Act of Union 1840

Political organization under the Union Act (1840)

Political organization under the Union Act (1848)

Lord Durham wanted to re-instate peace throughout the colonies and recommended a political union. It was under his belief that peace could best be achieved by ensuring a loyal English majority in British North America, as well as by anglicizing French Canadians, and by granting responsible government.[6] The union was also proposed to solve pressing financial issues in Upper Canada, which had become increasingly indebted [7] under the previous regime dominated by the Family Compact. These debts stemmed mostly from poor investments in canals[8] connecting Upper Canada to the Port of Montreal in Lower Canada via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Due to Upper Canada's considerable debt and chronic budget shortfalls, it was hoped that its finances could be salvaged by merging it with the then-solvent Lower Canada.

Upper Canada, with its British and Protestant majority, was growing more rapidly than Lower Canada, with the French-Canadian and Catholic majority. It was hoped that by merging the two colonies, the French-Canadian cultural presence in North America would gradually disappear through assimilation. As such, the act also contained measures banning the French language from official use in the Canadian parliament. However, despite the amalgamation, the distinct legal systems of the two colonies were retained with Upper Canada becoming referred to as Canada West (with English common law) and Lower Canada as Canada East (with French civil law). In Upper Canada, there was opposition to unionization from the Family Compact, while in Lower Canada political and religious leaders reacted against Upper Canada's anti-French measures.[2]

The act established a single parliament with an equal number of seats for each region, now called Canada East and Canada West. Both regions’ debts were consolidated. A permanent Civil List was created. The French language was banished from official government use.

The legislation to fuse the two separate colonies into one functioning unit that would operate under one government instead of two separate legislatures was brought before the British House of Commons in May 1839.[2] Later the legislation was sent for approval by both Upper and Lower Canada by way of Charles Poulett Thomson. He received acceptance of the legislation by both colonies in November and December of the same year. The legislation then became an act in July 1840 when passed by the British Parliament. On the 10 of February 1841, it was declared in Montreal, officially marking the beginning of the newly formed Province of Canada. The capital was moved to Kingston.

One of the main provisions of the act was establishing a single parliament with an equal number of seats per region. 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. The French-Canadian majority, as well as numerous anglophones, considered this an injustice. In Lower Canada, Louis-Joseph Papineau demanded representation by population and the recall of the union the minute he entered the new parliament of the united Canadas. Debts from Upper and Lower Canada were also combined and transferred to the Province of Canada.

The granting of responsible government to the colony is typically attributed to reforms in 1848 (principally the effective transfer of control over patronage from the governor to the elected ministry). The reforms resulted in the appointment of the second Baldwin-Lafontaine government that quickly removed many of the disabilities on French-Canadian political participation in the colony.

By the late 1850s, massive immigration from the British Isles to Canada West changed the previous demographic imbalance between the English and French sections 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.

In the end, the Act of Union failed at shutting down French Canadian political influence, especially after responsible government was granted to the colony. By voting en bloc the francophones of Canada East guaranteed a strong, unified presence in the Legislative Assembly since the anglophones of Canada West were highly factionalized. As a result, bills proposed by one of the anglophone Canada West factions required the support of the francophone Canada East votes to be passed. That was known as the double majority principle and reflected the duality of the two administrations. The principle was never officially recognized and became obviously impracticable.[9]

However, the francophone presence remained inferior to their demographic weight in the executive and legislative councils. The government of Lafontaine-Baldwin succeeded in repealing the measure against the French language in the assembly, the courts, and the civil administration. With the double majority principle, both Canadas were "reseparated," and for a short while, both sides were managed independently. Joint premierships shared by an anglophone from Canada West and a francophone from Canada East became the convention, but continual legislative deadlock resulting from the conflicting aspirations of the two Canadas remained. Dissatisfaction resulting from the deadlock was one of the main factors for Canadian Confederation in 1867.

• Constitutional history of Canada
• History of Quebec
• Lower Canada Rebellion
• Quebec nationalism
• History of Canada
• Unionville, Ontario – named after Union Mills which was named by Ira White after the act

• Full text of the act
• Canada in the Making, 1839–1849: Union and Responsible Government
• Image of the act on the UK Parliamentary website
• "Editorial: Act of Union". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. January 28, 2016.
• "Timeline: Act of Union". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada.