The
Société des Fils de la Liberté (
Society of the Sons of Liberty) was a
paramilitaryA paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status...
organization founded in August of 1837 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...
(modern-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....
) by young supporters of the Parti patriote who became impatient with the pace of progress of the movement for constitutional and parliamentary reforms. The organization took its name from the American
Sons of LibertyThe Sons of Liberty was a secret organization of American patriots which originated in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. British authorities and their supporters, known as Loyalists, considered the Sons of Liberty as seditious rebels, referring to them as "Sons of Violence" and...
founded by
Samuel AdamsSamuel Adams was a statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism...
during 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 Société des Fils de la Liberté held its first public assembly on September 5 and began to recruit men to form militias.
The
Société des Fils de la Liberté (
Society of the Sons of Liberty) was a
paramilitaryA paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status...
organization founded in August of 1837 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...
(modern-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....
) by young supporters of the Parti patriote who became impatient with the pace of progress of the movement for constitutional and parliamentary reforms. The organization took its name from the American
Sons of LibertyThe Sons of Liberty was a secret organization of American patriots which originated in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. British authorities and their supporters, known as Loyalists, considered the Sons of Liberty as seditious rebels, referring to them as "Sons of Violence" and...
founded by
Samuel AdamsSamuel Adams was a statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism...
during 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 Société des Fils de la Liberté held its first public assembly on September 5 and began to recruit men to form militias. A public assembly was held every Monday after its foundation. It published a manifesto on October 4 and adopted a national anthem for Canada. The organization had two sections: a civil one, led by André Ouimet,
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...
and
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...
and a military one, led by
Thomas Storrow BrownThomas Storrow Brown was a journalist, writer, orator, and revolutionary in Lower Canada .- Biography :...
.
Various organizations had already been formed who pressured the Governor Lord Gosford to act and quell the upcoming rebellion before lives were lost and property destroyed. At the Assemblée des Six-Comtés, on October 23, those in attendance sanctioned the Société des Fils de la Liberté. However, the organization disappeared shortly after the confrontation with the
Doric ClubThe Doric Club was an association of Loyals set up in Lower Canada by Adam Thom, a lawyer and journalist, in March 1836. A noted opponent of the Patriotes, the group was both a social club and a paramilitary organization...
on November 6.
Following the November 16 order to arrest 26 Patriote leaders on charges of sedition, including Papineau, O'Callaghan, Brown and Ouimet, many members of the Société des Fils de la Liberté took part in the armed conflict of 1837 and the two invasion attempts of 1838.
See also
- Doric Club
The Doric Club was an association of Loyals set up in Lower Canada by Adam Thom, a lawyer and journalist, in March 1836. A noted opponent of the Patriotes, the group was both a social club and a paramilitary organization...
- Lower Canada Rebellion
The 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...
- 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
- United Scotsmen
- United Irishmen
- Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a secret organization of American patriots which originated in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. British authorities and their supporters, known as Loyalists, considered the Sons of Liberty as seditious rebels, referring to them as "Sons of Violence" and...
External links