The Causes for the Rebellion of 1837-1838

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The Causes for the Rebellion of 1837-1838

The rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada were in the interests of self-government but were doomed to failure from their beginning. Each of these two colonies encountered a great deal of problems right from the institution of the Constitution Act of 1791 and the problems continually got worse until the only choice to some seem to be rebellion. There were several problems that lead to the rebellions of 1837-38. In Lower Canada there was the agricultural crisis that caused a large number of starvations, to the French and English political and social problems within the colony. There were several different reasons that caused the rebellion in Upper Canada but these caused were mainly rooted in the idea of Anti- Americanism that was held within the Family Compact. Both rebellions had valid causes and noble intentions but they lacked the most necessary part for a rebellion to succeed in its intentions, the support of the people. Without support these two rebellions could never succeed.

There were several reasons for the rebellion in Lower Canada that included the agricultural crisis, immigration and the British America Land Company. The first cause of importance was the agricultural crisis that was "caused by the very low production of wheat due to the cold weather, the wheat fly epidemic and the fact that the land had been harvested from the beginning of the century". " The low amount of wheat caused the cost of living to soar and left many people staving and without their homes because they were unable to pay their creditors or their rent." This infuriated the French assembly because the funds that could be used to improve the conditions of the French people were being divided amo...

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... 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.

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