The War of British, local militia and First Nations fought together against the invaders and won many key battles.

Transcription

1 The War of 1812 Tensions between Britain and the U.S. heated up again. -Britain stopped the Americans form trading with the French. - They kidnapped American sailors and forced them in to service for the British navy. -They supported the First Nations in their battles to maintain land. -Some American settlers wanted to take over Britainʼs colonies. War broke out in Britain was worried that they may not have that much support in British North America. -Many of the colonists were Americans that came up north, not because they were loyalist, but for the cheap land. These colonists out numbered the loyalist 4 to 1. -Atlantic colonies depended on trade with the Americans. -They werenʼt sure which way the Canadiens might go? British, local militia and First Nations fought together against the invaders and won many key battles. Tecumseh a Shawnee leader united many of the First Nations in the Ohio region and assembled an army of 2 to 3 thousand soldiers. He fought in and won many battles against the Americans, but was eventually killed in battle in In April of 1813, American ships on Lake Ontario fired on York (now T.O.) and soldiers looted shops and houses. They also burned down the colonies government building there. Britain fought back invading Washington DC in August of 1814 where they also burned down the US government buildings. All in all the War ended in a deadlock in December of 1814 with the Treaty of Ghent. This set the 49th parallel as the border between them west of the Great Lakes. Americans viewed the war as another victory over Britain. The people of Upper and Lower Canada saw it as another time they held off an American invasion.

2 The real losers of the war were the First Nations. Over died and the Americans refused to set up a First Nations state, as had been proposed by Britain. The Great Migration between 1815 and 1850 more than immigrants came to the ports of Halifax, St. John and Quebec City. In Britain: - jobs were scarce -farmers were force off of their land -lots of poverty and hunger -there was a terrible famine in Ireland Ocean travel was much safer now that the war was over and this was a great opportunity for free land and a chance at a better life. Most of the immigrants that came to Canada were poor and came in the holds of ships. These were the cargo areas below deck and diseases were rampant. So many people died, that these ships were often called coffin ships. Most of the immigrants traveled up the St. Lawrence to Quebec or Montreal and then continued their journey west by land to Upper Canada. There was usually in the neighbor hood of about immigrants per year coming over, with about 2/ 3 of them being Irish. In 1847 however, a great failure of the potato crop sent around a Irish immigrants to North America. A typhus epidemic broke out aboard the ships killing thousands. When the ships reached North America they were held at Grosse-Ile, a quarantine station until doctors could be sure they were not bringing in any diseases into the country and here 1000ʼs more died. Even once the immigrants left their ships and made their way inland to their land by boat or wagon, their struggles were ot over. Now they had to clear their land of dense forest and put up with rugged environment and harsh climate. Life was harsh for both the men as well as the women who helped with all the chores. A typical work day would go from before 5 in the morning until after 7 at night.

3 This great invasion of British immigrants greatly changed the identity of the the colonies. It opened up vast new areas, new industries, new towns and brought in a lot more British customs and traditions and the language spoken was English. The Underground Railroad Slavery had been present in New France for many years, but in 1792 the governor of Upper Canada Passed a bill to phase out slavery and 1833 Britain banned slavery in all of its colonies. Many runaway enslaved people fled north via what was known as the Underground Railroad. It was a secret network that used what they called conductors and stations to smuggle over people up to the British Colonies. In 1865 the U.S. ended slavery and about half of the former enslaved people returned, but 1000ʼs stayed, built farms, schools, churches and created their own community and unique identity. Government in the Colonies The Constitutional Act of 1791 gave each of the Colonies its own governor and an elected assembly. The governors were appointed by Britain and would then appoint an Executive Council and a Legislative Council which would mostly be made up of his friends and relatives. Since governors were appointed by Britain it could pretty much be guaranteed that that would follow the directions set out by Britain or pass laws which favored their own interests. They were known as the Chateau Clique in Lower Canada or the Family Compact in Upper Canada. The legislative assembly were elected by the landowners (mostly men) but could only advise the governor and his two councils. They had no real power and this lead to a group known as the Reformers demanding change. Rebellion in Lower Canada By 1830 the was unrest in both Upper and Lower Canada. Louis-Joseph Papineau led a group of radicals called the Patriotes in 1834 to the assembly to present what they called the Ninety-Two Resolutions. They called for sweeping resolutions and then won 75% the votes in the next election.

4 The government still would not listen to them. In 1837 the Patriotes lead by Papineau traveled throughout the colony urging the Canadiens to take up arms. Fighting broke out at Saint-Denis and the Patriotes were victorious, but then the rebels at Saint-Charles and destroyed them at Saint- Eustache. Papineau fled to the States. Rebellion in Upper Canada 1834 William Lyon Mackenzie led a group of reformers and issued the Seventh Report on Grievances which listed their demands. On December 5th 1837, he led about 700 on a march to Toronto to overthrow the government. Some were armed with rifles, but most only had farm tools. When they met with government supporters they turned and fled. A few other violent clashes occurred around the colonies, but they were quickly put down by British troops. Mackenzie, like Papineau, fled to the States. Results The rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada seemed pretty minor however, they had a lasting effect. Britain had to face that reform was necessary. The Francophones felt dreadfully wronged and the people in both colonies agreed with the Reformers. The common complaint in all the colonies was that the governor and the the councils did not have to follow the will of the people. The Durham Report: Lord Durham, a wealthy British Noble and politician was sent to Canada in 1838 to find some answers to the problems in Canada. After about 5 months he came up with two main recommendations. 1. Unite Upper and Lower Canada into a single colony. 2. Grant the Colonies responsible government. Durham blamed the troubles in lower Canada on the conflict between the Canadiens and the English. He was prejudiced and called the Canadiens a people with no history and no literature. He wanted to get rid of the French language and figured that they could eventually be absorbed into British society. Britain agreed and in 1841 the Act of Union created a single colony

5 with two provinces known as Canada East and Canada West. English was the only official language. They would now have elected representatives in the Assembly and the governor would follow the wishes of the Assembly. The British rulers opposed the idea at first, but in 1848 the Reformers won a huge election victory, and the governor Lord Elgin chose two Reformers (Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine) to lead the new government. 1849, he passed the Rebellion Losses Bill even though he did not like the bill. Responsible Government was a reality.