Rebellions of 1837 - Aftermath

Aftermath

Those rebels who were arrested in Upper Canada following the 1837 uprisings were put on trial, with most being found guilty of insurrection against the Crown, and several of the ring-leaders were publicly hanged; most notably Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews. Almost as severe was the sentencing of 100 Canadian rebels and American sympathizers to transportation for life in Australia's prison colonies. The root cause of resentment in Upper Canada was not so much against distant rulers in Britain, but rather against the corruption and injustice by local politicians – the so-called "Family Compact." However, the rebels were not really convicted because their views aligned with the liberalism of the United States, and thus caused some kind of offense to the Tory values of the Canadian colonies. Rather, as revealed in the ruling of Chief Justice Sir John Robinson, a Lockean justification was given for the prisoners' condemnation, and not a Burkean one: the Crown, as protector of the lives, liberty, and prosperity of its subjects could "legitimately demand allegiance to its authority." Robinson went on to say that those who preferred republicanism over monarchism were free to emigrate, and thus the participants in the uprisings were guilty of treason.

After the rebellions died down, more moderate reformers, such as the political partners Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, gained credibility as an alternative voice to the radicals. They proved to be influential when the British government sent Lord Durham, a prominent British reformer, to investigate the cause of the troubles. Among the recommendations in his report was the establishment of responsible government for the colonies, one of the rebels' original demands (although it was not achieved until 1849). Durham also recommended the merging of Upper and Lower Canada into a single political unit, which became the nucleus for modern-day Canada. More controversially, he recommended the government-sponsored assimilation of French Canadians to the English language and culture.