Chapter VII: A Most Complicated Union
Upper and Lower Canada
The British Colonial office had, at first, showed itself supremely reluctant to grant any form of parliamentary representation to the inhabitants of what had formerly been known as New France. The Franco-catholic population was simply deemed too untrustworthy to be allowed to vote and seek elected mandate while an assembly elected without their votes would simply be turned into the instrument of the demands of the, very few at the time, Anglo-protestants settlers. Needless to say, the American Revolution ended that state of affairs in the most brutal fashion. Before 1783 it was all too easy to dismiss the concerns of the few fur traders and other newcomers who made their way North but afterward it became simply impossible to ignore the complaints of the thousands of loyalists, who had lost their homes because of their continued faithfulness to London. Similarly, the loyalty of the Canadiens during the war (1) proved that the suspicion of London toward them where unfounded.
Thus, in 1791 Governor General Guy Carleton, 1st Baron of Dorchester, signed the Constitutional Act. By that act, the colony previously known as the Province of Quebec was to be divided in two: Upper and Lower Canada. Both colony where to be given consultative legislative assemblies, able to pass bills but needing the approval of the Governor-General on each of them to make them laws and, like in the Maritimes, Catholics where to be allowed to both vote and stand for elections. In a British empire where catholic disenfranchisement was the rule Canada was the exception. For the next decades the two colonies grew side by side, the real power continuing to be held by the Governors and to his designated servants but the colonial authorities always took pain to not act without the advice of the elected representative of the colonists and to name some MLA's to jobs of great power.
Governor General Carleton
This relatively happy state of affairs was ended in 1807 by the nomination of James Craig to the post of Governor General of Canada and the creation of the Canadien Party in Lower Canada. Craig became soon notorious for his alleged dislike of the Franco-catholics habitants of Lower Canada, considering them Trojan horses of the French enemy and aiming to destroy their majority in Lower Canada with a wave of British, or even American, immigrants and for his authoritarianism and unwillingness to give key posts to any but British born men’s. Meanwhile, inspired by the ideals of enlightenment and of the revolutions the Canadiens began to organise.
During the first 40 years after the conquest the society of former Nouvelle France had been dominated by the old nobility with family ties to the French aristocracy and by the Catholic Church, both organisations having been quite content with the Status Quo. That state of affairs began to change during the first years of the 19th century as new French-Canadians bourgeoisie began to rise, taking advantage of the economic windfall created by Britain craving for Canadian timber, and allied himself with the most reformists segments of the nobility to form the Parti Canadien and partisan press to spread his ideals. Apart from the defense of Catholicism and the French language the Parti Canadien also aimed to give responsible ministry to the colony. Needless to say, a clash between the new party and Craig was inevitable. Matters came to a head in 1808 when the the Parti Canadien sought to augment his majority in the house.
The massive franco-catholic majority should have naturally tended to produce a sizable majority for the Parti Canadien (even if the Franco-catholic majority was notably reduced by the fact that only men’s of a certain wealth could vote) but, in practice, things proved more complicated. While fairly well off the MLA's of the Parti Canadien tended to be less wealthy then the Bureaucrats, closer to Craig. As a result, many of the MLA's of the Parti Canadien where unable to remain in Quebec City all through the sessions of the Legislative Assembly and often needed to return to their homes to tend to their affairs. Every single seat was thus of paramount importance. In consequence, the Parti Canadien sought to strip Bureaucrat's MLA's De Bonne and Hart of their seats. Future generations have tended to side with the Parti Canadien as far as De Bonne was concerned as its core argument, that judges shouldn't be able to also stand for elections, was enshrined in laws accross the western world during the 19th and 20th century, far more infamous where the attempts made against Ezekiel Hart. Taking advantage of his Jewish faith the Parti Canadian argued that the obligatory, Christian, oath given to all MLA's could not be sworn by a Jew and that therefore he could not serve.
