The Road to Confederation

The Road to Confederation – Background Notes

Responsible & Representative Government

n  Today’s Canadian Government is both ______& ______

n  Responsible Government – ______

n  Representative Government – government made up of officials elected to office by the people.

n  Colonial government in British North America was neither.

Constitution Act, 1791

n  Divided Quebec into two colonies: Upper and Lower Canada

n  ______= English Criminal Law and French Civil code. ______

n  ______= English Criminal Law and English Common Law. ______

n  All colonies of North America granted representative government

n  Only male property owners could vote

n  Frustration grew over the lack of power the elected officials had

Upper and Lower Canada: The Roots of Discontent

In the wake of the Constitution Act of 1791, people in Upper and Lower Canada were unhappy that ______

·  This meant that the British administrators, who were out of touch with the needs of the people, were making all of the decisions

·  It was especially bad in Lower Canada, where the elected members were French and the appointed members were English

Old Colonial System

In both Upper and Lower Canada, then, people were politically divided as being either:

·  ______(if they supported the colonial governors) or;

·  ______ (if they opposed the colonial governors)

o  In Upper Canada, the ruling elite was the ______

o  In Lower Canada, the ruling elite was the ______

Rebellion in Lower Canada

______

·  Even though he was a colonial aristocrat, he still wanted to see change in the system of government and to get rid of the Chateau Clique

·  He petitioned Britain for change, but Britain only responded by giving even more power to Lower Canada’s governor

·  Papineau, who was a great orator, rallied the people of Lower Canada to rebellion in the winter of 1837-38

o  The rebellion was brief and the ______

Rebellion in Upper Canada

Meanwhile, in ______who repeatedly challenged the Family Compact

·  During the election of 1836, Mackenzie and his reformers became infuriated when the ruling elite used bribery and intimidation to secure the result

·  Mackenzie led the reformers of Upper Canada in a revolution, but, like Papineau’s reformers in Lower Canada, they were also quickly ______.

The British Response

The British responded to the rebellions by sending a prominent political reformer named ______ to be governor-general of its North American colonies

After investigating the situation, Lord Durham recommended to his British superiors that:

a)  Colonists in North America be given the same rights as British citizens (ie. that they be granted responsible government)

b)  ______

c)  ______

Responsible System

The Act of Union, 1840

Britain rejected Durham’s recommendations for responsible government. They did, however:

1.  Unite Upper and Lower Canada (now called Canada West and Canada East) under a single parliament

2.  ______

3.  ______

______

In 1848, however, two reformers – Robert Baldwin and Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine – were elected. They made way for responsible government and ______

Initially, English-speaking Canadians were in favour of equal representation

·  There were more French-speaking Canadians than there were English-speaking Canadians, so it was to English Canada’s advantage

But over time, ______-speaking Canadians began to ______the ______-speaking Canadians

·  They began to demand representation by population so that they could have more elected representatives

·  As a result, Canada West (English) and Canada East (French) were always at odds, and the Act of Union became a failure

The Great Coalition

After Baldwin and Lafontaine retired in 1851, reformers and conservatives were unable to get along. Consequently, very little was accomplished over the next few years.

In 1864, however, three influential leaders – ______ (English reformer), ______ (English conservative) and ______ (French conservative) formed a coalition

·  Their goal was to ______