U is for Upper Canada Rebellion
The 1830s were a period of political unrest in Upper and Lower Canada.
Mounting anger towards the Family Compact, the elite group of politicians and officials who dominated government, came to a climax in 1837. Frustrated by the moderate approach by some Reformers, William Lyon Mackenzie advocated an armed rebellion.
In the end, the rebellion was a failure but it served as a catalyst for the union of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the establishment of the principle of responsible government.
The Baldwin Collection of Canadiana includes a variety of significant materials related to the political, cultural and social life in Upper Canada, including manuscripts, broadsides, and artwork.
Following the Rebellion, prisoners in the Toronto Gaol (jail) hand-carved and inscribed small wooden boxes to pass the time while awaiting trial for their participation in the uprising.
This box, carved by inmate Joseph Milborn, was sent to Thomas Carfrae, a collector at the Port of Toronto.
Called Rebels by the government, these men considered themselves to be Patriots.
One of the battles of the Upper Canada Rebellion took place at Montgomery’s Tavern (near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue).
William Lyon Mackenzie and his followers organized an armed march down Yonge Street beginning at the tavern.
Colonel Robert Moodie attempted to lead a force of loyalists through the rebel troops and fired his pistol to clear the way. He was killed when the
rebels returned fire.
This edition of the annual Upper Canada Almanac depicts the “Tree of Abuse”, an unguarded reference to the Family Compact in Upper Canada.
Published in the year preceding the 1837-38 rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada, the satirical verse shows the mounting dissatisfaction with patronage and abuses of power by the church and the state.
Read this almanac online or download it from our Digital Archive.
A much rarer variant of the almanac was re-issued after the 1836 election. This second cover shows a much less inflammatory cartoon with the defeated reformers “enjoying their betting profits after the late election”.
We have many different types of almanacs in our Digital Archive.
A Torontonian by the name of Stephen Randal wrote this poem a year before the rebellion fully broke out in Upper Canada.
The poem was published both as a broadside and in William Lyon Mackenzie’s weekly newspaper The Constitution.
Sung to the tune of a popular song at the time, “I’d be a butterfly”, the words convey a facetious and resentful tone towards the dominating Family Compact, men who held most of the political. economic and judicial power in the Upper Canada of the day.
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