lower Canada crops had
failed
• Immigrants were flooding
into the colony (English,
Irish)
• Cholera in the cities
killing 1000’s
• A violent clash between
the Doric Club and the
patriote organization the
Fils de la Liberte on
November 6, 1837 was a
prelude to the Lower
Canadian Rebellions of
1837.
Fights in the Streets
• Doric Club, founded 1836
in Montréal, a paramilitary
political association of
young anglophone Tories.
• Set up by Adam Thom
who later became a
secretary for Lord
Durham.
• The Doric Club dissolved
when many of its
members were recruited
by General Colborne to
fight the rebels.
Rebellion
• Britain sent an answer to
the 92 Resolutions - the
answer was NO!
• Lower Canada had waited
for 3 years.
• Papineau spoke against
the British rule.
• Dr. Wolfred Nelson, hero
of the War of 1812, joined
the patriotes.
• Revolutionary assembly
would meet at St.-Denis.
Battle of St.-Denis
• With the Richelieu Valley
in revolt the governor sent
British troops and
Canadian militia to arrest
the leaders.
• The Patriotes blockaded
the streets in St.-Denis and
waited for the British.
• In a few short minutes the
British were forced to
retreat.
• The Patriotes had won the
battle.
Battles of St.-Charles and St.Eustache
• Two days later in November British troops killed 60
Patriotes and arrested many others.
• The battle of St.-Charles was over quickly.
• With the rebellion over in the towns the governor
turned to Montreal.
• The Patriotes had invaded the town of Oka and stole
weapons.
• At St.-Eustache British troops and Canadian militia
killed 100 Patriotes and set the town on fire.
Death of a Dream
• The rebellion in collapse
Dr. Robert Nelson
(brother of Dr. Wolfred
Nelson) went south to find
Papineau.
• Papineau refused to fight.
• Nelson said of Papineau,
“A man fit only for words,
but not of action.”
• Nelson gathered troops in
America and returned in
1838.
• When he returned to the
States he was arrested.
Lord Seaton
• In 2 years of battles 27
soldiers and 300 French
Canadians were killed
• “Lord Satan” John
Colborne a former
Lieutenant-Governor of
Upper Canada put down
the revolt.
• He had no love of the
French Canadians he
burned estates and
arrested thousands.
The Family Compact
• The Family Compact
fought for Anglican
Religion in schools
• the rebels in Upper
Canada wanted public
schools and a separation
of church and state
• Many moderates fought
within the system but
accomplished little,
William Lyon Mackenzie
was a fiery newspaperman
who did more.
• Mackenzie a penniless son
of a widow
• Mackenzie was opposed
to the large land grants
given to the Anglican
Church
• Mackenzie attacked the
Family Compact over
every matter
• The Compact harassed
Mackenzie.
Muckraker
• Hated by the
establishment but loved by
the people Mackenzie was
a real “muckraker”
• Mackenzie was first
elected to the assembly in
1828 and kicked out by
the rest of the members
• He was quickly re-elected
and just as quickly
expelled
• 4 times he was expelled
by the ruling “Tories”
Report on Grievances
• In 1834 William Lyon Mackenzie became the first
mayor of Toronto “Muddy York.”
• All the while denouncing the ruling families of
Upper Canada.
• Mackenzie roamed Upper Canada getting a list of
all the wrongs of the ruling elite.
• The complaints came in at 500 pages, Upper
Canada’s idea of the 92 resolutions.
• Mackenzie’s was the Report on Grievances
• Demanded everything from responsible
government to a new and lower postage stamp.
Sir Francis Bond Head
• Along came Sir Francis
Bond Head appointed as
Lieutenant-Governor.
• A real Brit with the ideas
of an upper class English
gentleman.
• He did not trust reformers
and hated Mackenzie.
• Reformers in the assembly
stopped funds from going
to the government.
• Bond Head called an
election.
Sir Francis Bond Head
A Bought Election
• Bond Head did not stay
out of the election.
• He campaigned for the
Conservatives and used
bribes to get votes.
• Only landowners could
vote so he gave grants of
land to supporters.
• The bribes and scare
tactics worked the
Conservatives won a
majority.
• Mackenzie could do worse
• changed the name of the
newspaper from “The
Colonial Advocate” to
“The Constitution”
• Came up with the
“Toronto Declaration”
• Inspired by the Lower
Canadian Rebellion
Mackenzie preached
rebellion
Montgomery’s Tavern
• More than 600 men
gathered at Montgomery's
Tavern on Yonge Street.
• Bond Head said no
reformers would try
anything while he was in
charge.
• He had sent the garrison to
Montreal to put down the
Lower Canadian
Rebellion.
“Bar Room Brawl”
• Mackenzie’s men and
Sheriff Jarvis’s men
met.
• Jarvis's men fired and
everyone ran.
• The battle was over.
• The next day Bond
Head took the militia
to Montgomery’s
Tavern arrested the
rebels and torched the
tavern.
• Mackenzie escaped to
America.
British Values Win Again
• Mackenzie raised forces
and money in America
landed on Navy Island and
declared himself president
of the Canadian Republic.
• It was over quickly, more
than 1000 rebels captured,
20 hanged, and 800
prisoners taken.
• The Judge that hanged
them imprisoned them or
sent them to Australia was
a member of the Family
Compact.
A New Party
• The British pardoned both
Papineau and Mackenzie.
• Wolfred Nelson could
return and all were reelected.
• Papineau and his
reformers would set up the
“parti rouge” later they
would join with EnglishCanadian reformers and
become the Liberal Party.
• Mackenzie dropped from
sight.
Mackenzie’s Grave in Toronto
Canadian Democracy is Born!
• Rebellions of 1837 as a struggle for democracy
and self rule by elected representatives.
• The rebellions changed both the Canadas and the
British Empire.
• Britain realized that if rebellions could happen in
the most stable of colonies, they could happen
anywhere.
• “The Rebellions were American Revolutions in
miniature, and though at the time they seemed to
have failed, they cleared the way for selfgovernment, and just beyond self-government,
nationhood.”
Did You Know?
• William Lyon Mackenzie
King, politician and prime
minister of Canada during
the periods of 1921-26,
1926-30 and 1935-48 was
the grandson of William
Lyon Mackenzie.
Did You Know?
• Canada sent a battalion of
volunteers to fight in the
Spanish Civil War in
1937.
• Most call this war the start
of World War II, because
it was a war of democracy
against fascism.
• The battalion was called
the “Mackenzie Papineau
Battalion”
• or the “MAC PAPS”