The
Patriote movement was a
political movementA political movement is a social movement in the area of politics. A political movement may be organized around a single issue or set of issues, or around a set of shared concerns of a social group...
that existed in
Lower CanadaThe Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
(present-day
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) from the turning of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent
Act of Union of 1840The Act of Union passed in July 1840 and proclaimed February 10, 1841, abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and established a new political entity, the Province of Canada to replace them...
. It was politically embodied by the Parti patriote at the
Legislative Assembly of Lower CanadaThe Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791...
. The movement was at once a liberal reaction against colonial control of the government of Lower Canada, and a more genreal nationalistic reaction against British presence and domination over what had previously been an exclusivley French territory It was inspired by the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
, the
decolonization of the AmericasDecolonization of the Americas refers to the process by which the countries in the Americas gained their independence from European rule. Decolonization began with a series of revolutions in the late 18th and early to mid-19th centuries...
, as well as the political philosophy of
classical liberalismClassical liberalism is a political ideology that developed by the middle of the nineteenth century in England, western Europe, and the Americas, which provided a coherent vision of how society should be organized. Central to the classical liberalism of the nineteenth century is a commitment to...
.
The
Patriote movement was a
political movementA political movement is a social movement in the area of politics. A political movement may be organized around a single issue or set of issues, or around a set of shared concerns of a social group...
that existed in
Lower CanadaThe Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
(present-day
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) from the turning of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent
Act of Union of 1840The Act of Union passed in July 1840 and proclaimed February 10, 1841, abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and established a new political entity, the Province of Canada to replace them...
. It was politically embodied by the Parti patriote at the
Legislative Assembly of Lower CanadaThe Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791...
. The movement was at once a liberal reaction against colonial control of the government of Lower Canada, and a more genreal nationalistic reaction against British presence and domination over what had previously been an exclusivley French territory It was inspired by the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
, the
decolonization of the AmericasDecolonization of the Americas refers to the process by which the countries in the Americas gained their independence from European rule. Decolonization began with a series of revolutions in the late 18th and early to mid-19th centuries...
, as well as the political philosophy of
classical liberalismClassical liberalism is a political ideology that developed by the middle of the nineteenth century in England, western Europe, and the Americas, which provided a coherent vision of how society should be organized. Central to the classical liberalism of the nineteenth century is a commitment to...
. Among its leading figures were
François BlanchetFrançois Blanchet was a physician, businessman, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud in 1776 and studied at the Petit Séminaire of Quebec. He went on to study medicine with James Fisher and then at Columbia College where he received a...
,
Pierre-Stanislas BédardPierre-Stanislas Bédard was a lawyer, judge, journalist and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Charlesbourg in 1762, descended from French ancestors who had first arrived in New France before 1660. He studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec, articled in law and was called to the bar...
,
John NeilsonJohn Neilson was a Scots-Quebecer editor of the newspaper La Gazette de Québec/The Quebec Gazette and a politician.- Biography :...
,
Jean-Thomas TaschereauJean-Thomas Taschereau can be:* Jean-Thomas Taschereau , Canadian politician and judge* Jean-Thomas Taschereau , Canadian jurist, his son....
, James Stuart,
Louis BourdagesLouis Bourdages was a businessman and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born Louis-Marie Bourdages in Jeune-Lorette, Quebec in 1764, the son of Raymond Bourdages, an Acadian doctor and merchant. Bourdages studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec, where he met Pierre-Stanislas Bédard...
,
Denis-Benjamin VigerDenis-Benjamin Viger was a 19th century Lower Canadian politician, lawyer and businessman.Viger was part of the militia in the early 1800s and then a captain in the War of 1812. He retired from the militia in 1824 with the rank of major.-Biography:Viger was born in Montreal to Denis Viger and...
,
Daniel TraceyDaniel Tracey was born in Roscrea, Tipperary County, Ireland, a doctor, journalist and Canadian politician....
,
Edmund Bailey O'CallaghanEdmund Bailey O'Callaghan, was a doctor and journalist.Born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, he studied medicine in Paris and immigrated to Lower Canada in 1823 where he became involved in the political reform movement of the Parti patriote...
,
Andrew StuartAndrew Stuart was a lawyer and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born at Cataraqui in 1785, the son of Anglican priest John Stuart, and studied with the Reverend John Strachan and then at Union College in New York. He studied law in Lower Canada, was admitted to the bar in 1807 and set up...
,
Wolfred NelsonWolfred Nelson, was from 1854 to 1856 the mayor of Montreal, Quebec. Nelson was born in Montreal the son of William Nelson, an immigrant to Colonial America from Newsham, North Yorkshire, England...
, Robert Nelson,
Thomas Storrow BrownThomas Storrow Brown was a journalist, writer, orator, and revolutionary in Lower Canada .- Biography :...
, François Jalbert and
Louis-Joseph PapineauLouis-Joseph Papineau , born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriot movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838...
. Its ideals were conveyed through the newspapers the
Montreal Vindicator,
Le CanadienLe Canadien was a French language newspaper published in Lower Canada from November 22, 1806 to March 14, 1810. Its motto was: "Nos institutions, notre langue et nos droits"...
, and
La MinerveLa Minerve was a newspaper founded in Montreal, Lower Canada by Augustin-Norbert Morin to promote the political goals of Louis-Joseph Papineau's Parti patriote. It was notably directed by Ludger Duvernay in its earlier years. It existed from 1826 to 1837, and again from 1842 to May 27, 1899...
.
The movement demanded democratic reforms, such as an elected Legislative Council, as opposed to the current council whose members were appointed for life by the British Crown.La Parti Patriotes also sought to place control of the regional budget into the hands of such an elected assembly, thus supporting Lower Canada's position as semi autonomous within the empire. In 1834 Louis-Joseph Papineau drafted the
Ninety-Two ResolutionsThe Ninety-Two Resolutions were drafted by Louis-Joseph Papineau and other members of the Parti patriote of Lower Canada in 1834. The resolutions were a long series of demands for political reforms in the British-governed colony....
to
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
to obtain these and other aims. The Resolutions were in great part denied by the Russell Resolutions, which resulted in a radicalization of the Patriotes and their moving closer to demands of outright
independenceIndependence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty....
and a Lower Canada
republicA republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "a public affair".Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their...
. Many of its followers ended up taking part in an armed insurrection known as the
Lower Canada RebellionThe Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebecers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
which was put down by the British army and its volunteer
militiaThe term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
.
See also
- Québécois
- Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada
The Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada was written in French by the patriot rebel Robert Nelson on February 22, 1838, while in exile in the United States, after the first rebellion of 1837....
- Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was, along with the Lower Canada Rebellion in Lower Canada, a rebellion against the British colonial government in 1837 and 1838. Collectively they are also known as the Rebellions of 1837.-Issues:...
- History of Quebec
Quebec has played a special role in Canadian history; it is the site where French settlers founded the colony of Canada in the 1600s and 1700s...
- Timeline of Quebec history
This article presents a detailed timeline of Quebec history. Events taking place outside Quebec, for example in English Canada, the United States, Britain or France, may be included when they are considered to have had a significant impact on Quebec's history....
- Quebec independence movement
- February 15, 1839
February 15, 1839 is a 1999 Quebec historical drama film. Directed by Pierre Falardeau, it is about the incarceration at the Pied-du-Courant Prison and the execution by hanging there of Patriote participants of the Lower Canada Rebellion...