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The Lower Canada Rebellion (French: La rébellion du Bas-Canada), commonly referred to as the Patriots' War (French: la Guerre des patriotes) by Quebecers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada (now Quebecmarker) and the Britishmarker colonial power of that province. Together with the simultaneous Upper Canada Rebellion in the neighbouring colony of Upper Canada (now Ontariomarker), it formed the Rebellions of 1837.



These events are often misreported , which moves the attention away from three decades of political battles between the Parti patriote of James Stuart and Louis-Joseph Papineau, who were seeking accountability from the elected government and governor of the colony. However the unelected body was dominated by a small group of mainly businessmen known as the Château Clique, the equivalent of the Family Compact in Upper Canada.

The movement for reform took shape in a period of economic disenfranchisement of the French-speaking majority and working class English speaking citizens. However, the rebellion was not about language but centered on the unfairness of colonial governing as such, many of the leaders and participants were English-speaking citizens of Lower Canada. In banking, the timber trade, and transportation, Anglophones were seen as disproportionately represented. However, the Roman Catholic church discouraged French-Canadians from commercial activities, asserting it was God's will that they remain an agrarian society. (Out of 775 identified rebels from Lower Canada, 388 were farmers.) At the same time, some among the Anglophone business elite were advocating for a union of Upper and Lower Canada in order to ensure competitiveness on a national scale with the increasingly large and powerful economy of the United Statesmarker. The unification of the colony was a plan favoured by the British-appointed governor, George Ramsey, Earl of Dalhousie. The reaction was a growing sense of nationalism among English and the French-speaking citizens, which solidified into the Parti canadien. (After 1826 called the Parti patriote.)

In 1811, James Stuart became leader of the Parti Canadien in the assembly and in 1815, reformer Louis-Joseph Papineau was elected Assembly speaker. The Assembly, while elected, had little power; its decisions could be vetoed by a legislative council and the governor appointed by the British government. Dalhousie and Papineau were soon at odds over the issue of uniting the Canadas, and Dalhousie forced an election in 1827 rather than accept Papineau as speaker. Sympathizers to the reform movement in England had Dalhousie forced from his position and reappointed to Indiamarker. Still, the legislative council and the assembly were not able to reach a compromise, and by 1834, the assembly had passed the Ninety-Two Resolutions, outlining its grievances against the legislative council. At that point, the Patriote movement was supported by an overwhelming majority of the population in all origins.



Papineau escaped to the United States, but the rebels set themselves up in the countryside, and, led by Wolfred Nelson defeated a British force at Saint-Denis on November 23. However, the British troops soon beat back the rebels, defeating them at Saint-Charles on November 25 and at Saint-Eustache on December 14. Saint-Eustache was then pillaged and ransacked. On December 5, martial law was declared in Montréal.

When news of the arrest of the Patriote leaders reached Upper Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie launched an armed rebellion in December 1837. In the mean time, filibusters from the United States, the Hunter Patriots, formed a small militia and attacked Windsor, Ontariomarker to further support the Canadian Patriots. These revolts were quickly put down. The following year, leaders who had escaped across the border into the United States raided Lower Canada in February 1838, and a second revolt began at Battle of Beauharnois in November of the same year. This too was crushed by the British.

Meanwhile, Britain had dispatched Lord Durham to investigate the cause of the rebellion. His report recommended that the Canadas be united into one colony (the Province of Canada) so as to assimilate the French-speaking Canadiens into the culture of the British Empire. However, he recommended acceding to the rebels' grievances by granting responsible government to the new colony.


Following the military defeat of the Patriotes, Lower Canada was merged with Upper Canada under the Union Act. The Canadiens barely remained a majority in the new political entity but with continued immigration to the English speaking part of Canada this was short lived. Eight years after the Union, a responsible government was set up in the united Province of Canada. The great instability of this new regime (see Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada) eventually led to the formation of the Great coalition, and another major constitutional change, the Canadian Confederation of 1867.



See also


Further reading

  • Greenwood, Frank Murray. and Barry Wright, ed. (2002). Canadian State Trials. Volume 2: Rebellion and Invasion in the Canadas, 1837–1839, Toronto: The Osgoode Society and University of Toronto Press, 512 p. (ISBN 0802037488) ( preview)
  • Buckner, Philip Alfred (1985). The Transition to Responsible Government: British Policy in British , North America, 1815–1850, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 358 p.
  • Tiffany, Orrin Edward (1980). The Relations of the United States to the Canadian Rebellion of 1837–1838, Toronto: Coles Pub., 147 p.
  • Burroughs, Peter (1972). The Canadian Crisis and the British Colonial Policy, 1828–1849, Toronto: MacMillan, 118 p.
  • Bradshaw, Frederick (1903). Self-Government in Canada, and How it was Achieved: the Story of Lord Durham’s Report, Londres: P.S.King, 414 p.
  • Scott, Stuart D. (2004). To the Outskirts of Habitable Creation: Americans and Canadians Transported To Tasmania In The 1840s, Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 514 p. [Illustrated by Seth Colby].

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