was already moving towards gradual change through its appointment of more reform-minded governors: Sir James Kempt (1828–30), Lord Aylmer (1830–35) He was a fierce critic of the Family Compact and the government's refusal to give political rights to American settlers. Bond Head was recalled in late 1837 and replaced with Sir George Arthur who arrived in Toronto in March 1838. This led to the introduction of what became known as responsible government. [40] Fitzgibbon warned the men of rebels forging pikes north of the city and he was appointed adjutant general of the militia. Murray, and Barry Wright (2 vol 1996, 2002), This page was last edited on 2 January 2021, at 01:59. Top Answer. Causes of the The impact of the Upper Canadian insurgency is equally debatable. 0 0 1. other  He persuaded his more radical followers to draft a republican constitution for Upper Canada modelled on that of the United States. Amid these tensions, there was also economic depression in the 1830s. The front rank of the rebel force returned fire and then dropped to the ground, to assume a safer firing position. The causes of the rebellion in Upper Canada are unique and quite different from Lower Canada. at the front had been killed. [32] Mackenzie sought out support in rural communities but he also proclaimed that an armed rebellion would happen on December 7 and assigned Samuel Lount and Anthony Anderson as commanders. There is continuing debate about who was responsible for the rebellion and the degree of popular support it enjoyed. In the end, Black colonists and other loyalists got their wish: the Upper Canada Rebellion collapsed completely and the possibility of annexation vanished. In Upper …show more content… At the end of the rebellion, in search for the causes the British parliament send Lord Durham who plays a significant role in shaping Canada… [56], On Wednesday morning Peter Matthews arrived at the tavern with sixty men, but Mackenzie could still not convince the rebel forces to march towards Toronto. If Bond refused, they would declare independence from the British Empire. As part of this satire, he published a draft republican constitution for the State of Upper Canada that closely resembled the objectives in the constitution of the Canadian Alliance Society in 1834. [73] Other rebels were also sentenced to hang and ninety-two men were sent to Van Diemen's Land. The meeting created the Committee of Vigilance and signed a declaration urging every community to send delegates to a congress in Toronto and discuss remedies for their concerns. These policies favoured r… With the support of Americans who wished to liberate Canada from British rule, Mackenzie took control of Navy Island in the Niagara River, [43], A loyalist named Robert Moodie saw the large gathering at Montgomery's Tavern and rode towards Toronto to warn the officials. In, M.S. Join the two colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada into one colony called the Province of Canada. Mackenzie printed the declaration in his newspaper and toured communities north of Toronto to encourage citizens to make similar declarations. In November 1837 the Lower Canadian Rebellion began and was led by Robert Nelson and Louis-Joseph Papineau. more moderate lines. Bond Head then refused to pass any legislation from that government session including major public works projects. This included the union of Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada and the eventual introduction of responsible government. They prepared a petition to the Crown protesting the abuses, carried to London by Charles Duncombe, but the Colonial Office refused to hear him. [30], The next day Mackenzie convinced John Rolph that a rebellion could be successful and happen without anyone being killed. [71] Van Egmond died of an illness he acquired while imprisoned[72] while Lount and Peter Matthews were sentenced to the gallows for leading the rebellion. Without it, however, the Upper Canadian revolt probably would not The rebels from Toronto travelled to the United States in groups of two. I need this info for a school history project, i need to know the post-rebellion outcomes. [14] After meeting with Reformers, Bond Head concluded that they were disloyal to the British Empire and allied himself with the Family Compact. [19] He appealed to the people's desire to maintain part of the British Empire and a paternalistic attitude of the Crown providing goods for the people. Governor, ... which had been concentrated in Lower Canada to deal with the crisis. A form of government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite. [18], Unlike previous Lt. Governors, Bond Head actively supported Tory candidates and utilized Orange Order violence in order to ensure their election. [44] Another horseman saw the rebel's march into Toronto and notified Fitzgibbon, who tried unsuccessfully to have officials take action. While these rebellions differed in that they also struggled for republicanism, they were inspired by similar social problems stemming from poorly regulated oligarchies, and sought the same democratic ideals, which were also shared by the United Kingdom's Chartists.