1791 in Canada
Encyclopedia
Events
- 1791-95 - British Captain George VancouverGeorge VancouverCaptain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
explores Northwest Coast exhaustively with two ships, but finds no Northwest PassageNorthwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
. - Edmund BurkeEdmund BurkeEdmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
supports the proposed constitution for Canada, saying that: "To attempt to amalgamate two populations, composed of races of men diverse in language, laws and habitudes, is a complete absurdity. Let the proposed constitution be founded on man's nature, the only solid basis for an enduring government. - Fox declares that England can retain Canada "through the good will of the Canadians, alone."
- Lord GrenvilleWilliam Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron GrenvilleWilliam Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville PC, PC was a British Whig statesman. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807 as head of the Ministry of All the Talents.-Background :...
, denying that Canadian attachment to French jurisprudence is due to prejudice, says it is founded "on the noblest sentiments of the human breast." - George Vancouver leaves England to explore the west coast; Alejandro Malaspina also explores the northwest coast for Spain.
- In response to LoyalistLoyalist (American Revolution)Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
demands, the Constitutional Act of 1791Constitutional Act of 1791The Constitutional Act of 1791, formally The Clergy Endowments Act, 1791 , is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain...
divides Quebec into Lower CanadaLower CanadaThe Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
(mostly French) and Upper CanadaUpper CanadaThe Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
(mostly English who recently migrated from America). In so doing, the Crown hopes to create a stable society that is distinctly non-American. Although French-Canadians retain the privileges granted by the Quebec ActQuebec ActThe Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec...
, the Anglican church receives preferred status, including the clergy reserves.
An Anglo-French colonial aristocracy of rich merchants, leading officials, and landholders is expected to work with the royal governors to ensure proper order. Legislative assemblies, although elected by propertied voters, have little real power.
- Population of Lower Canada is 160,000. Population of Upper Canada is 14,000.
Births
- January 5 - John BethuneJohn BethuneJohn Bethune was a Canadian Anglican clergyman and acting principal of McGill University from 1835 to 1846.-Biography:...
, Anglican clergyman (d. 18721872 in CanadaEvents from the year 1872 in Canada.-Events:*March 14 - Henry Joseph Clarke becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Marc-Amable Girard*March 25 - The beginning of the Toronto Printers' Strike for a nine-hour day....
) - February 6 - Charles Richard OgdenCharles Richard OgdenCharles Richard Ogden was a Joint Premier of the Province of Canada for Canada East from 1842 with William Henry Draper PM for Canada West. Odgen was a member of the Château Clique....
, Joint Premier of the Province of CanadaJoint Premiers of the Province of CanadaJoint Premiers of the Province of Canada were the leaders of the Province of Canada, from the 1841 unification of Upper Canada and Lower Canada until Confederation in 1867....
(d. 18661866 in CanadaSee also:1865 in Canada,other events of 1866,1867 in Canada.----Events from the year 1866 in Canada.-Events:*May–June - The 1866 New Brunswick election...
) - July 26 - Sir John Robinson, 1st Baronet, of TorontoSir John Robinson, 1st Baronet, of TorontoSir John Beverley Robinson, 1st Baronet CB, was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Upper Canada.Robinson was born in 1791 at Berthier, Lower Canada, the son of Christopher Robinson, a United Empire Loyalist of one of the First Families of Virginia, whose grandfather came there in 1641 as...
, lawyer, judge and political figure (d. 18631863 in CanadaSee also:1862 in Canada,other events of 1863,1864 in Canada.----Events from the year 1863 in Canada.-Governors:*Governor General of the Province of Canada — Charles Monck, 4th Viscount Monck*Colonial Governor of Newfoundland — Alexander Bannerman...
) - November 28 - John CookJohn Cook (Ontario politician)John Cook was a merchant and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West.He was born on what was later known as Crysler's Farm in Williamsburgh Township in Upper Canada in 1791; he later sold that property to John Crysler. He served with the militia during the War of 1812 and fought at the...
, politician ontarian (d. 18771877 in CanadaSee also:1876 in Canada,other events of 1877,1878 in Canada.----Events from the year 1877 in Canada.-Full date unknown:*Charles Alphonse Pantaléon Pelletier appointed Minister of Agriculture and called to the Senate of Canada...
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