The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years in Upper Canada, what emboldened rebels there to revolt was the rebellion which started the previous month in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec).
The Upper Canada Rebellion was largely defeated shortly after it began, although resistance lingered until 1838. While it shrank, it became more violent, mainly through the support of the Hunters' Lodges, a secret United States–based militia that emerged around the Great Lakes, and launched the Patriot War in 1838.
Some historians suggest that although they were not directly successful or large, the rebellions in 1837 should be viewed in the wider context of the late-18th- and early-19th-century Atlantic Revolutions including the American Revolutionary War of 1775–83, the French Revolution of 1789–99, the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804, the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and the independence struggles of Spanish America in 1810–25. 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.
The rebellion in Lower Canada, followed by its Upper Canada counterpart, 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 federation in 1867.
Background
Political structure of Upper Canada
Many of the grievances which underlay the rebellion involved the provisions of the Constitutional Act 1791, which had created Upper and Lower Canada's political framework. The Family Compact dominated the government of Upper Canada and the financial and religious institutions associated with it. They were the leading members of the administration: executive councillors, legislative councillors, senior officials and some members of the judiciary. Their administrative roles were intimately tied to their business activities. For example, William Allan "was an executive councillor, a legislative councillor, president of the Toronto and Lake Huron Railroad, governor of the British American Fire and Life Assurance Company, and president of the Board of Trade."
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 nearly 30% of the land in the colony. Lacking the minimum capital needed to found the bank, the corporate leaders persuaded the government to subscribe for a quarter of its shares. During the 1830s, a third of the bank's board were legislative or executive councillors, and the remainder were magistrates. Despite repeated attempts, the elected legislature which had chartered the bank could not obtain details on the bank's workings. Politician and former journalist William Lyon Mackenzie saw the bank as a prop of the government and demanded farmers withdraw the money they had deposited in the bank, and public confidence in the bank decreased.
Demographic changes
The government of Upper Canada feared a growing interest in American-inspired republicanism because of the increase in immigration of American settlers to the colony. 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". After the War of 1812 the colonial government prevented Americans from swearing allegiance, thereby making them ineligible to obtain land grants. Relations between the appointed Legislative Council and the elected Legislative Assembly became increasingly strained in the years after the war, over issues of immigration, taxation, banking and land speculation.
Political unions
The Upper Canada Central Political Union was organized in 1832–33 by Thomas David Morrison and collected 19,930 signatures on a petition protesting Mackenzie's expulsion from the House of Assembly. 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. The union was reorganized as the Canadian Alliance Society in 1835 and adopted much of the platform of the Owenite National Union of the Working Classes in London, England, that were to be integrated into the Chartist movement in England. In pursuit of this democratic goal, the Chartists eventually staged a similar armed rebellion, the Newport Rising, in Wales in 1839. The Canadian Alliance Society was reborn as the Constitutional Reform Society in 1836 and was led by the more moderate reformer William W. Baldwin. 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. This became the organizational structure for the rebellion, and most of the rebel organizers were elected Constitutional Convention delegates.
Francis Bond Head and the elections of 1836
Sir Francis Bond Head was appointed as lieutenant governor, and the Reform movement believed he would support their ideas. After meeting with Reformers, Head concluded that they were disloyal to the British Empire and allied himself with the Family Compact. He refused proposals to bring responsible government to Upper Canada, responding in a sarcastic tone that belittled reformers. The Reform-dominated Assembly responded by refusing to pass the money bill, which halted the payment of salaries and pensions to many government workers. Head then refused to pass any legislation from that government session including major public works projects. This caused a recession in Upper Canada. The movement was disappointed when Head made it clear he had no intention of consulting the Executive Council in the daily operations of the administration. The Executive Council resigned, provoking widespread discontent and an election in 1834.
Unlike previous lieutenant governors, Head actively supported Tory candidates and utilized Orange Order violence in order to ensure their election. He appealed to the people's desire to remain part of the British Empire and a paternalistic attitude of the Crown providing goods for the people. Reformers such as Mackenzie and Samuel Lount lost their seats in the Legislature, and they alleged that the election was fraudulent. They prepared a petition to the Crown protesting the abuses, carried to London by Charles Duncombe, but the Colonial Office refused to hear him. 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.
