Assembly of the Six Counties - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Assembly of the Six Counties (in French: Assemblée des six-comtés) was an assembly of Patriote leaders and approximately 6,000 followers held in Saint-Charles

Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, Quebec

Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu is a municipality in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 1,742.-Population:Population trend...

, Lower Canada

Lower Canada

The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

(present-day Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

) on October 23 and October 24, 1837, despite the June 15 Proclamation of the government forbidding public assemblies.

Presided by Wolfred Nelson

Wolfred Nelson

Wolfred Nelson, was from 1854 to 1856 the mayor of Montreal, Quebec.- Biography :Nelson was born in Montreal the son of William Nelson, an immigrant to Colonial America from Newsham, North Yorkshire, England...

, it is the most famous of the various public assemblies

Patriote popular assemblies

The Patriote popular assemblies gathered supporters and leaders of the Patriote movement and the Parti patriote in 1837 Lower Canada. The assemblies, concentrated in the Montreal and Montérégie region, saw votes on resolutions and speeches of some of Lower Canada's most reputed orators.- History...

held during that year protesting the Russell Resolutions. It is a prelude to the Lower Canada Rebellion

Lower Canada Rebellion

The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...

of 1837. The "six counties" refer to Richelieu

Richelieu, Quebec

Richelieu is a city in Rouville Regional County Municipality, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 5,208...

, Rouville

Rouville

Rouville may refer to the following places:* Rouville, Oise, a commune in the Oise department, France* Rouville, Seine-Maritime, a commune in the Seine-Maritime department, France...

, Saint-Hyacinthe, Chambly

Chambly, Quebec

Chambly is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada, about to the south east of Montreal.- Geography :It sits on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La-Vallée-du-Richelieu, at .-History:...

, Verchères and L'Acadie.

History

The Ninety-Two Resolutions

Ninety-Two Resolutions

The Ninety-Two Resolutions were drafted by Louis-Joseph Papineau and other members of the Parti patriote of Lower Canada in 1834. The resolutions were a long series of demands for political reforms in the British-governed colony....

of the Patriotes had demanded Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

democratic reforms for Lower Canada. They had been mostly denied by the Russell Resolutions, which sparked a number of assemblies of protest in 1837. The Saint-Charles assembly was attended by 13 members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada

The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791...

. On the field, a column, the Colonne de la liberté

Colonne de la liberté (Quebec)

The Colonne de la liberté was a symbol of the Patriote movement erected in Saint-Charles, Lower Canada on October 23, 1937. Its name is identical to the column that marked the history of the French Revolution...

, had been raised with the inscription "À Papineau ses compatriotes reconnaissants" ("To Papineau his thankful compatriots"). A replica, inaugurated in 1982, stands today on the site.

It saw the speeches of the likes of Louis-Joseph Papineau

Louis-Joseph Papineau

Louis-Joseph Papineau , born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. His father was Joseph Papineau, also a famous politician in Quebec...

and Wolfred Nelson. Papineau advocated the pursuit of the constitutional struggle through economic boycott

Boycott

A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...

s of British products while Nelson and Doctor Cyrille Côté supported an armed uprising. "I claim the time has come to melt our spoons to make bullets", thundered Nelson. Étienne Parent

Étienne Parent

Étienne Parent was a Canadian journalist and government official.He was editor of the newspaper Le Canadien and, as such, supported French Canadian journalism and writing...

also spoke and supported non-forceful methods. The assembly voted a number of resolutions, as did the other 1837 assemblies. They notably proclaimed human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

, refused to recognize the new Executive Council of Lower Canada

Executive Council of Lower Canada

The Executive Council of Lower Canada was an appointive body created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. Its function was to advise the Governor or his representative on the administration of the colony's public affairs...

and approved the Société des fils de la liberté

Société des Fils de la Liberté

The Société des Fils de la Liberté was a paramilitary organization founded in August of 1837 in Lower Canada by young supporters of the Parti patriote who became impatient with the pace of progress of the movement for constitutional and parliamentary reforms...

. They did not mention the use of force.

This event prompted the negative reaction of the Lower Canada Church. At a banquet in honour of Bishop Ignace Bourget

Ignace Bourget

Ignace Bourget was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several courses of religious study, and in 1837 was named co-adjutor bishop of the newly...

(himself one of the relatively rare clerics in favour of the Patriotes), Bishop Jean-Jacques Lartigue

Jean-Jacques Lartigue

Jean-Jacques Lartigue was a Canadian Roman Catholic who served as the first Bishop of Montreal. He was the only son of a noted Montreal family...

declared: "Never is it permitted to transgress laws of to revolt against the legitimate authority under which people have the joy of living". Three weeks after the assembly, an arrest warrant

Arrest warrant

An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....

for Patriote leaders was issued by the government.

History

See also