Canada EQ1: To What Extent Did The Political Nature And Government Systems Of Upper And Lower Canada Minimise The Perceived Threat From The USA?

Question 1

ORGANISATION OF UC AND LC

What type of people were in LC? And in UC?

Answer 1

LC: French settlers and loyalists

UC: British

Question 2

ORGANISATION OF UC AND LC

How were Newfoundland and Nova Scotia governed? What did the 1791 constitution do for the reason of the Canadas?

Answer 2

ruled directly from London
self-contained colonies with own governors/assemblies

1791 constitution introduced same political structure in both LC and UC

Question 3

ORGANISATION OF UC AND LC

What 3 areas did the British control in Canada?

Answer 3

defence
foreign affairs
external trade

Question 4

ORGANISATION OF UC AND LC

Did LC and UC share governors? Where were the governors in the politics system?

Answer 4

no

at the top under the Crown

Question 5

ORGANISATION OF UC AND LC

Who appointed the Executive council? What was the councils role?

Answer 5

the governor appointed the executive council by royal nomination

role:
to advise governor

Question 6

ORGANISATION OF UC AND LC
Who controlled the legislative council?
Who was in the council? How may members of LC and UC?

Answer 6

executive council controlled the legislative council

members appoint by the crown for life

UC: 7 members
LC: 15 members

Question 7

ORGANISATION OF UC AND LC

Who elected the legislative assembly? But why was this not as it all seemed?

Answer 7

the voters

but their vote was subject to blackmail, intimidation and abuse

Question 8

ORGANISATION OF UC AND LC

What was the role fo the legislative assembly? How many members for LC and UC?

Answer 8

responsible for taxation and domestic matters

LC: 16 members
UC: 50 members

Question 9

LANDOWNERSHIP IN LC

Lay out the steps in LC land tenure?

Answer 9

1. land granted to a seigneur

2. they would grant land to tenants who farm, in exchange for rent

Question 10

LANDOWNERSHIP IN LC

In what way was it unfavourable to the UC system?

Answer 10

it was essentially a feudal system

Question 11

LANDOWNERSHIP IN LC

What was one major advantage of this system?

Answer 11

Canadians were protected by contracts under seigneurial sysetm

the relationship between tenant and seigneur was overseen by the state

Question 12

LANDOWNERSHIP IN LC

What percentage of LC lived in seigneurial land until mid 1800s?

Answer 12

75-80%

Question 13

TENSIONS IN LC

Who were the racial tensions between?

Answer 13

British settlers/loyalists
vs
French-Canadians

Question 14

TENSIONS IN LC

What did the Quebec Act 1774 grant French-Canadians? And more generally?

Answer 14

• free practice of catholicism
• the use of French civil law for matters in private law
• preserved their system of land tenure

also generally,
established legislative assemblies with financial autonomy (to stop American phrase of ‘no taxation without representation’)

Question 15

TENSIONS IN LC

What were the reasons for the racial tension?

Answer 15

1. Quebec Act 1774
2. French-Canadians reamiend fiercely attached to identity, language and institutions
3. French formed an important political block in Assembly
4. French were worried British loyalists would make an attack on their cultural identity
5. French quick to attack any move by Chateau Clique that was deemed an attack on their French identity

Question 16

TENSIONS IN LC

How was the Chateau Clique created?

Answer 16

1791 constitution meant Governors tended to select loyalists to be on executive council.
this created the Chateau Clique

Question 17

LANDOWNERSHIP IN UC

What was the land system in UC?

Answer 17

• based on British freehold tenure
• most of land was held by Crown
• so judged to be free to grant to settlers

Question 18

LANDOWNERSHIP IN UC

What was different about how the British treated UC?

Answer 18

they recognised that indigenous Canadian people had claim to the land

treaties were signed with native groups to increase Crown lands

Question 19

LANDOWNERSHIP IN UC

What fraction of UC lands were designated as ‘clergy reserves’? What does this mean?

Answer 19

1/7

all profits of their slae when to Anglican Church in UC

Question 20

LANDOWNERSHIP IN UC

Was reform of the land system possible?

Answer 20

no, control of the Anglican Church meant that no reform of the system of clergy reserves was possible

Question 21

TENSIONS IN UC

Name 4 sources of tension.

Answer 21

1. lacked infrastructure and capital investment
2. fragmented settlements and limited resources
3. small population to raise revenue (350,000 in 1835)
4. Opposition to Family Compact grew in 1820s

Question 22

TENSIONS IN UC

If the population was too small, where was revenue raised from? What was this revenue used to do?

Answer 22

by the sale of land to the Canada Company

used to pay the salary of the officials

Question 23

TENSIONS IN UC

Did the assembly have any say in the spending in UC?

Answer 23

no, the gov decided to sidestep the assembly and denied them the opportunity to influence spending

Question 24

TENSIONS IN UC

What did all these tension increase calls for?

Answer 24

‘responsible and cheap government’

Question 25

PERCEIVED THREAT FROM THE USA
Lower Canada:
Why were British more confident that they had ruined any attempts made by USA to stir a rebellion?

Answer 25

• because due to the threat of the USA, they had set the reasonable Quebec Act 1774
• this had continued after the 1837 rebellion, too

Question 26

PERCEIVED THREAT FROM THE USA
Lower Canada:
What was the real reason that raised tensions?

Answer 26

executive power lay in hands of a British-appointed lieutenant governor

(lieutenant governors, were normally the main governors too)

Question 27

PERCEIVED THREAT FROM THE USA
Upper Canada:
What did UC have far more of than LC? Why had this number increased too?

Answer 27

British settlers

those who considered themselves British increase during the evacuation of ‘loyalists’ during American War of Independence

Question 28

PERCEIVED THREAT FROM THE USA
Upper Canada:
Who were these settlers that continued to arrive from the 1790s? Why was their loyalty questionable?

Answer 28

‘loyalist’ settlers from America

they were principally seeking free land