The De Bonne-Hart affair rocked Lower Canada during the three years who followed Craig arrival, the assembly passing laws after laws preventing De Bonne and Hart to occupy their seats and Craig vetoing them. Soon, the colony became almost ungovernable, the Parti Canadien doing everything to make Craig job impossible and Craig purging its partisans from the administration and repeatedly dissolving the assembly. The repetitive elections who followed both re-elected De Bonne and Hart being in their ridings and strengthened the majority of the Parti Canadien. Seemingly playing a losing hand, Craig decided to force the issue and arrested the leaders of the Parti Canadien, only to free them a year later when the province seemed to tether on the verge of anarchy. Sick and tired Craig demanded his recall in 1811 and his vow was granted. Influenced by the precedent created the Party Canadien the more democratic minded politicians of Upper Canada formed the Reformist Party during the 1810's, pursuing the same political objective then the Parti Canadien apart from the defense of Catholicism and the French language (2).
The departure of Craig proved quite beneficial for the colony, as she would need unity in the next years more than ever before, relations between London and Washington where about to reach their breaking point and the War of 1812 was soon to begin. The tale of the war, in all its horrors and glories, is of no concern of ours as we strive to show how the idea of the Canadian Confederation came to birth in Lower and Upper Canada. For our purposes, it is sufficient to say that the War of 1812 marked the end of the Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh, his confederacy and the British ambitions to create an indigenous buffer state in the Great Lake area. The last best hope of the indigenous peoples of North America was now gone, and the American ambitions of annexation of Canada where damped while the two colonies coming out unscathed from the conflict. During the new decades British-American relations would enter an era of detente and rapprochement (3).
During the years following the war more cautious governor generals managed to prevent relations between the British administration and the reformists and Canadien party to reach the nadir they had experienced under Craig. Until 1830 they succeeded but the rising of revolutionary and liberal’s sentiments all over the western world events where to cause events to accelerate. In both Lower and Upper Canada sizable demonstrations occurred, demanding responsible government immediately. As the British administration refused to accede to their demands the opposition radicalised. The elections of 1832 where accompanied of violence’s of such intensity then deaths where sound to be found on both sides. The funerals of the partisans of the Parti Patriote, as the Parti Canadien had renamed himself by analogy with the Patriots of the American Revolution and under the influence of its new charismatic leader Louis Hamel, began the starting point of a campaign of civil disobedience that made the Lower Canada all put impossible to govern. In retaliation, the British administration blocked laws ensuring the access to Franco-catholic education to all in Lower Canada. Historically Britain had relied on the, very conservative, catholic clergy to control the population in Lower Canada but in this dramatic moment such measures where proven insufficient. Some clerics where now openly sided with the Patriotes and many others admitted that their usual control over their congregation was simply not what it used to be.
A rally of the Parti Patriote in Lower Canada in 1835, Louis Hamel giving one of his most famous speech
Things finally came to an head in 1836 when the Patriotes of Lower Canada sent to London a list of 87 demands, who would have essentially accomplished the whole program of the Parti Patriote had they been granted. When the de facto ultimatum was rejected by London war had become inevitable. Both Patriotes and Bureaucrats had taken great pains to develop paramilitary forces during the previous years but the Fils de la Liberté (4) where far more numerous and better armed then the members of the Doric Club. A similar process had also taken place in Upper Canada, where the Reformists had reinforced and radicalised by the arrival in their ranks of many farmers having greatly suffered from the bad harvest of 1835 and resenting the colonial government for his inaction in the matter. The first days of the rising where exhilarating for the two (separate) group of rebels. In Upper Canada a militia several hundred strong was soon established and began attempting to install a blockade of York while in the Lower Canada the Patriots managed to secure the whole of Beauce, destroying a British detachment 800 strong at the Battle of Sainte-Catherine in the process. As rumours of a possible American intervention began to flow through Canada the rebels enjoyed a few days of euphoria. The Patriots of Lower Canada even drafted a declaration of independence.