[1][2][3]. Mackenzie went to the United States mainland where he was arrested for violating the Neutrality Act.[69]. Durham was assigned to report on the grievances among the British North American colonists and find a way to appease them. "Rebellion in Upper Canada". [78], 1837 populist rebellion against the government of Upper Canada, Francis Bond Head and the elections of 1836, Collapse of the international financial system, Consequences: execution or transportation, sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFSewell2002 (, sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFDent1885 (, Report on the Affairs of British North America, Archibald Macdonald (Canadian politician), "Closing the Last Chapter of the Atlantic Revolution: The 1837–38 Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada", Lambton, John George, 1st Earl of Durham, in the, "William Lyon Mackenzie: the persistent hero", "MHS Transactions: Rebellion in Upper Canada, 1837", "Closing the Last Chapter of the Atlantic Revolution: The 1837-38 Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada,", "The story of the Upper Canadian rebellion, Proceedings of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada on the bill sent up from the House of Assembly, entitled, An act to amend the jury laws of this province, The Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada: A collection of documents, Canadian state trials – Rebellion and invasion in the Canadas, 1837–1839, World Wars and Interwar Years (1914–1945), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Upper_Canada_Rebellion&oldid=997754061, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2020, Articles with dead external links from February 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, "Rebellion in Upper Canada, 1837" by J. Edgar Rea, Dunning, Tom. the rebellion of 1837-38, why did it happen? When hearing about this change, Mackenzie quickly tried to send a messenger to Lount to tell him not to arrive until December 7 but was unable to reach Lount in time. [52] A group of twenty-six men led by Samuel Jarvis met the rebels on their march and fired upon them before running away. [39] Government officials met at the Lieutenant Governor's residence on December 2 to discuss how to stop rumours of a rebellion. The Rebellion's of Upper and Lower Canada. [53] The rebels believed there were several battalions of troops firing upon them and several ran away. [45], On December 4, Mackenzie and other rebels were patrolling the area and encountered Alderman John Powell (Canadian politician) and Archibald Macdonald (Canadian politician). Lount encouraged some riflemen to return fire before realising that the enemy had left the battlefield. Representative Government. The rebels fled north and the morale of the rebellion was irreparably broken. government. However, the remaining rebels thought their comrades [15] He refused proposals to bring responsible government to Upper Canada, responding in a sarcastic tone that belittled reformers. In total, three men — two rebels and one loyalist — lost their lives. The rebels without arms were sent to the tavern with their prisoners. He openly assisted the conservatives in winning the election of 1836. The meeting created the Committee of Vigilance and signed a declaration urging every community to send delegates to a congress in Toronto and discuss remedies for their concerns. [31] Rolph convinced Morrison to support the rebellion but they also told Mackenzie to get confirmation of support from rural communities. These grievances breathed life into the nascent  It received a temporary surge in popularity as a result. During 1838, the rebels continued to send expeditions across the border. The rebellion led directly to Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America, and to The British North America Act, 1840, which partially reformed the British provinces into a unitary system, leading to the formation of Canada as a nation in 1867. They controlled the system of patronagethroughout the colony and used political office and influence to further their own business interests. [34] Mackenzie printed broadsheets listing grievances and a call to arms to communities surrounding Toronto. The Society took its final form as the Toronto Political Union in 1837 and they organized local "Vigilance Committees" to elect delegates to a Constitutional Convention in July 1837. Give the province of Canada responsible Government. Thus, responsible government became a "pragmatic" policy of alleviating local abuses, rather than a revolutionary anti-colonial moment. [35] Mackenzie also printed handbills declaring independence which were distributed to citizens north of Toronto. As a member of the Legislative Assembly, The rebels set up a roadblock south of the tavern on Yonge Street that Moodie tried riding through. Reformist leaders such as Marshall Spring Bidwell, who had been Speaker of the Assembly, Nothing brings Canadians together like the threat of annexation by the United States. Why Were There Rebellions In Upper Canada In 1837-38? During the 1830s, a third of the bank's board were