William Lyon Mackenzie Calls for Independence from Britain
William Lyon Mackenzie needs to be talked about more, especially in this day in age. He’s absolutely fascinating, but so complicated he can’t be boiled down to a few hundred words. But, here goes nothing, anyway.
Hello, and welcome to On This Date, Some Years Back. Today is November 22, 2017, and on this date, 180 years back, William Lyon Mackenzie published “To The People Of Upper Canada” in which he incited a rebellion for independence from Britain.
William Lyon Mackenzie was born in Scotland in 1795, but moved to Canada as a young man. In Montreal, he began a career as a journalist writing for the Montreal Herald, but soon moved to York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario) where he wrote for the York Observer.
In 1824, Mackenzie started his own paper, the Colonial Advocate which was attacked by political adversaries. Mackenzie sued the vandals and through the trial achieved more fame than he had previously enjoyed.
With his newfound renown, Mackenzie became even more politically outspoken. He believed in a Reform Movement predicated on bestowing full British citizenship to American-born settlers in British Canada, among other issues. In 1829, Mackenzie rode a wave of Reformer support to a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, his first political office.
During his time in the Assembly, Mackenzie found himself at the mercy of his Tory rivals, and was even expelled by the body, only to re-elected by the voters.
In case it’s not clear enough, William Lyon Mackenzie was an unconventional politician, and a trouble maker.
In 1834, York township consolidated into a city, adopting the site’s older name, Toronto, because York was already used in dozens of places all over North America, including New York. Shortly after consolidation, Mackenzie was elected as an alderman, and then the City Council elected him mayor. Being the first mayor of Toronto, is one of his major claims to fame.
All the while, Mackenzie continued to push and push for reforms, with little success. He grew increasingly disgruntled with British rule. Mackenzie lost in the 1836 Assembly election, and went back to journalism.
He launched a brand new paper, the Constitution on July 4, and used it as a platform to continue his pursuit of legislative reforms. Over the the next year, the Reform movement grew, and British rule made enough mistakes to fan the flames.
In early November, 1837, Lower Canada (modern day Quebec) launched an armed rebellion against British rule, over many of the same grievances that Mackenzie and Upper Canada shared.
On November 15, Mackenzie published a draft of a Constitution for an independent Upper Canada in his paper. One week later, he published an open letter calling on his supporters to openly rebel.
And they did.
On December 7, 1837, Mackenzie led forces against British forces and Canadian Loyalists in the Battle of Montgomery’s Tavern. Mackenzie’s men surrendered almost immediately after seeing what they were up against.
Mackenzie and other leaders of the movement escaped capture, and took up residence in New York, where they declared the Republic of Canada independent from Britain. He was also named the first President of the Republic of Canada, operating as a government in exile. This would only last until January 1838.
His actions in America violated neutrality laws, and thus he was tried and sentenced to 18 months in jail. After his release, Mackenzie remained in America for over a decade, before returning to Canada for the last 12 years of his life.
He would return to the legislature from 1851–1858, and he remained a high-profile and influential person until his death in 1861.
While the Upper Canada Rebellion was an abject failure in terms of gaining independence, it did lead to the British government taking more care to govern Canada responsibly to keep the populace happy and prevent more rebellions.
Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back tomorrow for one of the most influential defenses of freedom of speech from a time and place you wouldn’t expect.
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