C. The Colony of Lower Canada

From HCO Jr

Part 4. British North America 1760-1830 → A. American Revolution → B. Coming of the Loyalists → C. Colony of Lower Canada → D. Colony of Upper Canada → E. War of 1812

Lower Canada after 1791

When the Constitutional Act divided Quebec into two colonies (Upper and Lower Canada) it divided the colony into two very different groups. Lower Canada was larger than Upper Canada in terms of population. In 1790 almost 160,000 people lived in Lower Canada. There were three large towns as well: Quebec, Montreal and Trois-Rivières. In comparison Upper Canada was a small, undeveloped colony.

Lower Canada continued to grow after 1791. It underwent many changes that affected it later. This chapter will outline how Lower Canada's economy and society changed after 1791.

The level of literacy grew. In 1777, the first entirely French newspaper in Canada appeared in Montreal, 'La Gazette de commerce et litteraire', edited by Fleury Mesplet. The paper survived for only one year, when it was succeeded by a bilingual news sheet, the Literary Gazette (Gazette Littéraire), which eventually became the Montreal Gazette. In 1778, the first public library in Canada was founded at Quebec with 1, 815 volumes, and the larger towns and cities began to sprout book stores and newspapers. The Catholic Church was not entirely pleased - in 1792, Mgr. Hubert complained of undesirable books - des mauvais livres - circulating in Quebec. In 1792, Canada's first magazine, The Quebec Magazine, appeared in Montreal.

New Industries

Coteau du Lac Canal - c1800

Many new industries started in Lower Canada long before they appeared in Upper Canada or the Maritime colonies. This happened because there were already wealthy business people in Lower Canada's three major towns. There was enough money for people to invest to start new businesses.

Business people put pressure on the government of Lower Canada to create better business conditions. One thing that everyone wanted was better transportation. The best business locations were right on the St. Lawrence River. It made transporting heavy goods very easy. People with businesses or warehouses further back from the river did not have this benefit. They asked the government to build canals that connected to the St. Lawrence River.

Quebec and Montreal were also important trading towns. They were both located on the St. Lawrence. Large docks allowed ships from Britain and other countries to arrive in these towns and trade. In comparison, the small settlement of York on Lake Ontario was far away.

John Molson

The first lock canal was built in Lower Canada in 1780. The first Canadian stock exchange was also started in that same year. In 1786, John Molson started a small brewery in Montreal to make beer. This small business eventually grew until it became Molson Breweries.

Philemon Wright & First Timber Raft on the Ottawa River

A very important trade started in Lower Canada: the sale of white pine timber. White pine trees grow very tall and straight. They were needed by the British navy and British shipyards to build new ships. Lower Canada was one of the best places to get these timbers.

In 1806 an American lumber dealer, Philemon Wright, began to hire farmers to cut down white pine trees in Gatineau (on the French side of the Ottawa River - today it is the city of Hull). The trees were cut down, and then sawed into squares with large hand saws. They were tied together to form rafts, and men would steer them down the Ottawa River to the St. Lawrence River. From there they were floated all the way to Quebec City. The logs (called square timbers) were loaded on to ships bound for Britain.

Molson Launches The Accomodation

As Lower Canada grew, and certain people began to become wealthier, there was a growing demand for nicer things. One thing that most people did not like was travel. Roads in all of the colonies were not very good. Traveling by water was easier, but very slow. On August 19, 1809, brewer/banker John Molson (1764-1836) launched his wooden paddle steamboat 'Accomodation'.

It was driven by a steam engine which was a recent invention. This meant that the boat did not rely on either the wind to move it or men to paddle or push the boat. This steamboat could carry ten people from Montreal to Quebec City and back in three days. Usually that trip took seven days. Today, you can drive from Montreal to Quebec City and back in a few hours. In 1809 people thought that three days of travel between Montreal and Quebec City was a very fast trip.

Soon there were many steamboats on the St. Lawrence River. They carried passengers and goods between the towns. An important part of business and industry is transporting good very quickly. The development of a steamboat business was proof that Lower Canada's economy was growing.

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Lower Canada's First Assembly

First Quebec Assembly Meets

On December 17, 1792, the first Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada met in the Bishop's Palace in Quebec City. Jean-Antoine Panet was elected first President (Speaker). This was an important choice. Panet favoured wanted to keep the French language in the assembly, and he made sure French assembly members could speak French in the Legislative Assembly.

This assembly dealt with some very important issues during its first few years. These issues might seem a little odd to people today because they are not problems today. For example, one of the first issues the Assembly dealt with was slavery. In 1793, the Assembly voted to prohibit the importation of slaves into Lower Canada. Wealthy people in Lower Canada, however, did nto want to give up their slaves. If they could not bring new slaves into the colony they would trade the slaves they already had. On August 23, 1797, Emanuel Allen was sold at a public auction in Montreal. He was the last salve sold in Canada.

