1837 Uprising Causes

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Question: What were the Causes of the 1837 Uprising in Upper Canada? Introduction: When Canada created Upper and Lower Canada the intention was to create a government that was unique to the demographics within their respective territories. However, due to the desire by some citizens to shift Canada from under the crown to a republic state were a consistent battle. Due to the many reasons for the demand for reform, they naturally became intersected through; the War of 1812, the Alien Question, Provincial Debt and Economic Distress, the actions of Sir Francis Bond Head, the radical reform ideas of William Lyon Mackenzie, the persistence of Barnabas Bidwell and Marshall Spring Bidwell, the Reform Movement, Clergy Reserves, and the role of the…show more content…
Initially, these ideas were brought from those that greatly supported the United States of America and their vision of modernity of Upper Canada. Americans within Upper Canada had reasonable grounds for wanting to turn Upper Canada away from the need of the British Crown after the results of the War of 1812. After the War of 1812 it provided Upper Canada the opportunity to suppress any Americans to be in a position of power within government. This action would create the Alien Question, and would provide a minority group that was directly oppressed. This would provide the basis for characters such as Sir Francis Bond Head, William Lyon Mackenzie, Barnabas Bidwell, and Marshall Spring Bidwell to create a following for the Reform Movement within Upper Canada grow stronger than ever. When members of the Family Compact were caught slipping up through the poorly executed Clergy Reserves it would demonstrate the demand for a planned overthrow of the forty plus year tenure that the Family Compact had. Unfortunately, the Reform Movement would be crushed…show more content…
The move of appointing Francis Bond Head was an effort by the British Government to appease the reformers within Upper Canada that were demanding responsible government. As pointed out by Cadigan, when Loyalists and other immigrants arrived in Upper Canada, they fell under the direction of British officials who were intent on ensuring that this new society has a patriarchal structure and hierarchy which would counterbalance the democratic impulses of the new American republic. Loyalty to the paternal authority of the British monarch became a defining characteristic of early Upper Canadian political culture… British authorities gave Loyalists land grants, seed, equipment, and other aid according to their previous status in the American colonies. When the Seventh Report on Grievances was to reach Bond Head, he would simply disregard the five-hundred page document. This would demonstrate how Bond Head was initially seen as someone that was to have a degree of reform tendencies, but would soon be seen as a reformer. In the 1836 election for the 13th Parliament of Upper Canada, Francis Bond Head was to be campaigning as a Tory which meant that he was to go against the reformers. This was seen as problematic because by Bond Head resonating with tories then that means that he was siding with those that were the cause of the loyalty movement within Upper Canada.
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