page_title: Rebellions of 1837–1838
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Rebellions of 1837–1838 / Aftermath
context_page_description: The Rebellions of 1837–1838, also sometimes called the Canadian Revolution, were two armed uprisings that took place in Lower and Upper Canada in 1837 and 1838. Both rebellions were motivated by frustrations with political reform. A key shared goal was responsible government, which was eventually achieved in the incidents' aftermath. The rebellions 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 and eventually led to the British North America Act, 1867 which created Canada and its government.
context_section_description: Those rebels who were arrested in Upper Canada following the 1837 uprisings were put on trial, and most were found guilty of insurrection against the Crown. One of the most severe punishments was the sentencing of 100 Canadian rebels and American sympathizers to life in Britain's Australian prison colonies. Many were publicly hanged, most notably Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews. The public hangings of the rebels took place in Court House Square, in between Toronto's new jail and courthouse. The Foreman of Public Works, Joseph Sheard, was expected to share in the work of building the scaffold for Lount's and Matthews' execution. However, he claimed the men had done nothing that he wouldn't have and refused to assist. The Orange militia stood guard during the execution to deter a rescue.
  The root cause of resentment in Upper Canada was not so much against distant rulers in Britain, but rather against the corruption and injustice by local politicians—the so-called "Family Compact". However, the rebels were not really convicted because their views aligned with the liberalism of the US, and thus caused some kind of offence to the Tory values of the Canadian colonies. Rather, as revealed in the ruling of Chief Justice Sir John Robinson, a Lockean justification was given for the prisoners' condemnation, and not a Burkean one: the Crown, as protector of the lives, liberty and prosperity of its subjects, could "legitimately demand allegiance to its authority." Robinson went on to say that those who preferred republicanism over monarchism were free to emigrate, and thus the participants in the uprisings were guilty of treason.
  After the rebellions died down more moderate reformers, such as the political partners Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, gained credibility as an alternative voice to the radicals. They proved to be influential when the British government sent Lord Durham, a prominent reformer, to investigate the cause of the troubles. Among the recommendations in his report was the establishment of responsible government for the colonies, one of the rebels' original demands (although it was not achieved until 1849). Durham also recommended the merging of Upper and Lower Canada into a single political unit, the Province of Canada (established through the Act of Union 1840), which became the nucleus for modern-day Canada.  More controversially, he recommended the government-sponsored cultural assimilation of French Canadians to the English language and culture. In fact, the merging of the Upper and Lower Canada was intended to take any form of self-government away from the French Canadians, forcing them into becoming a smaller part of the new, larger, political unit.
  In geopolitical terms the Rebellions and the subsequent Patriot War altered the landscape of relations between Britain and British colonial authorities on one hand, and the American government on the other. Both nations were dedicated to a peace policy due to a budding financial crisis and to a sense of perceived disadvantage which both felt equally. Both were legitimately concerned about the disruption in relations which radical ideas might foment through further rebellion and raids. An unprecedented level of cooperation occurred in diplomatic and military circles. Far from the Rebellions being entirely domestic events, the administration of American president Martin Van Buren had little choice but to implement mitigating measures on US soil to prevent escalation. As they evolved into the Patriot War, the Rebellions contributed to the construction of more recent Anglo-American and Canada-US relations.
caption: Map of Lower Canada (green) and Upper Canada (orange). Shortly after the rebellions, the Canadas were united under the Act of Union 1840 to form the Province of Canada
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