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Unit 3: Chapter 6

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Representative Government In the mid-1830s all colonies had similar governments

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The head of the government was either a governor or Lieutenant-Governor, chosen by the British Government to be their representative in the colony

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The structure of the representative government looked like this: King or Queen Lieutenant-Governor or Governor Legislative Council Executive Council Legislative Assembly Voters

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Lieutenant-Governor or Governor The Lieutenant-Governor had final say in all decisions The Legislative and Executive Councils were chosen by the Lieutenant-Governor

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Legislative and Executive Councils In Upper Canada the people chosen to be members of the councils were always men of British heritage who belonged to the Church of England and were part of the elite

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These men were picked because they were the most loyal to Britain and would make decisions that were best for Britain

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Newfoundland In Newfoundland the merchants (who controlled the fishing industry) were chosen; in other colonies, wealthy professional men and merchants were chosen

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In Lower Canada the councils were chosen from the French elite

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Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly was also made up of professional men and rich merchants, but they werent always part of the elite

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The members of the assembly were voted into the assembly by the voters Their role was to suggest bills that were meant to help all colonists and to raise money through taxes

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Voters Only males over 21 who were British citizens were eligible to vote You had to own land or pay a certain amount of rent for a year-round house in order to vote (property qualifications

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The property qualifications meant that many people could not vote because, for example, they worked on farms in the summer and logging camps in the winter and therefore did not have a year round house First Nations were not allowed to vote because they werent British citizens Black colonists were allowed to vote but most were not wealthy enough to meet the property qualifications

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Responsible Government In the late 1830s some people in British North America began to resent the power of the elite they didnt think it was fair

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It was the professional people and merchants who had the education, money, and time to fight for reforms

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These people felt that the best way to deal with the problems in each of the colonies was through empowerment and responsible government, a government where the elected members (not the appointed ones) would have the most say in decisions

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People wanted control of local laws, and decisions on how tax money and other government income was spent

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Most of the people who already had power did not agree with the idea of responsible government and arguments broke out

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At this time most people tried to follow the teachings of their Church

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The two main churches were the Church of England (Anglican) and the Roman Catholic Church

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Church leaders were public figures who encouraged their members to take one side or the other on the issue of reform

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In most colonies both churches supported the government

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In Newfoundland the Roman Catholic Church supported the reformers

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Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming worked hard for reform because he believed that Catholics would be treated fairly if they could elect Catholic politicians who had real power

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Newspapers at the time were considered more valuable than they are today because there were so few other forms of media

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The opinions expressed in newspapers were often the opinions of the owner/editor and did not necessarily contain correct information

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Letters to the editor and editorials were often very biased Calling All Patriots A Patriotic Appeal

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A rebellion is when the people turn against the government of a country in a violent way

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In 1837, Reformers in Upper and Lower Canada led rebellions to try and remove the elite from power

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Upper and Lower Canada both had their own reasons for wanting change

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Issues in Lower Canada The Reformers (called the Parti Patriote) were worried about the effects that recent British immigration would have on their colony. Different groups were afraid for different reasons:

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1. Farmers were afraid new settlers would take all the remaining land, leaving no land for farmers children. 2. French Canadians were afraid that they would lose their language and culture because of British control. The immigrants had brought cholera with them, which caused an epidemic and killed many people.

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There had been poor harvests and many people were starving. They didnt feel that the government was doing enough to help their situations

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The Parti Patriote was supported by French Canadian Farmers and some Irish immigrants

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Louis-Joseph Papineau was the leader of the Parti Patriote in Lower Canada

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Issues in Upper Canada The Reformers were upset with how government money was being spent

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For example, the colony went into debt building canals to help make shipping easier. This helped only the merchants (who were already wealthy), but all colonists had to pay taxes to cover the expenses

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The elite usually got the biggest and best pieces of land, but they didnt farm itthey kept it until land prices went up and they could sell it and make more money

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Because of this, new immigrants had to go farther away from towns to find land

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Many farm families were starving, as in Lower Canada

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The Reformers had support from farmers and recent immigrants, especially the Irish

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The event that pushed things over the top happened in 1834 when the Patriotes in Lower Canada drew up a list of their complaints for the British Government to consider

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Two years later the British Government responded by making the power of the governor even stronger

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In Upper Canada, the governor threatened and bribed people to make sure that the Reformers would be voted out of the Assembly which continued to anger the Reformers

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Rebellions in Lower Canada The rebellions started on 23 November, 1837

