The Causes Of Rebellion Of 1836 Essay — страница 2

in Upper Canada were deeply rooted in the Anti-American attitude that was held by the Family Compact.” The reasons were the issue of land, education and the bank of Upper Canada. The first issue of importance was the land issue and land reform. All the immigrants that were coming into the colony were farmers looking for their own land to harvest. The problem was that it was a real hassle to acquire land, “first they had to wait 7 year before they could own the land and then they would have to buy the land on credit because the bank wanted to make money off of the land”. This all meant that a large amount of the land available was not being harvested because people were waiting on this process. Many people looked at the United States system because it took only a matter of

minutes for them to purchase the land. The problem that held back this reform was that it was an American idea and it would make more of the common people equal with the upper class. The next issue of importance was that of public education, many people wanted their children to be educated but the problem was that the Anglican Church controlled the education. “They did not teach literacy but rather discipline and loyalty to the crown”. This system was also costly and the people had to pay for the education when many didn’t have the money to do this. They saw in New York another education system that was free and not controlled by the church and they wanted this system in the colony but again this idea was too much of an American idea and was rejected by the Family Compact

also free education was not a concern for them because their children were sent to private schools. The next problem was that of the Bank of Upper Canada and it’s building of canals. “The building of canals resulting in the bankruptcy of the bank” and the people who had money in the bank lost it all, the only ones who lost nothing were the upper class they received all of their money back. The people of the colony saw that instead of one large bank they should use a lot of small independent banks but the compact also rejected this idea. This lead to the bank being seen as a “sign of oppression” and the assembly began to demand reform in the way that the government was being run and this lead to William Lyon Mackenzie issuing the seventh report on grievances to Britain.

When Britain received this report they realized that the colony was on the road to rebellion. The British took action but it only settle the problem for a short time and after it Mackenzie realized that Britain wasn’t going to help them. After this realization they decide to join Lower Canada in rebellion. The two rebellions had valid causes but they were not effective in bring about the results that the leaders of the rebellions wanted. The British eventually crushed both rebellions. There were two reasons for the failure of the rebellion in Lower Canada. The rebellion in Lower Canada was more violent than that of Upper Canada but one of the reasons for its failure was the lack of support from the people. The French people were “told too be loyal to the British by the church

and not to get involve in a rebellion.” The second reason for the rebellion’s failure was the British largely out numbers the rebels in forces and munitions. These large forces and the help of the church help to greatly reduce the spread of the rebellion in Lower Canada. The reason for the failure of the rebellion in Upper Canada was the rebellion only had passive support and so the people did not support the rebellion physically or rebellious manner. This was more of a drunken brawl in downtown Toronto that was easily squashed by amateur policemen than a rebellion. In fact it is not even called a rebellion in the Canadian Encyclopedia but rather “an uprising with limited support and was largely a historical accident.” In conclusion the rebellions of 1837/38 were defeated

due to a lack of public support but it opened the eyes of the British to a problem in the colonies. The British began to realize that the system within the colonies was not working and something needed to be done. If these rebellions had not happened the British would never have taken notice to the problems and who knows we could still be living under the same system. Although these rebellions failed they did succeed in getting the attention of the British and put us on the road towards responsible government in Canada and the system we now have in place.