Lower Canada

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Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791-1841). It covered the southern portion of the modern-day province of Québec, Canada, as well as the Labrador region of the modern-day province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

[edit] History

Lower Canada was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791 from the partition of the British colony of the Province of Quebec (1763-1791) into the Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada.

Lower Canada consisted of part of the former French colony of New France, ceded to Great Britain after that empire's victory in the French and Indian Wars, also called the Seven Years' War. Other parts of New France ceded to Britain became the Colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

[edit] Rebellion

Like Upper Canada, there was political unrest and a rebellion challenged the British rule of predominantly French population. After the Patriote Rebellion was crushed by the British army and Loyal volunteers, the 1791 Constitution was suspended on March 27 1838 and a special council was appointed to administer the colony.

Lower Canada, Upper Canada and their legislatures were abolished in 1841 with the coming into effect of the The Union Act, passed on July 23, 1840. The act abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and united them in the unified political entity of the Province of Canada. Lower Canada had mainly French Canadians.