For other uses, see Upper Canada (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Northern Canada.
Province of Upper Canada
1791–1841
Union Flag (1801 version)[1][2]
Anthem: "God Save the King/Queen"
Map of Upper Canada (orange) with 21st-century Canada (pink) surrounding it
Status
British colony
Capital
Newark 1792–1797 (renamed Niagara 1798, Niagara-on-the-Lake 1970) York (later renamed Toronto in 1834) 1797–1841
Common languages
English
Religion
Church of England (Official) [3]
Government
Family Compact aristocracy under a Constitutional monarchy
Sovereign
• 1791–1820
George III
• 1820–1830
George IV
• 1830–1837
William IV
• 1837–1841
Victoria
Lieutenant-Governor; Executive Council of Upper Canada
Legislature
Parliament of Upper Canada
• Upper house
Legislative Council
• Lower house
Legislative Assembly
Historical era
British Era
• Constitutional Act of 1791
26 December 1791
• Act of Union 1840
10 February 1841
Area
1836[4]
258,999 km2 (100,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1823[4]
150,196
• 1836[4]
358,187
Currency
Halifax pound
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Province of Quebec (1763–1791)
Province of Canada
Today part of
Canada
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1841–1867
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Upper Canada Topics
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The Reform Movement
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Agriculture
Work and labour organization
Corporations
Imprisonment for debt
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The Province of Upper Canada (French: province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Quebec since 1763. Upper Canada included all of modern-day Southern Ontario and all those areas of Northern Ontario in the Pays d'en Haut which had formed part of New France, essentially the watersheds of the Ottawa River or Lakes Huron and Superior, excluding any lands within the watershed of Hudson Bay. The "upper" prefix in the name reflects its geographic position along the Great Lakes, mostly above the headwaters of the Saint Lawrence River, contrasted with Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) to the northeast.
Upper Canada was the primary destination of Loyalist refugees and settlers from the United States after the American Revolution, who often were granted land to settle in Upper Canada. Already populated by Indigenous peoples, land for settlement in Upper Canada was made by treaties between the new British government and the Indigenous, exchanging land for one-time payments or annuities. The new province was characterized by its British way of life, including bicameral parliament and separate civil and criminal law, rather than mixed as in Lower Canada or elsewhere in the British Empire.[5][failed verification] The division was created to ensure the exercise of the same rights and privileges enjoyed by loyal subjects elsewhere in the North American colonies.[6] In 1812, war broke out between Great Britain and the United States, leading to several battles in Upper Canada. The United States attempted to capture Upper Canada, but the war ended with the situation unchanged.
The government of the colony came to be dominated by a small group of persons, known as the "Family Compact", who held most of the top positions in the Legislative Council and appointed officials. In 1837, an unsuccessful rebellion attempted to overthrow the undemocratic system. Representative government would be established in the 1840s. Upper Canada existed from its establishment on 26 December 1791 to 10 February 1841, when it was united with adjacent Lower Canada to form the Province of Canada.
^"Early flags". Government of Canada. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
^"Royal Union Flag". The Flags of Canada. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
^Section 38, Constitutional Act, 1791, Revised Statutes of Canada 1985, App. II, No. 3.
^ abButler (1843), pp. 10, 20
^"Juriglobe".
^"Constitutional Act 1791". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
The Province of UpperCanada (French: province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern...
The UpperCanada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of UpperCanada (present-day Ontario) in December...
UpperCanada College (UCC) is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program...
UpperCanada Village is a heritage park near Morrisburg, Ontario, which depicts a 19th-century village in UpperCanada. Construction of UpperCanada Village...
proclaimed by the Crown on 10 February 1841, merged the Colonies of UpperCanada and Lower Canada by abolishing their separate parliaments and replacing them...
called UpperCanada and Lower Canada. These two colonies were collectively named the Canadas until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841...
the Canadas: UpperCanada southwest of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence, and Lower Canada east of it. John Graves Simcoe was appointed Upper Canada's...
UpperCanada Mall is the 25th largest shopping mall in Canada, located in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. The mall is situated on the northwest corner of the...
The Canadas is the collective name for the provinces of Lower Canada and UpperCanada, two historical British colonies in present-day Canada. The two colonies...
The UpperCanada Tories were formed from the elements of the Family Compact after the War of 1812. The movement was an early political party and merely...
UpperCanada Brewing Company is a division of Sleeman Breweries in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Founded by Frank Heaps and Larry Sherwood (of Granville Island...
governors of Ontario and the lieutenant governors of the former colony of UpperCanada. The office of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario was created in 1867, when...
established the town of York in 1793 and later designated it as the capital of UpperCanada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York...
than its contemporary UpperCanada, present-day southern Ontario. Lower Canada was abolished in 1841 when it and adjacent UpperCanada were united into the...
An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house...
The UpperCanada Guardian; or Freeman's Journal was one of the first opposition papers in 19th century UpperCanada. Its publisher and editor Joseph Willcocks...
Mexico.[citation needed] The County, named by Lieutenant Governor of UpperCanada John Graves Simcoe in honour of his father Captain John Simcoe,[citation...
its neutral citation) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto (also the seat...
regulars and colonial militia defeated a series of American invasions on UpperCanada. The abdication of Napoleon in 1814 allowed the British to send additional...
parliament building. Either Navy Hall or the Freemasons Hall in Newark, UpperCanada (today Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario), served as the first legislature...
River in the latter days of the UpperCanada Rebellion. In the latter days of the Rebellions of 1837 in UpperCanada, after Mackenzie and 200 of his followers...
as the Great Migration by 1831, Lower Canada's population had reached approximately 553,000, with UpperCanada reaching about 237,000 individuals. The...