The Province of Lower Canada was created by the Constitutional Act 1791 from the partition of the British colony of the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)[5] into the Province of Lower Canada and the Province of Upper Canada. The prefix "lower" in its name refers to its geographic position farther downriver from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River than its contemporary Upper Canada, present-day southern Ontario.
Lower Canada was abolished in 1841 when it and adjacent Upper Canada were
The provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada were combined as the
United Province of Canada in 1841, when the Act of Union 1840 came into force. Their separate legislatures were combined into a single parliament with equal representation for both constituent parts, even though Lower Canada had a greater population.[8]
The Province of Lower Canada inherited the mixed set of French and English institutions that existed in the Province of Quebec during the 1763–1791 period and which continued to exist later in Canada-East (1841–1867) and ultimately in the current Province of Quebec (since 1867).
Population
Main article:
ethnic group who trace their ancestry to French colonists who settled in Canada
Travelling around Lower Canada was mainly by water along the St. Lawrence River. On land the only long-distance route was the Chemin du Roy or King's Highway, built in the 1730s by New France.[12] The King's Highway was, in addition to the mail route, the primary means of long-distance passenger travel until steamboats (1815) and railways (1850s) began to challenge the royal road.[12] The royal road's importance waned after the 1850s and would not re-emerge as a key means of transportation until the highway system of Quebec was created in the 20th century.
^"Labrador–Canada Boundary". marianopolis. 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2008. Labrador Act, 1809. – An imperial act (49 Geo. III, cap. 27), 1809, provided for the re-annexation to Newfoundland of 'such parts of the coast of Labrador from the River St John to Hudson's Streights, and the said Island of Anticosti, and all other smaller islands so annexed to the Government of Newfoundland by the said Proclamation of the seventh day of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three (except the said Islands of Madelaine) shall be separated from the said Government of Lower Canada, and be again re-annexed to the Government of Newfoundland.'
^Fernand Ouellet (4 March 2015). "Lower Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
^James Maurice Stockford Careless; Richard Foot (4 March 2015). "Province of Canada 1841–1867". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
^David Mills; Richard Foot (20 March 2017). "Durham Report". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
^Jacques Monet, SJ; Richard Foot (4 March 2015). "Act of Union". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
^Marsh, James H. (9 February 2017) [January 20, 2008]. "Louis-Joseph Papineau". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
^ ab"History". Le Chemin du Roy. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
Further reading
Robert Christie. A History of the Late Province of Lower Canada, Quebec City: T. Cary/R. Montreal: Worthington, 1848–1855 (Internet Archive: All 6 volumes
)
François-Xavier Garneau. History of Canada : from the time of its discovery till the union year, Montreal : J. Lovell, 1860 (Internet Archive: All 3 Volumes)
Saul, John Ralston. Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin (2010) online
External links
Media related to Lower Canada at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of Lower Canada at Wiktionary