Province of Canada
Canada, 1841–1867. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Province of Canada was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. The Act of Union 1840 merged the Colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada by abolishing their separate parliaments and replacing them with a single one. For the first seven years, the government was led by an appointed governor general accountable only to the British government. Responsible government was not achieved until the second LaFontaine-Baldwin ministry in 1849, when Governor General James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, agreed that the cabinet would be formed by the largest party in the Legislative Assembly.
Seat of power: Quebec City
Rulers
Charles Bagot
Governor General of the Province of Canada, 1841–1842
Bagot was ordered by the British government to resist the strengthening demands for responsible government. As an important concession, however, Bagot persuaded the leading Canadian colonial politicians Robert Baldwin and Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine to form a ministry, on the basis of their parliamentary majority. Bagot worked productively with Baldwin and Lafontaine to establish a structure for fair municipal governance in the province of Canada.
Portrait of Charles Bagot: Henry William Pickersgill, Public domain, file
Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe
Governor General of the Province of Canada, 1843–1845
Metcalfe was appointed by the Peel ministry to the post of Governor General of the Province of Canada with instructions to resist further development of responsible government. A clash soon emerged between Metcalfe and the leaders of the legislative assembly, Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine. He made concessions to win support, the most notable being persuading the Colonial Office to grant amnesty to the rebels of 1837-38, and to abandon forced anglicization of the French-speaking population.
Portrait of Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe: George Chinnery, Public domain, file
Culture
- The location of the seat of government of the Province of Canada changed six times in its 26-year history, because its elected representatives could not agree on a permanent seat of government.
- The Province of Canada was divided into two parts: Canada East and Canada West. Upper Canada was primarily English-speaking, whereas Lower Canada was primarily French-speaking.
Picture
The Charlottetown Conference was a political conference for representatives from colonies of British North America to discuss Canadian Confederation.
Image: George P. Roberts, Public domain, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.