Patriote movement
Encyclopedia
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Political movement
A political movement is a social movement in the area of politics. A political movement may be organized around a single issue or set of issues, or around a set of shared concerns of a social group...
that existed in 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....
) from the turning of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent Act of Union of 1840
Act of Union 1840
The Act of Union, formally the The British North America Act, 1840 , was enacted in July 1840 and proclaimed 10 February 1841. It abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and established a new political entity, the Province of Canada to replace them...
. It was politically embodied by the Parti patriote at 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...
. The movement was at once a liberal reaction against colonial control of the government of Lower Canada, and a more general nationalistic reaction against British presence and domination over what had previously been an exclusivley French territory It was inspired by the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, the decolonization of the Americas
Decolonization of the Americas
Decolonization of the Americas refers to the process by which the countries in the Americas gained their independence from European rule. Decolonization began with a series of revolutions in the late 18th and early to mid-19th centuries...
, as well as the political philosophy of classical liberalism
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
. Among its leading figures were François Blanchet
François Blanchet (physician)
François Blanchet was a physician, businessman, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud in 1776 and studied at the Petit Séminaire of Quebec. He went on to study medicine with James Fisher and then at Columbia College where he received a...
, Pierre-Stanislas Bédard
Pierre-Stanislas Bédard
Pierre-Stanislas Bédard was a lawyer, judge, journalist and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Charlesbourg in 1762, descended from French ancestors who had first arrived in New France before 1660. He studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec, articled in law and was called to the bar...
, John Neilson
John Neilson
John Neilson was a Scots-Quebecer editor of the newspaper La Gazette de Québec/The Quebec Gazette and a politician.- Biography :...
, Jean-Thomas Taschereau
Jean-Thomas Taschereau
Jean-Thomas Taschereau may refer to:* Jean-Thomas Taschereau , Canadian politician and judge* Jean-Thomas Taschereau , Canadian jurist, his son...
, James Stuart, Louis Bourdages
Louis Bourdages
Louis Bourdages was a businessman and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born Louis-Marie Bourdages in Jeune-Lorette, Quebec in 1764, the son of Raymond Bourdages, an Acadian doctor and merchant. Bourdages studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec, where he met Pierre-Stanislas Bédard...
, Denis-Benjamin Viger
Denis-Benjamin Viger
Denis-Benjamin Viger was a 19th century Lower Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, and Patriote movement member.Viger was part of the militia in the early 19th century and then a captain in the War of 1812...
, Daniel Tracey
Daniel Tracey
Daniel Tracey born in Roscrea, Tipperary County, Ireland, was a doctor, journalist and Canadian politician.He arrived in the Province of Lower Canada with his younger siblings in 1825.-The Vindicator:...
, Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, was a doctor and journalist.Born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, he studied medicine in Paris and immigrated to Lower Canada in 1823 where he became involved in the political reform movement of the Parti patriote...
, Andrew Stuart
Andrew Stuart (Canadian politician)
Andrew Stuart was a lawyer and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born at Cataraqui in 1785, the son of Anglican priest John Stuart, a United Empire Loyalist, and studied with the Reverend John Strachan and then at Union College in New York...
, 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...
, Robert Nelson, Thomas Storrow Brown
Thomas Storrow Brown
Thomas Storrow Brown was a journalist, writer, orator, and revolutionary in Lower Canada .- Biography :...
, François Jalbert and 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...
. Its ideals were conveyed through the newspapers the Montreal Vindicator, Le Canadien
Le Canadien
Le Canadien was a French language newspaper published in Lower Canada from November 22, 1806 to March 14, 1810. Its motto was: "Nos institutions, notre langue et nos droits"...
, and La Minerve
La Minerve
La Minerve was a newspaper founded in Montreal, Lower Canada by Augustin-Norbert Morin to promote the political goals of Louis-Joseph Papineau's Parti patriote. It was notably directed by Ludger Duvernay in its earlier years. It existed from 1826 to 1837, and again from 1842 to May 27, 1899...
.
The movement demanded democratic reforms, such as an elected Legislative Council, as opposed to the current council whose members were appointed for life by the British Crown. Le Parti Patriotes also sought to place control of the regional budget into the hands of such an elected assembly, thus supporting Lower Canada's position as semi autonomous within the empire. In 1834 Louis-Joseph Papineau drafted 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....
to 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...
to obtain these and other aims. The Resolutions were in great part denied by the Russell Resolutions, which resulted in a radicalization of the Patriotes and their moving closer to demands of outright independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
and a Lower Canada republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
. Many of its followers ended up taking part in an armed insurrection known as 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...
which was put down by the British army and its volunteer militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
.
See also
- QuébécoisFrench-speaking QuebecerFrench-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
- Declaration of Independence of Lower CanadaDeclaration of Independence of Lower CanadaThe Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada was written in French by the patriot rebel Robert Nelson on February 22, 1838, while in exile in the United States, after the first rebellion of 1837....
- Upper Canada RebellionUpper Canada RebellionThe Upper Canada Rebellion was, along with the Lower Canada Rebellion in Lower Canada, a rebellion against the British colonial government in 1837 and 1838. Collectively they are also known as the Rebellions of 1837.-Issues:...
- History of QuebecHistory of QuebecQuebec has played a special role in Canadian history; it is the site where French settlers founded the colony of Canada in the 17th and 18th centuries.-Paleoindian Era :...
- Timeline of Quebec historyTimeline of Quebec historyThis article presents a detailed timeline of Quebec history. Events taking place outside Quebec, for example in English Canada, the United States, Britain or France, may be included when they are considered to have had a significant impact on Quebec's history....
- Quebec independence movement
- February 15, 1839February 15, 1839February 15, 1839 is a 2001 Quebec historical drama film. Directed by Pierre Falardeau, it is about the incarceration at the Pied-du-Courant Prison and the execution by hanging there of Patriote participants of the Lower Canada Rebellion...