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A group of Patriotes defeated the British in a small battle that started because the government heard that people were thinking about starting a rebellion

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The government started arresting members of the Patriotes, who started the fight

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There were several little battles, but the British troops easily defeated the Patriotes because they had more weapons and military training

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In November 1838 a second rebellion was started, but the rebels were quickly defeated

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In total, 800 Patriotes were arrested, and their homes were destroyed

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While most of the Patriotes were eventually released from jail, 12 were hanged and 58 were sent to prison colonies in Australia and Bermuda

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Rebellions in Upper Canada When William Lyon Mackenzie realized that the British soldiers were busy fighting the Patriotes in Lower Canada, he decided it was time to rebel in Upper Canada (he thought that the British wouldnt be able to properly defend both areas at once)

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In December 1837 Mackenzie led about 700 men to Toronto

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The British Government defended Toronto with a militia (a group of citizens who are not professional soldiers but act as soldiers in times of trouble)

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The militia defeated the rebels because they had more weapons and training

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880 rebels were arrested, 20 were hanged, 92 were sent to prison colonies, and 26 were banished from Canada

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After the Rebellions In 1838 the British Government appointed Lord Durham to investigate the situation in Upper and Lower Canada and to suggest what to do about it

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After 5 months, two of his main suggestion were: Join the two colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada into one colony called the Province of Canada Give the Province of Canada responsible government

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The British government took the first suggestion and in 1841 the Province of Canada was created

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Britain did not give the colony Responsible Government at that time

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Achieving Responsible Government Nova Scotia, the Province of Canada, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland all achieved responsible government between 1848 and 1855

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Responsible government was granted mostly because of changes in attitude in Britain rather than events that occurred in the colonies

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Traditionally many people in Britain saw the colonies as a good source of natural resources and a good market for British goods

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The British government wanted to control colonial governments to control the trade

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The colonies were given trade preference in Britain which meant goods from the colonies could be imported to Britain without being taxed and were therefore cheaper

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In the mid-1800s people in Britain began to feel that the colonies did not help make Britain but were a drain on the economy

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They did not want to help pay for shipping canals or send troops for defense

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Britain developed free trade with other countries which meant that all goods entering Britain were taxed the same

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Britain could now buy from other countries where some goods were cheaper

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Thus their interest in controlling colonial governments waned

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Political Parties To help fight for responsible government the reformers formed political parties - a group of people who have the same ideas about government and become more powerful by working together

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The political parties who wanted responsible government were called Reformers or Liberals

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The people who wanted to keep representative government were called Conservatives or Tories

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In elections each party tried to elect a majority to government so it would have a strong point of view.

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Nova Scotia In Nova Scotia Joseph Howe, who had been elected in 1836, had created a strong Reform party and had been pushing for responsible government

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They received permission in 1847. In the first election in 1848 the Reform Party led by James Boyle Uniacke won a majority by promising people more say in how money was spent by government

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Uniacke became premier of Nova Scotia and chose people elected to the Assembly as members of the Executive Council rather than members of the elite as before.

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All the other colonies did the same when they achieved responsible government

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Province of Canada The British offered responsible government to the Province of Canada in 1847 as well but it was not achieved until 1849

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Reformers in Canada East and Canada West had very different opinions on how to run the government

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In 1849 Louis-Hipployte Fontaine from Canada East and Robert Baldwin from Canada West formed an Assembly that achieved responsible government

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Prince Edward Island The governor chose members of the Legislative and Executive Councils from landowners who actually lived on the island

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There were few arguments over heritage or religion as most settlers were British Protestants

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The farmers wanted government to force landowners to sell land to them

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Responsible government was not granted at first and the Assembly refused to pass laws to put pressure on Britain

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With the changes in attitude in Britain responsible government was granted in 1851 with George Coles as premier

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Land reforms came much later

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New Brunswick In New Brunswick a key issue was who would control money the government got from the logging industry

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Most people agreed on the issue and the Assembly was granted control even before responsible government

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Responsible government was granted in 1854 and Charles Fisher was the first premier

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Newfoundland In Newfoundland there were huge differences of opinion between the English merchants who were appointed to the Legislative and Executive Councils and the elected members of the Assembly

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Over half the population was Irish-Roman Catholic while the merchants were Church of England

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Many of them were poor fishers

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Most of the people elected to the Assembly were not Church of England

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Roman Catholic and Methodist politicians decided to get together to fight for reform and responsible government was granted in 1855

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The Reform Party won the first election and Philip Little became premier

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Do Question 1 on page 117