Why did the 1837 rebellion start

Stories of Creation. Cartier and Donnacona. Episode 2 Adventures and Mystics. The Beginning of the Fur Trade includes activity. The Jesuits and the Huron. Immigration to New France. Episode 3 Claiming the Wilderness. Expansion to the Gulf of Mexico includes activity.

The Expulsion of the Acadians. Episode 4 Battle for a Continent. Before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The Quebec Act includes activity. They rampaged across the country, leaving a trail of devastation. The makeshift prisons were filled with insurgent suspects. One hundred and eight men were convicted by courts-martial. Rumours of risings and invasions from the US continued, but there was no substance to them.

Papineau even left the US for exile in Paris. Between the two uprisings, 99 captured militants were condemned to death.

Twelve went to the gallows, while 58 were sent to the penal colony of Australia. In total, the six battles of both campaigns left dead, 27 of them British soldiers and the rest rebels. Thirteen men were executed one by the rebels.

One was murdered, one committed suicide , and two prisoners were shot. The causes of the rebellions remain controversial.

Some historians argue that the inherent weaknesses of the constitution in Lower Canada gave the elected Assembly the power to thwart the executive but not to control it. They blame the British government for failing to respond adequately to the legitimate grievances of the French-Canadian majority. But this interpretation ignores the ethnic division in Lower Canada and the economic and social tensions of the s.

The underlying cause of the rebellions was the conflict between the French-Canadian majority and the British minority. The French Canadians demanded that all power be centralized in the popularly elected Assembly, which it controlled.

The British minority was no less determined to resist French Canadian domination. To some extent, the Patriote leadership drifted into rebellion, which it was ill equipped to win. Many moderate French Canadians, including the hierarchy of the Catholic Church , opposed the use of force. The Church benefited from the defeat of the anticlerical Patriote leadership.

Still, the revolt had widespread support among the French-Canadian population. Papineau and his lieutenants earned a lasting place in the hearts of French-Canadian nationalists.

The influence of the radicals in the colony was eventually undermined. More moderate leaders, such as Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine , reshaped the reform movement. The rebellions, and their more limited counterpart in Upper Canada in , led directly to the appointment of Lord Durham and the Durham Report.

It recommended that the Canadas be united into one colony. This was something the British minority in Lower Canada, particularly the merchant class, had long demanded. The Act of Union was passed in The united Province of Canada , which the rebel leaders had opposed, came into being in This led to the introduction of what became known as responsible government. In February , the Province passed the Amnesty Act , which offered a full pardon to all those involved in the rebellions.

It is doubtful any British government could have delivered political reform, especially responsible government, to Lower Canada any sooner. There had to be some form of political union between the anglophone minority in Lower Canada and the large, anglophone population in Upper Canada.

It is even more doubtful whether any union could have been forced on the French Canadians without widespread resistance. In this sense, the rebellion in Lower Canada did break the political impasse of the mids. Some historians see the rebellions as unnecessary bloodletting that complicated and probably delayed the transition to greater self-government. Papineau published his grievances in a document called the Ninety-Two Resolutions.

The Patriotes wanted greater control of civil salaries and patronage by the elected Assembly which was primarily francophone ; more economic development at the local level which would also give the opportunity to issue patronage ; and more access to government positions by the francophone middle class. Recurrent violent rioting characterized politics in Montreal in the early s and in November English and French groups began fighting in the streets to such an extent that British troops were brought in to put down the uprising.

Fifty-eight Patriotes were killed and British authorities implemented a temporary dictatorship by Governor and Council. Mackenzie and many of his followers were recent immigrants from Great Britain who were already hostile to the British upper classes and the Anglican Church.

It passed the Lawless Aggression Act, which facilitated the confiscation of property as well as the prosecution of rebels by enabling juries to be selected outside the jurisdiction, putting individuals on trial in absentia, and allowing regular courts to hear felony cases.

Normally, only those who owed allegiance to the Crown could be charged with high treason, but the legislation extended the definition of treason to include invaders from foreign countries that were at peace with Britain rather than treating them as prisoners of war and allowed them to be tried in military tribunals without juries, which could not be trusted to convict.

The legislature also passed a law empowering constables and justices of the peace to disperse any unlawful meeting or assembly and to arrest or detain the participants. Inversely, those who engaged in illegal acts to protect the Crown were given special immunities from prosecution. In Lower Canada, the Special Council passed thirty ordinances to deal with the security threat; among other things, they granted the governor special powers to search private dwellings, declared that secret societies were illegal, and categorized participation in such societies as treason.

The council implemented the highly unorthodox practice of putting civilians on trial in courts martial during peacetime. Imposing the unusual provision of retroactive guilt, the Court Martial Ordinance restricted access to defence counsel and made guilt punishable by death.

All told, the trials that followed the rebellions resulted in the execution of 32 men, the exile of , and convictions for a host of crimes. The newspapers La Minerve, Vindicator, and the Constitution were all shut down.