Upper and lower canada

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Differences between Upper Canada and Lower Canada There are many differences and similarities between Upper and Lower Canada. It is important to note from the beginning that the two have a different history.

Upper Canada was founded from people primarily from Britain. It was a nation of merchants. Commerce was the number one concern of the leaders of Upper Canada. Lower Canada in contrast was made up of mainly French people, they were farmers and lived a life very different of people of Upper Canada. The Catholic Church was very important in their lives . The religion in Upper Canada was mostly Protestant, it did not have the power the Roman Catholic Church had on its people. In Lower Canada the Catholic Church worried about violence and also worried about losing large gifts of lands tried to stop the rebellion ( some claim that this involvement led to the failure of the rebellion).

In churches people would be reminded that blue was for heaven and red for hell in reference to blue the colors of the conservative Tories The rebellion in Upper Canada was fueled by a desire to gain independence from Britain. The assemblies had very little powers comparing to the Colonial Office and governors. The rebels felt they should follow the example of the American to the South. In Lower Canada some of the same reasons may be true but here there is more conflict, the French feel there leaders are spending their money on roads and canals for the English merchants. They feel dominated by English leaders and are afraid to lose their culture. The similarities are found in the unhappiness of the people of both Canadas with the political structure, but the differences are much bigger. In Lower Canada, it is a conflict of people wanting to keep their way of life, their religion, their language and wanting to make their own decisions. This is shown by the force of the French rebellion. A professor in the province of Quebec shows us the force of the rebellion in Lower Canada: 99 condamnés à mort ; 8 exilés aux Bermudes ; 58 en Australie ; 7000 combattants en 1837 ; 7750 en 38 ; 325 personnes mortes sur le champs de bataille ; 3 villages rasés ; 1700 prisonniers ; environ 3000 réfugiers aux États-Unis, 12 pendus et suspension de la constitution et des libertés démocratiques pour quatre ans. 1700 prisonniers dans un Bas-Canada de 630 000 habitants c'est, en proportion de la population, comme si on avait incarcéré 17 000 personnes lors des événements d'octobre 1970, soit 30 fois plus. Voilà qui donne la juste mesure à ces événements. La plus vaste opération policière de l'histoire du Québec.

Les Patriotes : à quoi ça sert. C'est en tout cas un véritable modèle de mobilisation populaire, sans égal dans notre histoire, qui a conduit ce peuple, vaincu par la Conquête, 70 ans plus tôt, à se soulever d'un bloc, au péril de son existence, pour réclamer certains droits ma foi très élevés.

Bien que confiné au district de Montréal, cette mobilisation fut massive et intense, en particulier au sud de la province où, dans des villages comme L'Acadie ou Napierville, la majorité des hommes adultes auraient participé à des affrontements armés. Si on oublie la pétitions signée par 87 000 personnes en 1834 en faveur des 92 Résolutions, les milliers de personnes qui participent aux grandes assemblées populaires, on a le nom de plus de 6400 individu participant à des activités partisanes comme telles : comité, associations, délégués à des conventions et pas moins de 10 000 hommes participant de fait aux actions armées.

The uprising in Upper Canada was a short lived wish to gain independence from Britain, in Lower Canada it was a revolution of a people beaten seventy years before. We see some of the same problems today in Canada, people in English Canada wonder why we have a Queen and maybe we should not , but in Quebec what the patriots were fighting for, the need to keep culture and language, people are still fighting for. In French Canada, there are patriots in the last century and today. This is a very big difference.