Lauryn Essay

Submitted By lolobarr
Words: 1294
Pages: 6
Open Document
Government Structure in British North America

Lauryn Barr

The structure of today’s government in Canada is the result of a series of changes influenced by the needs of the different regions or provinces and their desire to influence decision making concerning the development of the country, its laws and system of government.
These changes have continued to evolve for more than 200 years with the balance of power being divided along federal and provincial lines.
A significant starting point for looking at Canada’s evolution as an independent country and a former colony of Britain is June 10, 1791 with the signing of the Constitution Act. This Act resulted in the former Province of Quebec being divided into two distinct provinces, the
Province of Lower Canada (present­day Quebec) and Province of Upper Canada
(present­day Ontario). Each province was given an elected Legislative Assembly, an appointed Legislative Council, and an appointed Executive Council. Upper and Lower Canada however, both had significant differences in their administration.
Upper Canada was administered by a lieutenant Governor appointed by the Governor
General and Lower Canada was to be administered by a Direct Representative of the
Governor General. The membership of each of the councils was also different. The
Legislative Councils were to be established with no fewer than seven members in Upper
Canada and fifteen members in Lower Canada. The members were to hold their seat for life.
The Legislative Assembly was to be established with no less than sixteen members in Upper
Canada and fifty members in Lower Canada. The Governor General was given the power to appoint the speaker of the Legislative Assembly, to fix the time and place of the elections and to give or withhold assent to bills. This division ensured that Loyalists would constitute a majority in Upper Canada and allow for the application of exclusively British laws in this province. Changes also took place to allow for the coexistence of French civil law and English criminal law in Lower Canada.
Although these changes were important to the beginning of granting some independence from
Britain, and helped solve some of the immediate problems related to the settlement of the
Loyalists in Canada, the new constitution brought a whole new set of political problems.
Those problems were basically due to the fact that the Legislative Assemblies of the provinces did not have full control over the revenues of the provinces and the appointed
Executive and Legislative Councils were not responsible to the elected Legislative
Assembly.This led to a movement to reform the constitution.
The reformers from each province viewed the structure of government as illegitimate.
French­Canadians in Lower Canada and Loyalists and immigrants from the United States in
Upper Canada were not satisfied with the granting of elected assemblies and wanted control as well. The conservative groups around the Governors resisted. This started a cycle of hostility and frustration. Those seeking change in Upper Canada led a group calling itself the
Reform movement. These men called for "responsible government," a term which became popular in the 1830s. With responsible government, the Reformers thought, government could be more efficient and power would rest with local people rather than a British governor. By the year of 1836, rebellions broke out. They lasted until 1837 and were unsuccessful for the reformers. Although the rebellions were unsuccessful, Britain wanted to investigate why they happened in the first place. They sent a man named John Lambton (Lord Durham) to look at the causes and forces behind the rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada. After four months, Lord
Durham presented the Report of Affairs of British North America. Two of the main recommendations of the Durham report were the Union of Upper and Lower Canada and the development of responsible government in the
Show More

Related Documents: Lauryn Essay

Music: Lauryn Hill and Artist Essay

reaches fame; everything that group does ,music wise, is being heard around the world by people of all ages. In this case, many groups internationally come together to address the issue of Amnesty. The Amnesty Concert is known for have artist such as; Lauryn Hill, Yoko Ono, and Flaming Lips. These artist and band recently performed in Brooklyn, Nw York, during early February of this year. Overall theme of their concert is to promote the awareness of human rights not being sufficient in other countries…

Words 746 - Pages 3

Annotated Bibliography On Laurry Hill

Annotated Bibliography Bruce, La Marr Jurelle. ““The People Inside My Head, Too”: Madness, Black Womanhood, and the Radical Performance of Lauryn Hill.” African American Review, vol. 45 no. 3, 2012, pp.371-389. Project Muse, 2012, muse.jhu.edu/article/520202, Accessed 10 May 10, 2018. La Marr Jurelle Bruce is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland who specializes in African American culture and social contexts. His upcoming book explores African American artists…

Words 976 - Pages 4

IN WHAT WAYS DO IMAGES CONSTRUCT IDENTI Essays

I find this analysis, written by a guest contributor on the website The Feminist Wire particularly interesting to read as a response to the recent essay of Janell Hobson, The Rise of Beyoncé, The Fall of Lauryn Hill: A Tale of Two Tales, because it defines how Beyoncé was able to become a global success in a way that Lauryn Hill, The Fugees’ lead singer (see figure 3) failed to do so.…

Words 2792 - Pages 12

Multiple Intelligences Seminar and Workshop Essay

Teaching and Learning through Multiple Intelligences Seminar/Workshop Content Outline: PART I – Explanation 1. What is the theory of multiple intelligences (M.I.)? 2. How does this theory differ from the traditional definition of intelligence? 3. What do multiple intelligences have to do with my classroom? 4. How has M.I. theory developed since it was introduced in 1983? 5. Who are the critics of this theory and what do they say? 6. What are some benefits of using the…

Words 14446 - Pages 58