There were people in Lower Canada who wanted slavery to end. However, in 1804 a bill to abolish slavery in Lower Canada was not passed by the assembly. Finally, in 1807, the British Parliament abolished the slave trade entirely in the Empire. Slaves could not be bought and sold anywhere in the British Empire.

Ezekiel Hart

There was still prejudice in the colony. For example, in January, 1807, Ezekiel Hart was elected to the Legislative Assembly. Hart was Jewish not Christian. At that time there was a great deal of prejudice towards the Jewish people and their religion. Hart was not allowed to take his seat in the Assembly because of his religion. Hart was re-elected in 1808, but he was expelled from the Assembly. As a new member he had to take an oath. Part of that oath was promising to be a good Christian. Hart put in the word "Jew" for "Christian."

In 1795, the Assembly made it legal for all churches in Lower Canada to perform marriages. Until then only the Roman Catholic and the Anglican Church (Church of England) could perform marriages in the colony. After the American Revolution, and the arrival of the loyalists, people from other churches arrived in Lower Canada. These people belonged to the Methodist, Baptist or Presbyterian Churches. The government had to respond to this and allow these churches to marry people.

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Life in the Cities

There were three major centres in Lower Canada, but of these the two most important were Montreal and Quebec. During the first few decades these two cities only became larger. The entire population of Lower Canada grew. In 1790 there were 160,000 people in Lower Canada. By 1851 the population had grown to 890,000 people.

By the 1830s Montreal had a population of 37,000. This is not large by modern standards. Today's modern cities contain millions of people. However, Montreal was one of the largest cities in North America in the 1830s. Quebec was almost as big as Montreal.

Both of the cities had busy ports. Ships from all over the British Empire and eastern North America docked at Quebec and Montreal. This brough wealth into both cities. People moved to these two cities to find work.

Living conditions in both cities were not very good for the poor and the workers. They lived in small homes or rooms. More than one person would share a single room. People did not have running water or toilets in their house. Several buildings full of people would use a common outhouse and well for their water. Streets were very narrow, and people would throw their household garbage into the streets. There was no garbage pick up like there is in modern cities. Garbage would pile up in the streets.

Some people did not have access to an outhouse. They had pots in their house that they used as a bathroom. When the pots were full they emptied them into the streets. When it rained this waste would be carried by the rainwater into peoples' drinking wells.

These conditions led to disease. One very horrible disease is cholera. It is a bacteria that lives in human waste. People catch cholera by drinking water contaminated by human waste. Cholera can kill people very quickly, sometimes in two days. There was no cure for cholera then. Everyone was afraid of cholera.

In 1832 the first cholera epidemic hit Quebec. There were no public hospitals in Quebec. Sick people died quickly. Bodies were taken from peoples homes and buried quickly. No one knew that cholera was caused by drinking contaminated water. Some people burned wood and other material in front of their homes. They thought the smoke would keep cholera away from their families. They did not know that their drinking water was the cause.

Eventually cholera spread to Montreal. By October, 1832, over 7500 people in Montreal and Quebec died of the disease. People left their homes for the countryside. They thought they could get away from the disease. However, they only brought it with them and infected the water in the countryside.

Fire and Cities

Another serious danger for cities was fire. This was true not just in Lower Canada but in many parts of the world. Most of the buildings in Montreal, Quebec (and in other cities) were made of wood. It was cheaper to build with wood than with stone or brick.

People also used a lot of open flame in their homes. They used wood burning stoves and fireplaces to heat their houses and cook their food. They used candles and lamps to light their homes. A simple accident with fire in a house could quickly become a disaster.

Cities did not have water like cities do today. People relied on well water. There was no water piped around the cities. There were no fire hydrants for people to use. There were also no fire departments. If a fire started the local people in the area used buckets of water to try and stop the fire.

Sometimes fires became so large that they destroyed large portions of a city. In July, 1852 a fire destroyed a large part of Montreal. About 10,000 people were left homeless. Luckily no one was killed.

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The Catholic Church in Lower Canada

The Catholic Church had a lot of power in Lower Canada. Not everyone was a very religious person. Some people did not go to Church often, and some did not like the priests and nuns. Other people were very religious.

Church leaders tried to increase their power over the new colony. After the Conquest in 1763 the Catholic Church in Quebec had a serious problem: a lack of priests and nuns. There were only about 300 priests in the colony in 1837. However, there was about 500,000 people living in Lower Canada.

The Catholic Church had some schools built. They were called classical colleges. Wealthy French families sent their sons there to be educated. Some of the sons became lawyers, doctors and business people. However, the teachers at these schools (who were all Jesuit priests) encouraged students to become priests.

The boys who did not become priests started to form a new middle class in Lower Canada. They were no longer farmers like their fathers. They lived in cities, read newspapers, followed politics, and were well educated. As these boys became older, and started their careers, some went into politics. Now that they were well educated they began to complain about how the government of Lower Canada was run. Over time this anger led to rebellion.

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