of the French empire in North America. A few years after the Conquest, the remaining French population of the new British colony benefited from tension between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain with the Quebec Act of 1774. The Quebec Act enlarged the frontiers of the Province of Qubec, recognized freedom of religion for Catholics, the legality of the seigneurial system and the French civil code. After the American Revolution, the Constitutional Act of 1791 reduced the frontiers of the province for the purpose of establishing a new colony, Upper Canada (eventually Ontario), and guaranteed a legislative assembly, although with limited powers, in each colony (Upper and Lower Canada). French-Canadians were, during the years 1791 to 1867, extremely active both politically and in every aspect of economic life. Local markets, as revealed by recent research, were extraordinarily complex and diversified. At the international level some French-Canadians, like Augustin CUVILLIER and Joseph Masson, were also involved in international commerce and banking. Both men were administrators of the Bank of Montreal while other French-Canadians opened French-Canadian banks like the La Banque du peuple in 1835. In 1837-38, the rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada over the principle of self-government resulted in military repression and the DURHAM REPORT of 1839. Lord Durham recommended the application of the principle of self-government but suggested that the only solution to the French-Canadian problem was the union of the 2 colonies. The aim was to assimilate the French-Canadians. That plan was implemented in 1841 through the Union Act,