Chapter 7

The Great Migration and the Push for Democracy

What Triggered the Great Migration?

• Poverty in Britain– People left Britain for economic reasons– The Industrial Revolution caused machines to

replace people– The end of the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815

causing an economic slowdown which led to more unemployment

– Large landowners were buying all the land– A famine hit Ireland in 1840, causing lots of people

to leave

Opportunity in the Colonies

• There was lots of room in British North America• Britain started to encourage people to emigrate in

order to relieve the economic troubles• Emigration – leaving one’s country to establish

citizenship and a home in another country (going to a new place to live)

• Immigration – the process of people establishing homes and citizenship in a country that is not their native country (coming to a new place to live)

What Impacts Did the Great Migration Have?

• More Farms– New wave of colonists created pressure in BNA– This pressure was caused by worry over where

these people would settle• More British People– With the economic depression many British

people emigrated to BNA

GO TO PAGE 204

• Read “History Happens – Not a Pleasure Cruise”

The Push for Democracy: What did Reformers Want?

• Reformers wanted to change the government of BNA

• The reformers wanted complete authority to make the decisions that affected their own lives

• Reformer – someone who wants to change (reform) established rules and arrangements in society

Who had power in British North America?

• In BNA they had colonial government– Colonial Government – a government established in a colony

and controlled by an imperial power such as Britain• Basically, colonial government is when a colony is stilled ruled by the

country that colonized them

• By having a colonial government, Britain would appoint the people to make decisions in the colonies, such as a governor of each colony

• Each colony did have an elected assembly; however they did not have as much power as the governor – they could not make decisions for the colony, only advise the governor

Who Has Power in a Democracy?

• Voters elect the people who have the authority to make decisions

• This means the voters have the power because they choose the decision makers who reflect their values and attitudes

• This is what the reformers wanted in BNA– Reformers wanted and elected assemblies of the colonies to

control the councils instead of the British appointed governors

– They wanted the council to have full control of the local affairs

The Rebellions of 1837 and 1838

The Situation in Lower Canada• A struggle of power developed between the

elected assembly and the governor• The cultural division fueled the struggle

because Anglophone (English), Protestant people controlled the council and Francophone (French), Catholic Canadiens made up a majority of the assembly

• The “Chateau Clique” – wealthy English merchants – held power in the councils appointed by the governor – The governor always appointed members of this

group to the councils• People started to seek a more democratic government

in the 1820s• Fighting broke out between Canadien and English-

speaking voters• When the cholera epidemic broke out in Quebec, the

people blamed the British government• A harsh winter brought about a lot of crop failures in

Lower Canada (mostly to the Canadiens) and in 1837 a lot of farmers faced starvation

The Rebellions of 1837 and 1838The Situation in Upper Canada

• They also had developed a power struggle between the council and the assembly

• Most members of the “Family Compact” – wealthy English Canadians – held power in councils appointed by the governor

• The reform party wanted a democratic government and won a majority of seats in the elected assembly in 1834

• In 1836 the governor made sure that the reform party did not win the election, instead the party he favored did

• In 1837, crop failures also affected Upper Canada

Who Were the Reformers?

• There were three main outspoken reformers that emerged in BNA– Louis-Joseph Papineau from Lower Canada– William Lyon Mackenzie from Upper Canada– Joseph Howe from Nova Scotia

• All these men were members of the elected assemblies in their colonies and were not happy with the way things were

Read Pages 214-215

• Answer respond questions 1 and 2 on page 215

History Happens and Timelines

• Read pages 218 - 221

The Durham Report

• The British had to use violence to put down all the rebellions that were taking place

• Britain decided to investigate the rebellions– They did not want to lose Upper and Lower Canada like

they lost the Thirteen Colonies– This investigation was to help them find a peaceful

solution• Britain set up a royal commission in 1838 to study

Upper and Lower Canada– The man in charge of this commission was Lord Durham

Durham’s Recommendations

• Recommendation #1 – Union of Upper and Lower Canada– Making the people of Lower Canada be ruled by the

English majority– Forming a legislative union made up of people from Upper

Canada and Lower Canada• Recommendation #2 – More Democratic Government– Give more power to the colonies– This would cause the people of Upper and Lower Canada

to cooperate for a common purpose

• Recommendation #3 – Assimilate the Canadiens– Durham didn’t believe the Canadiens had a history

worth protecting

Respond Questions

• Go to page 223 and answer questions 1 and 2

The Act of the Union

• Britain passed the Act of Union in 1841 in response to the recommendations made in the Durham Report

• The Act of Union focused on recommendation number three: assimilate the Canadiens– Assimilate – to become a part of a different

cultural group (the French becoming English essentially)

What the Act Did

• The Act of Union:– Combined Upper and Lower Canada into a single

province: The province of Canada– Created a legislative council appointed by the

governor– Created an assembly with equal representatives

from Canada West (Upper Canada) and Canada East (Lower Canada)

– Made English the official language of government in the new Province of Canada

Pressures the First Nations Faced in 1840

• The Mississauga Nation (Anishinabee people) had to decide whether or not to relocate

• British settlers had moved onto their lands– This is where present day Toronto is now

• This prevented the Mississauga people to move through their lands with the changing of the season like they traditionally have done

• The Mississauga people ended up taking up farming in order to survive

• The Mississauga Nation petitioned Britain for the right to own their settlement and farms under British Law, in response, Britain proposed moving them to Manitoulin Island– This was a rocky island that British farmers did not

want• The Mississauga people rejected this because

they would not be able to survive there• In 1847 the people of the Mississauga Nation

moved onto land that the Haudenosaunee people offered them at Grand River.

The LaFontaine-Baldwin Alliance

• Read pages 228 and 229• Answer respond questions 1, 2, and 3 on page

229