Act+of+Union+1840-41

=**__Act of Union 1840-41__**=

The act of British Parliament passed July 1840 and proclaimed February 10, 1841 uniting Upper Canada and Lower Canada under one government. The Act of Union’s main provisions were the establishment of a single parliament with equal representation from each constituent section; consolidation of debt; a permanent civil list; banishment of the French language from official government use; and suspension of specific French Canadian institutions relating to education and civil law.



The act was inspired by Lord Durham’s report. Lord Durham was sent to the colonies to examine the causes of the Rebellions of 1837 in both Upper and Lower Canada. The union was created to solve pressing financial issues in Upper Canada, which was mostly broke, thanks to the mismanagement of the amateur Family Compact. Mostly through poor investments in canals that had benefited the port of Montreal, the government of Upper Canada had a budget short fall and was deeply in debt. They had hoped its finances could recover by merging it with the still-solvent Lower Canada.



The new, merged colony was named the Province of Canada and the seat of government was moved to Kingston by Lord Sydenham. Upper Canada became officially known as Canada west and Lower Canada was Canada East. Canada West with its 450,000 inhabitants, was represented by 42 seats in the legislative Assembly, the same number as the more-populated Canada East, with 650,000 inhabitants. In Lower Canada, Louis Joseph Papineau demanded representation by population and the recall of the union the minute he entered the new parliament of United Canada.

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By late 1850’s, a massive immigration from the British Isles to Canada West changed the previous demographic imbalance between the English and French section of the colony. Many politicians in Canada West began to lobby for representation by population as they no longer considered the equal representation mandated by the Act of Union to be just.=====

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At last the Act of Union failed at shutting down Francophone’s (the French) political influence, especially after responsible government was granted to the colony. By voting //en bloc// while the Anglophone’s of Canada West were highly factionalized, the Francophone’s of Canada East guaranteed a strong, unified French Canadian presence in the legislative assembly. However, their presence remained inferior to the demographic weight in the executive and legislative councils.=====

The government of the Lafontaine-Baldwin succeeded in repealing the measure against the French language in the assembly, in the courts, and in the civil administration. With the double majority principle, west and east Canada "reseparated" and for a short will, both sides were managed independently. After the Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 in Upper Canada and Lower Canada, the British government sent Lord Durham to study the political situation in the British North American colonies. In his report, Lord Durham recommended that the two Canadian provinces be united to form a single province. United Canada was born, and consisted of Canada East (modern-day Québec) and Canada West (modern-day Ontario). The Act of Union was confirmed on July 23, 1840, by Queen Victoria and came into effect on February 10, 1841. The Act of Union was the main reason for the political instability that reigned in United Canada until 1867. The Union gave equal representation to both parts of the colony. Some members of the political elite both Francophone and Anglophone were calling for "rep by pop" (representation by population). The situation eventually became intolerable, and led to the Great Coalition in 1864, and ultimately to Confederation in 1867.