The British forces at the Battle of Sainte-Catherine launching an ill-fated charge
The return to reality was only more brutal: help from the south never came and many of the more moderate Patriots and Reformists simply refused to follow the movements. Meanwhile, the British had recovered from their initial surprise and mustered their forces to deal with the rebels. Soon, many of the Patriots and Reformists leaders were fleeing south, trying to save their lives, as the rebellions unravelled. The remaining men’s still holding for the rebellions in both Canadas where defeated at Saint-Ange and Halton Hills respectively. The next year would see the rebels attempt to rekindle the war from the south but their raids where defeated at Lacolle and Amherstburg respectively, marking the end of the rebellions of 1836-1837. Once the inevitable martial courts had been held and had given their verdicts, and that the inevitable gibbets had performed their gruesome task the British government sought to determine the cause of the rebellions and prevent them from reoccurring. Thus, the Earl of Rippon was sent to Canada to investigate.
In his ensuing report Rippon advocated giving the reformists of Upper Canada what they wanted, responsible government, while taking all necessary measures to destroy the Patriotes and the cultural differences of Lower Canada in the mid to long term. For Rippon, the Franco-catholic population of former Nouvelle France where nothing but a remnant of a dead and buried Old regime France, who would never, achieve anything economically and culturally as such. Not only would they be a dead weight to the empire but the last decades had proved that, unlike the Acadians, they didn't even present the advantage of relative loyalism to Britain. According to the plan he outlined in his reports, Catholicism and the French language in the Saint-Lawrence Valley was to be slowly and surely strangled through a union of both Canadas, the prospective assembly of United Canada having been designed to have an equal numbers of MLA's from both Lower and Upper Canada an Anglo-protestant majority was guaranteed and such a majority could pass laws preventing Catholic and French education, among other things, where to ensure swift assimilation.
Luck, however, proved to be on the side of those who had already started to call themselves French-Canadians. While the British parliament accepted Rippon recommendations for a united Canadian province those conceding the responsible government for the colony to be where dropped. The decision proved to be a grievous mistake as it prevented the reconciliation between the colonial authorities and the reformists of former Upper Canada. As a result, instead of seeing the new assembly dominated by an Anglo-protestant coalition it was ruled by a Patriote-Reformist coalition where the Franco-catholics where definitely the senior partners (5). As the new assembly had taken to spend most of her time sending petition to London for Responsible Government some began to fear that a new revolt was to occur if they're wishes weren't granted at last. Thus, in 1841 Responsible Government was at last granted and, five years after the defeat of their rising the Patriotes had at last achieved the objectives of the Parti Canadien of old and then some, holding the wheel not only over Lower Canada but over Upper Canada as well. For the next few years the LaMontagne-MacPherson government, as the governing coalition of United Canada was known to the locals, named after the leaders of the Patriotes and Reformists parliamentary groups who formed it, governed well. Mens of competence where named to key position, road where build, schools established, rights officially protected and canals linking the Great Lakes and the Saint-Lawrence began to be digged. All seemed well but, as things tend to be won't to do in Canadian history, such a happy state of affairs was not to last.
LaMontagne and McPherson
Troubles began when the British government proclaimed an amnesty for the rebels of 1836 who had went in exile. Allowed to return, Hamel sought to retake the leadership of the Parti Patriote from LaMontagne, criticising him for his alleged collusion with the Colonial administration to be able to do so. By his actions Hamel provoked a schism inside the Parti Patriote. The majority of the former Patriote MLA's continued to follow LaMontagne, forming the Parti Bleu and reconciling with the Bureaucrats MLA's of Lower Canada and adopting a pragmatic attitude in their constitutional position. A sizable minority, however, preffered to join Hamel and formed the Parti Rouge. Staunchly nationalist, the Rouges regularly campaigned on the dissolution of the union of the two Canadas, despite the opposition of the colonial administration and most of the business class.