Legislative or Executive Councillors, and the remainder all magistrates. However, the mainstream historical view is that the uprising had limited support and was largely an accident. Our team will be reviewing your submission and get back to you with any further questions. [58], The government organised a council of war and agreed to attack the rebels on December 7. have happened. the wealthy elite who controlled Lower Canada, mostly made up of English-speaking merchants. The 1837 rebellion in Upper Canada was a less violent, more limited than Lower Canada rebellion, although its leaders,William Lyon Mackenzie, was no less serious in their demands for reform, and an end to the rule of a oligarchy. County boundaries existed -- however administration, courts and other civil functions were managed at the District level much like counties are now. In November 1837, James Fitzgibbon was concerned about soldiers leaving Upper Canada going to quell the Lower Canada Rebellion and urged Bond Head to keep some troops for protection, which was refused. Rolph and Baldwin relayed the rejection to the rebels, and Rolph told Mackenzie that they should attack as soon as possible because the city was poorly defended. The Rebellion was, rather, the unintended consequence of a sophisticated political movement that copied the organizational forms of the British Reform movement. He also entered into a working relationship with reformers in Lower Canada. [4], The Family Compact dominated the government of Upper Canada and the financial and religious institutions associated with it. [47] The rebel leaders met that night to discuss who would become the rebellion's leader after the death of Anderson and Lount's refusal to lead on his own. (See also: Battle of Windmill.) Fitzgibbon was appointed commander of the government's forces. It undermined the influence of the extremists in Upper Canada. The revolt in Lower Canada was the more serious and violent of the two. The ensuing conflicts along the border led to many more executions, deaths and deportations than the original [36], Bond Head did not believe the reports that stated the severity of resources and discontent gathered by the rebels. Asked by Wiki User. It is estimated that there were between 400 and 500 rebels who assembled under Duncombe.[66]. Mackenzie printed the declaration in his newspaper and toured communities north of Toronto to encourage citizens to make similar declarations. Mackenzie disagreed and wanted to attack the government troops. In Lower Canada it was mostly a call for independence in order to preserve the French way of life and to pursue Canadien financial interests. [38], A Tory supporter obtained a copy of Mackenzie's declaration and showed it to authorities in Toronto. (Late Loyalists were American-born settlers who had migrated to Upper Canada prior to the War of 1812. [12] The Canadian Alliance Society was reborn as the Constitutional Reform Society in 1836, and led by the more moderate reformer, Dr William W. Baldwin. The news of chaos in Lower Canada reached the people of Upper Canada in October of 1837. The rebellion of upper and lower Canada. Rolph and Morrison were reluctant about the plan so Mackenzie sought Anthony Van Egmond to help lead the armed forces. This was worsened in Upper Canada by bad wheat harvests in 1836 and farmers were unable to pay their debts. The new Tory-dominated Legislature passed laws that exacerbated tensions including continuing the Legislative session after the death of the King, prohibiting members of the Legislature from serving as Executive Councillors, making it easier to sue indebted farmers, protecting the Bank of Upper Canada from bankruptcy, and giving Legislative Councillors charters for their own banks. [23] Mackenzie's first plan for rebellion involved calling on Sheldon & Dutcher's men to storm the city hall, where the militia's guns were stored. He also urged them to seize control of the government. Terms in this set (11) Family Compact. [57] His advice was rejected, so he proposed entrenching and defending their position at the tavern. The rebellions of 1837–38. In spite this perversion of history, growing poverty and injustices did induce a movement of resistance which began to take the form of republican “patriot movements” under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie in Upper Canada and Louis-Joseph Papineau in Lower Canada- both of whom would come to a head in the Rebellions of 1837-38 (aka: the second missed chance). [11] The Reformers won a majority in the elections held in 1834 for the Legislative Assembly of the 12th Parliament of Upper Canada but the Family Compact held the majority in the Legislative Council. He proclaimed a republic of Upper Canada. What economic, political, and social factors contributed to the rebellions of 1873 in Upper and Lower Canada? Although many rebels, including Duncombe, had fled prior to the upcoming battle due to hearing about the failure of Mackenzie in Toronto and general disorganization, there were still some present in Scotland, Ontario and MacNab commenced his attack on Scotland on December 14, causing the remaining rebels