Collapse of the international financial system
On July 10, 1832, US President Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill for the refinancing of the Second Bank of the United States, causing a depression in the Anglo-American world. This was worsened in Upper Canada by poor wheat harvests in 1836 and farmers were unable to pay their debts. Most banks, including the Bank of Upper Canada, suspended payments by July 1837 and successfully obtained government support while ordinary farmers and the poor did not. One fifth of British immigrants to Upper Canada were impoverished, and most immigrant farmers lacked the capital to pay for purchased land. Debt collection laws allowed them to be jailed indefinitely until they paid their loans to merchants.
In March 1837 the Tories passed a law making it cheaper to sue farmers by allowing city merchants to sue in the middle of harvest. If the farmer refused to come to court in Toronto, they would automatically forfeit the case and their property would be subjected to a sheriff's sale. 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, bankrupting the company. 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.
Budget of Upper Canada
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. The Upper Canada legislature refused to pass a supply bill in 1836 after Head refused to implement responsible government reforms. In retaliation, Head refused to sign any bills passed by the assembly, including public work projects. This contributed to economic hardship and increased unemployment throughout the province.
Planning
Mackenzie gathered reformers on July 28 and 31, 1837 to discuss their grievances with the government. 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. Mackenzie printed the declaration in his newspaper and toured communities north of Toronto to encourage citizens to make similar declarations. Farmers organised target practice sessions and forges in the Home District, and residents in Simcoe County created weapons for the rebellion.
On October 9, 1837, a messenger from the Patriotes of Lower Canada informed Mackenzie that the rebellion in Lower Canada was going to begin. Mackenzie gathered reformers at John Doel's brewery and proposed kidnapping Head, bringing him to city hall and forcing him to let the legislature choose the members of the executive council. If Head refused, they would declare independence from the British Empire. Reformers such as Thomas David Morrison opposed this plan, and the meeting ended without consensus on what to do next.
The next day Mackenzie convinced John Rolph that a rebellion could be successful and happen without anyone being killed. Rolph convinced Morrison to support the rebellion, but they also told Mackenzie to get confirmation of support from rural communities. 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. Rolph and Morrison were reluctant about the plan, so Mackenzie sought Anthony Van Egmond to help lead the armed forces.
In November, in the lead-up to the Political Union's Constitutional Convention, Mackenzie published a satire in the Constitution, a round table discussion by John Locke, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and William Pitt and others. 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. Mackenzie printed broadsheets listing grievances and a call to arms to communities surrounding Toronto. Mackenzie also printed handbills declaring independence which were distributed to citizens north of Toronto.
Counter-rebellion planning
Head did not believe the reports that stated the severity of resources and discontent gathered by the rebels. In November 1837, James FitzGibbon was concerned about soldiers leaving Upper Canada going to quell the Lower Canada Rebellion, and he urged Head to keep some troops for protection, which was refused. FitzGibbon's call to arm a militia was also denied, and Head refused an armed guard at the Government House and City Hall. After the Battle of Saint-Denis on November 23, FitzGibbon prepared a list of men that he could contact personally if a rebellion began in Toronto. The mayor of Toronto refused to ring the City Hall bell if a rebellion began because he felt FitzGibbon was causing unnecessary concern over a possible revolt.
A Tory supporter obtained a copy of Mackenzie's declaration and showed it to authorities in Toronto. Government officials met at the Government House on December 2 to discuss how to stop rumours of a rebellion. FitzGibbon warned the men of rebels forging pikes north of the city, and he was appointed adjutant general of the militia.
Confrontation
Rolph tried to warn Mackenzie about the warrant for his arrest but could not find him, so he delivered the message to Lount instead. Upon receiving Rolph's message, Lount marched a group of rebels into Toronto for December 4. 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. The men gathered at Montgomery's Tavern but were disappointed at the lack of preparation and the failure of the Lower Canada rebels. Although Lount wanted to launch an attack that night, other rebel leaders rejected that plan so that the troops could rest after their march and they could get information from Rolph about the status of rebels who lived in Toronto.