Land continued to be farmed in Lower Canada using the seigneurial system set up during the New France era. The rural areas of Lower Canada had good wheat crops and plentiful harvests prior to 1812. Their main trading partner was Great Britain. After the war of 1812, Britain fell into an economic depression and imposed tariffs on imported goods. This hurt the farmers of Lower Canada because they no longer had a thriving market for their goods.

Another issue was that farming techniques like fertilizer and crop rotation had not been perfected, and the farmers depleted their soil of nutrients. This resulted in smaller harvests and crops that were prone to disease and insects. In addition to farming, these rural areas also had timber and potash (the ash from the trees used in soap and glass production in Europe) industries.

Also, British emigrants arrived in Lower Canada seeking good farmland. This created competition for land and upset the French habitants. In both the city and country areas of the colony, the government did not help people who had fallen on hard times. People relied on their friends and family in times of illness or poverty. The Roman Catholic Church remained an important social and religious institution in Lower Canada.

Britain had been at war for many years. This depleted their wealth and created hard economic times for the citizens of Great Britain. The British government after the war of 1812 began to encourage its citizens to move to British North America.

Some people received help from the British government to make the journey. The government paid for their ship passage, land, and tools to start a new life. The majority of immigrants did not receive government assistance. They had to rely on their own personal savings or incentives from British North American land owners. Some land companies and owners would offer free travel and land on credit in exchange for the new immigrants clearing the land and settling the area.

DISEASE COMES TO LOWER CANADA

Many people moving from Great Britain to British North America travelled on crowded cargo ships. These cargo ships were not meant for human travel. They were cramped, filthy, and rat infested. People had to bring their own food and water on the ships, as there were no containers for food storage. The trip could take anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks.

Due to the cramped living conditions, infectious diseases like Typhus, Cholera, and Dysentery spread very quickly among the passengers of the ships. In 1832, a Cholera epidemic hit Lower Canada, and the blame was placed on immigrants coming from these infected cargo ships.

WHERE DID THEY SETTLE?

Once they got off the ship in British North America, the immigrants had to make their own way to the land that they had been given to settle. Many British immigrants settled in and near Quebec City. this upset the French people living there because they felt that these immigrants might disrupt their French Catholic lifestyle.

By the 1830s, Montreal, the largest city in British North America, had an English-speaking majority and a French-speaking minority. This upset the French population because they felt that there was too much competition for jobs.

The constitution Act of 1791 created the government structure of Lower Canada. There were French and British conflicts in government. The elected officials were French (Legislative Assembly), but the appointed officials that held all of the power were British, creating a major divide in the government due to their conflicting interests. The French were mainly rural farmers, and the British were the businessmen and merchants from the cities. The Legislative Assembly had very little power because their decisions could be overruled by either council or the Governor. Many of the members spoke English and did not concern themselves with matters relating to the French parts of the colony.

Chateau Clique

The most powerful group in Lower Canada was called the Chateau Clique. It was a small group of powerful British men and wealthy French Canadian men whose interests aligned with Great Britain. They felt the power of the Government should reside with just a few people. These men favoured the British lifestyle and a government structure over French culture. They wanted more English settlers in Lower Canada to help increase the English speaking population.

1. Create a VENN diagram to compare Country and City life in lower Canada.

2. How do you think the French felt by this shift in population from a French majority to an English majority? Explain some of the issues that upset the French.

3. Why was disease a major issue in the cities? What caused the diseases to spread?

4. Why might the French population have been upset with the government structure of Lower Canada?