to flee after only a few shots were fired. Buckner, Phillip A. . passed in 1840. Some historians sympathize with the rebels and believe they represented the voice of the majority, or at least of the colonial working classes. [citation needed], The Reformers were incensed at the debt that the Family Compact incurred as the results of general improvements to the province, such as the Welland Canal. They were easily dispersed by government volunteers under the command of Sir Allan Napier MacNab. by Marianne Brandis. As a rare instance of armed insurgency in British North America, the 1837 Rebellion in what is now Ontario allows insight into the thinking and aspirations of early settlers. He was forced On January 13, 1838, under attack by British armaments, the rebels fled. It recommended that the Canadas be united into one colony. [33] After the Battle of Saint-Denis Fitzgibbon prepared a list of men that he could contact personally if a rebellion began in Toronto. Mackenzie ignored the letter and continued his plan for rebellion. [9], The government of Upper Canada feared a growing interest in American-inspired republicanism in the province because of the increase in immigration of American settlers to the province. [22], Among the more than 150 lawsuits they launched that year, the Bank of Upper Canada, sued Sheldon, Dutcher & Co., a foundry and Toronto's largest employer with over 80 employees in late 1836, bankrupting the company. There was also popular opposition to land-granting practices. [74], Paul Romney explains this failure of historical imagination as the outcome of an explicit strategy adopted by reformers in the face of charges of disloyalty to Britain in the wake of the Rebellions of 1837. The large number of migrants led American legislators to speculate that bringing Upper Canada into the American fold would be a "mere matter of marching". Between 5 and 8 December 1837, approximately 1,000 men gathered at Montgomery's Tavern in Toronto. [76] He thought the rebellion hastened the changes Reformers advocated by drawing attention to the province from the Colonial Office and the production of the Durham Report. After the rebellion, the British Government sent a man called Lord Durham to investigate the situation and he spent five month in the colony and wrote a long report. It was written: 1. The Upper Canada Rebellion also ended quite unsuccessful. After the War of 1812, there was growing discontent in Upper Canada with the elite clique of politicians and officials known as the Family Compact. The rebels refused to march until daylight. Any answers will help, thnx "[6] Members of the Family Compact utilized their official positions for monetary gain, especially through corporations such as the Bank of Upper Canada, and the two land companies (the Clergy Corporation and the Canada Company) that between them controlled two-sevenths of the land in the province. The lower Canadian rebels would have their crops and fields burned. This is particularly true for the rebellion in Upper Canada. Fourteen-year-old Adam Wheeler arrives in Toronto in the autumn of 1837 with his uncle’s family. [46] As they were approaching Montgomery's Tavern Powell mortally shot Anthony Anderson in the neck and escaped back to Toronto to report to Bond Head. Tundra Rob. The Upper Canada Rebellion was largely defeated shortly after it began, although resistance lingered until 1838. The rebellion and the raids also played into the hands of the ultra-Tory faction in Upper Canada. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the rebellion in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec), which started the previous month, that emboldened rebels in Upper Canada to revolt. to withdraw on 14 January, after Canadian volunteers burned the rebel ship, Caroline. for service during the rebellions. incursions in the southwest. The Compact dominated the running of the government. They mounted major raids at Pelee Island in Lake Erie in February, at Short Hills in June, at  [27], On October 9 1837, a messenger from the Patriotes informed Mackenzie that the rebellion in Lower Canada was going to begin. They suffered a series of crop failures and were subject to harsh debt-collection laws. As a result, the rebels would either have a death penalty or be transported to Bermuda/ Australia for 7 years. It was felt hardest by the colony's farmers. The British Reform movement, organized as "Political Unions," had achieved the Great Reform Bill of 1832 which broadened the electoral franchiseand helped eliminate political corruption. [77], William Kilbourn stated that the removal of Radicals from Upper Canada politics, either through execution or their retreat to the United States, allowed the Clear Grits to be formed as a more moderate political force that had fewer disagreements with the Tories than the reformers. Scholars for Upper Canada such as Stanely Ryerson a Marxist support the idea that the rebellion was a bourgeoisie democratic revolution. He was wounded in an ensuing battle and taken to the tavern, where he died several hours later in severe pain. 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