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Joseph Papineau |
The Maritimes |
Durham Report
The Maritimes developed in a relatively
peaceful manner between 1815 - 1850. The various
colonies had slightly different characteristics and only
Nova Scotia with the strong voice of Joseph Howe was
asking for real responsible government.
The former French colony of Īle
Saint-Jean became Prince Edward Island when the British
defeated the French in 1863. The Acadians were rounded
up and expelled as were the ones in Nova Scotia, but
some managed to avoid the process and only re-emerged
from hiding when the expulsion was finished. They
remained the main stay of the population until
1770 - 73 when just over 800 Scottish settlers arrived
and established themselves.
Much of the land in PEI was granted to
English people who had performed an outstanding service
for their country or as patronage for those in the
circles of power in London. This created an absentee
landowners situation which remained a major issue until
PEI'S entry into Canada in 1873.
By 1801 the
Legislative Assembly was given the right to determine
the laws regulating the right to vote but hesitates to
move on this issue quickly in order to avoid being
overwhelmed by Catholic and non-English votes. It is
only in 1830 that the non-protestants are given the vote
and in 1836 women are specifically denied the vote by
the legislature.
Nova Scotia
established it's first elected assembly in 1758 with
very few restrictions. You had to be over 21, a
protestant and own land of any value. For the times this
was very liberal. and by 1783 the Nova Scotia Assembly
was granted the statutory control of the franchise and
of the rules for representation.
The campaign for
responsible government would take another 70 years and
the process was much the same as in Upper and Lower
Canada with the major exception that Nova Scotia avoided
violent rebellion. Joseph Howe was the strong reasonable
voice that fought for responsible government and in 1848
it was achieved. The colony of Cap Breton which was
separated from Nova Scotia in 1784 and was ruled without
representation was merge with Nova Scotia in 1820 but it
was not treated in the same manner as the rest of the
colony due to the high number of French inhabitants..
They were not to be separated again.
New Brunswick was a
frontier colony in the 1763 brought the same expulsion
of Acadians as in the other colonies but many in New
Brunswick escaped the round up and because it was
sparsely populated the authorities did not maintain a
consistent effort. It was also merged with Nova Scotia
in 1763 for administrative purposes and was not
separated until 1785 when the war against the Americans
had finished. The boundary between the US and the
British colony of New Brunswick was ill-defined and was
not determined until 1794 in the context of Jay's Treaty
but not finalized until 1831 through arbitration. The
arrival of loyalists increased the number of English
colonists but New Brunswick did not receive as many as
the other colonies.
1785 also witnesses
the first elected assembly in New Brunswick but in a
disputed election in 1786 the votes of Roman Catholic
Acadians was not allowed. The vote was expanded to
Catholics and Jews in 1810 and defined as excluding
women in 1848. Although no strong voice arose for
responsible government and no violence occurred, the
colony was considered in the same group as the other
British American colonies.
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