Not even the latter deaths of LaMontagne and Hamel did anything to heal the divide. Meanwhile, in Upper Canada the Reformists seemed to grow to greater party and popularity. As more and more immigrants from the British isles began to pour in the colony Upper Canada population caught up with and passed the one of Lower Canada. As immigration and industrialisation created a continuous economic boom in Upper Canada the desire for further economic improvements and for modernising policies, like a laic school system for example, grew. Unsurprisingly, Lower Canada with an economy still far more dependent on agriculture and a catholic church more powerful than ever (6) virulently opposed the policies of the Clear Grits, has most of the reformists had renamed themselves. Meanwhile, the most moderates among the former Reformists had reconciled with the Bureaucrats MLA's of Upper Canada to form the Tory Party, McPherson himself having removed himself from political life.
The result was an utter mess (7): only the Parti Bleu and the Tories proved close enough to form coalitions with any stability but more often than not weren't able to muster a majority of MLA's. Not even the genius of the tory leader John M. MacDonald (8), whose brilliant parliamentary manoeuvers became the stuff of legends, could truly solve the problem. Despite the reservations of both the business community and the British officials the dissolution of the union of the two Canadas gained more and more favour as no solution seemed to be on the horizon. MacDonald, having spent his career defending the union, seemed to be in danger of failing in political oblivion if he couldn't find a way to drastically change the rules of the game.
On June 4 1861, according to the legend he did. Inspired by the federal construction of the United States of America MacDonald projected to establish two level of government, one where both Canadas where represented and united and where affairs concerning all would be dealt with and a second, where they would be divided and where more locals affairs would be managed. The new project gained the favour of the bulk of the Clear Grits and the Great Coalition, as the new government they build with the Tories and the Bleus was nicknamed put an end to the crisis. One problem, however, remained: a federation composed of only two entities simply wouldn't do. The Maritime colonies and British Columbia would have to be convinced to join as well, and that, as MacDonald knew very well, was far from done!
(1) When they marched north in 1775 the American insurgents expected the Franco-Catholics settlers of former Nouvelle France to rise for them but they, instead, rallied to the British administration and many fought to defend the colony. A couple of times afterwards the Americans tried to turn them but without avail.
(2) All of this is roughly OTL, at this point the only thing who significantly changed was that Upper Canada grew quicker than in OTL. Incidentally, the conduct of the Parti Canadien in the Hart affair demonstrate how an organisation can pursue an overall praiseworthy goal and still act in an utterly despicable manner in the process. It must, however, be said that both OTL and here the Parti Canadien redeemed himself in the 1830's by passing a law guaranteeing the equality of all religions before the law, very much aimed to prevent injustice like those inflicted to Ezekiel Hart to happen in the future. The law proved to be later copied in many areas of the British Empire.
(3) The British did somewhat better then OTL in the War of 1812 due to a greater population in Ontario but at the end of the day I just didn't saw how the butterflies could be big enough yet to change the post-war geopolitical situation in the region significantly. Statu Quo Ante Bellum it is as far as the two Canada’s are concerned. The one butterfly that will have serious consequences latter is that the in ATL Toronto (then called York) wasn't burned by the American forces so it will develop faster than OTL.
(4) The Sons of Freedom
(5) The reformists held a sizable minority of the seats of Upper Canada, but it was still a minority. The Patriote, on the other hand, held a substantial majority of the seats in Lower Canada.
(6) Since many of the more resistant to the influence of the church among the political class of Lower Canada where among the rebels the faillure of the rebellion allowed her to regain the power she had lost during the early 1830's and then some. The 1840's also saw many of the most conservative religious congretations in France move to Canada, giving the canadian church more effectives then ever before.
(7) Sign of how bad things where both here and OTL, the MLA's weren't even able to agree on a permanent capital. Clearly annoyed by the situation the Governor General of the time decreted that the capital was to installed at Bytown, a town close to the border between the two Canadas. Thus was born Ottawa.
(7) The parents of John A. MacDonald where fairly recent immigrants OTL so having them get children around the same time ATL is far from inconceivable. Our MacDonald has allotted of common points with the OTL one but some key differences as well...
OOC: So, I finally found the time and the energy to put one big update up
As people familiar with canadian history would know the main lines are OTL even if the details have changed a bit. The butterflies are really gonna start to show themselves in Quebec and Ontario, as they would soon be renamed, in the next years. But that isn't for now, for now we go down south to Louisiana 