Lord Sydenham takes a summer work-cation in Nova Scotia and leaves a political system. Joseph Howe joins a coalition government and then falls out with the Governor. But he takes with him a Tory named James Uniacke who converts to the idea of responsible government. Free trade ideas take over in London and we fast forward through the 1840s to finally end up at the glorious election at the end of 1847 that changed British North American forever.
May 28, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Fresh from his libel trial, Joseph Howe gets himself elected to the Nova Scotian Assembly. And then he makes himself even more famous by doing what all Reformers seemed to desperately want to do in these years - he makes up some resolutions. Howe also writes some famous letters to Lord John Russell in England making the case for responsible government. Party lines are hardening in Nova Scotia and the Governor discovers that Joseph Howe is a real pain in the... 'dignity'.
May 21, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 20
We are in Nova Scotia this week (and for the next two weeks) so it's rewind time as we (briefly) catch up on things like the Acadian expulsion and the rum trade with the West Indies. Then we zoom forward to meet one of the most interesting people in Canadian history: Joseph Howe, the poetry reading, donkey-owning rambler, who liked his drink and his politics - a man who wasn't easy to pin down. And we end up with the famous libel trial of 1835. Long live the free press!
May 14, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Governor General Charles Metcalfe tries to keep a government going - fending off nice insults like 'Old Square Toes' - while Reformers try to embarrass his government into submission. And vying ideas of how to govern the Canadas face off in an as-yet-undecided mid 1840s contest: it's responsible government vs 'double majority'. And we have more duels, a bench-clearing parliamentary brawl, and a club-wielding civil servant bent on clearing his name.
May 07, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 18
The Canadas have a new Governor General and this one comes with a cancerous tumour that is going to - yet again - limit his time on this planet. But while he's here, Lafontaine and Baldwin go toe to toe with him to determine who really controls the government. The Reformers pass a misjudged Secret Societies Bill, trying to ban the Orange Order and then step on their own foot by resigning on principle in a situation that doesn't show up their principles very well. We're introduced to a man named ...
Apr 30, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 17
The new Governor General Charles Bagot decides to ask for forgiveness and not permission. And this means we have a government - sort of - controlled by the Reformers Louis Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin. Robert Baldwin is defeated by his cousin and that gives Lafontaine an idea. And our new Governor General, the one we've just met, goes and does what Governors General do at this time - he gets sick and dies. And that leaves the Reformers and responsible government, such as it so far is, very much...
Apr 22, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 16
It all starts with a letter from Francis Hincks to Louis Lafontaine. But soon Robert Baldwin is getting in on the action and then the Reformer bromance really takes off - and all with the idea of responsible government at its political heart. The Assembly meets in the brand new capital of Kingston. We get an actual motion calling for responsible government that wins support. There's an unprecedented election in Upper Canada. And, we're not talking metaphorically here: Lord Sydenham falls off a h...
Apr 16, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 15
It is early 1841 and the Canada's have been officially joined together. Now Lord Sydenham has to find someway of making the shotgun marriage actually work. A lot of reformers were hoping for a switch to this newfangled thing called 'responsible government'. But Lord Sydenham has his own system instead - and a plethora or corrupt electoral techniques to make sure it will work, at least in the short term.
Apr 09, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 14
How did we go from loyalist victory in the rebellions to loyalist anger in the Rebellion Losses Bill mob riot in 1849? When did winning look so much like losing? This week we start in 1849 but quick return to the years right after the rebellions. Lord Durham is back (but don't worry, as usual, he's not staying long); there's a new Governor General with a new nickname (welcome Le Poulet); Lower Canada and Upper Canada are forced to marry; Robert Baldwin is back in yet another executive (how long ...
Apr 02, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 13
The Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 are finally over. Houses have burned; Governors General have come and gone; rebels have fled, been imprisoned, hanged and been exiled. And now we need to figure out what it all means. We step back in this episode to ask:what caused the rebellions? why did they fail? could they have succeeded? And then there is the most important historical question of all: so what?
Mar 26, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 12
The secret Hunters Lodges come out of hiding and launch attacks in the autumn of 1838 and General Colborne, and especially the loyalist militia, get back to their work of suppressing rebellion. The rebel leaders once again show themselves not quite up to the task; we have a naval raid along the St Lawerence gone wrong, and blood on the streets in Windsor. But most importantly, it all wraps up. Rebellion rises from the ashes only to be forcefully told to go back where it came from.
Mar 19, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Winter extends from 1837 to 1838 and the rebels in exile try to turn around their fortunes. William Lyon Mackenzie captures an island. Canadian loyalists sink a ship but they also kill an American. Radical Patriotes read a revolutionary declaration into the late February winter wind in Lower Canada and then are chased back across the border. We meet Lord Durham, the new Governor General, and he hatches a scheme to deal with rebel prisoners. And there are enough cross-border attacks to keep every...
Mar 12, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 10
A Swiss-born revolutionary stirs things up in an already pretty agitated region of rebellion west of Montreal. Things turn pretty dire for the Patriotes this week. There is fire, and then some more burning. Then, to make things fun, more fire. And General Colborne earns a nickname - the 'vieux brulé' (that is, old firebrand). So, yeah, fire.
Mar 05, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 9
The regular troops have left Upper Canada to go help put down rebellion in Lower Canada and that gives William Lyon Mackenzie an idea. Well, he had the idea already, but this seems like a good time to act on it. We have rebellion in Upper Canada. There is a secret meeting at a brewery; rebels and loyalists shoot at each other and then run away; there is even a Laura Second tie-in. But none of this can stop Mackenzie from having a very bad day.
Feb 27, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 8
An intercepted letter proves fateful to the fate of rebellion. And the remaining British force in the Richelieu valley heads toward (and not away from) conflict. The early good showing of the Patriotes proves short-lived but, by the end of November 1837, it is still unclear how the rebellion in Lower Canada will turn out.
Feb 20, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 7
The Rebellion in Lower Canada is absolutely underway this week - the Patriotes leaders flee Montreal; the habitants fortify local strongholds; and the British General Colborne sends troops out to try to drown the the flames of rebellion before they burn too strong. And we have pig noises. Just because.
Feb 13, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 6
It's the summer of 1837 and Lower Canada is in turmoil - horses are losing their tails, effigies are burning, the charivari has turned political, and we have more (and more) resolutions. Oh, and a little thing called rebellion breaks out.
Feb 06, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 5
A special bonus episode from our sister podcast Cool Canadian History. You can - and should! - subscribe to more than one Canadian history podcast.
Feb 04, 2020•23 min
From 1834 to 1836 reformers in both colonies move from hope to anger as two new governors, in their very different ways, prove to not be what the more radical of reformers want. We have the famous 92 resolutions that might (maybe) read like a passive aggressive almost break-up letter. And we also have a Governor General and his lasso knighthood, and much, much more.
Jan 30, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In Upper Canada a fiery reformer named William Lyon Mackenzie shows that anger at the political system can flourish even amongst supposedly loyal English speaking colonists. Mackenzie also learns that printing presses don't swim very well.
Jan 23, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 4
An election in Montreal in 1832 turns bloody and serves as our entry point into understanding the divisive politics of Lower Canada in the years before the rebellions. We make sense of the the rising Patriotes movement, the nature of government and the constitution, and the legacy of the Conquest of New France and the American Revolution.
Jan 15, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Why did George-Etienne Cartier, one of the Fathers of Confederation, once fight a duel to insist he had once fought against Canada? This question, and a whole lot more, will be answered in the new podcast 1867 & All That. (Full length episodes starting 15 January 2020).
Nov 26, 2019•7 min•Season 1Ep. 2
