Timeline of Quebec history (1791 to 1840)

This section of the Timeline of Quebec history concerns the events between the Constitutional Act and the Union Act.

1790s

• 1791 - The Constitutional Act is enacted by the British Parliament on June 10.
• 1792 - The first elections of Lower Canada are held on June 11.
• 1792 - The first session of the Parliament of Lower Canada opens on December 17.
• 1792 - On December 18, Jean-Antoine Panet is elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
• 1792 - Opening of the first post office in Montreal on December 20.
• 1793 - Language debate at the Legislative Assembly on January 21.
• 1793 - On January 27, Lower Canada born Jean Basset presents a memoir to the French National Convention in which he pleads for a reconquest of Canada.
• 1793 - France declares war to England on February 8.
• 1793 - Prorogation of the first session of the Parliament on May 9.
• 1793 - On September 23, governor Dorchester demands that the Assembly punishes foreigners threatening the British government in Canada or any seditious citizen.
• 1793 - In October, a rumour runs that a French fleet is coming to retake Canada.
• 1793 - The second session of the Parliament opens on November 11.
• 1793 - On November 26, the Legislative Assembly passes a law which suspends the Habeas Corpus and drafts virtually all men between 18 and 60 in Lower Canada.
• 1795 - Introduction of the first property tax in Lower Canada.
• 1796 - The first county of the Eastern Townships, Dunham, is created.
• 1797 - Robert Prescott becomes Governor General on April 27.
• 1798 - Beginning of Irish immigration to Canada.

1800s

• 1800 - Member of Parliament and Judge Amable De Bonne presents a draft bill to create the Royal Institute on February 7.
• 1803 - Napoleon sells the Louisiana territory to the United States. (See the Louisiana Purchase).
• 1804 - The taking down of Montreal's fortifications begin and last until 1809.
• 1805 - Foundation of The Quebec Mercury (newspaper) by Thomas Cary , supporter of the British Tories.
• 1805 - Joseph-Octave Plessis becomes Bishop of Quebec.
• 1806 - Pierre Bédard and François Blanchet , members of the Parti canadien, found the newspaper Le Canadien.
• 1807 - Election of Ezekiel Hart in Trois-Rivieres during a by-election on April 11.
• 1807 - On August 29, James Henry Craig becomes governor of the British American colonies.
• 1808 - On February 1, the Legislative Assembly criticizes the swearing-in of Ezekiel Hart because he is of Jewish faith.
• 1808 - The Legislative Assembly votes the expulsion of Ezekiel Hart on February 20.
• 1808 - Louis-Joseph Papineau and Denis-Benjamin Viger are elected for the first time on April 27. They join the Parti canadien.
• 1808 - On June 14, the owners of the newspaper Le Canadien were demoted from their functions in the government.
• 1809 - On April 18, the Legislative Assembly votes a resolution on the ineligibility of judges during elections.
• 1809 - Governor Craig dissolves the Parliament on May 15.
• 1809 - Elections on November 24.

1810s

• 1810 - On February 13, the Legislative Assembly passes three addresses: one for the King, one for the House of Lords and one for the House of Commons to request the control of the budget.
• 1810 - On February 23, the Legislative Assembly votes the expulsion of Member of Parliament and Judge Amable De Bonne .
• 1810 - On March 10, Jonathan Sewell and Amable De Bonne found the newspaper Le Vrai Canadien which defends the policies of the government.
• 1810 - On March 17, governor James Craig stops the press of Le Canadien and put its owners in prison for sedition.
• 1810 - On May 1, governor Craig recommends to the King to unite Upper and Lower Canada.
• 1811 - Pierre-Stanislas Bédard is released from prison on April 4, after having been detained without trial for 2 years, 9 months and 21 days.
• 1811 - On May 31, George Prevost becomes governor of Lower Canada.
• 1811 - Foundation of the newspaper The Montreal Herald by William Grey.
• 1812 - War of 1812: Second American invasion of Canada.
• 1815 - On January 21, Louis-Joseph Papineau is elected speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
• 1817 - Foundation of the Bank of Montreal.
• 1818 - The frontier between British America and the United States is established at the 49th northern parallel.

1820s

• 1820 - A Union project is again discussed by London and the government of Lower Canada.
• 1821 - McGill University obtains its royal charter.
• 1822 - Lower Canadian British merchants and bureaucrats petition for the Union of Upper and Lower Canada into a single colony before the British Parliament in London.
• 1823 - On May 10, Louis-Joseph Papineau and John Neilson are in London to present a petition of 60,000 signatures against the Union project.
• 1825 - Opening of the Lachine Canal.
• 1826 - Ludger Duvernay, Auguste-Norbert Morin , and Jacques Viger found the newspaper La Minerve .
• 1827 - The Parti canadien becomes the Parti patriote.
• 1827 - The Parti Patriote sends a delegation of three Members of Parliament -- John Neilson, Denis-Benjamin Viger and Augustin Cuvillier -- to London with a petition of 87,000 names and a series of resolution passed by the Legislative Assembly.
• 1828 - London appoints James Kempt to replace Dalhousie.
• 1828 - On December 12, Daniel Tracey founds the newspaper The Irish Vindicator and Canada General Advertiser, which became The Montreal Vindicator soon after.
• 1829 - McGill University begins instruction in 1829 with the Faculty of Medicine.

1830s

• 1830 - Lord Matthew Aylmer is appointed Governor.
• 1830 - The Port of Montreal is officially created.
• 1831 - During the summer, Alexis de Tocqueville, political thinker and author of Democracy in America, spends two weeks in Lower Canada. His notes on the social and political situation of the Canadiens are of great historical and documentary value today.
• 1831 - Ludger Duvernay and Daniel Tracey are arrested for their opinions, charged with sedition.
• 1832 - Daniel Tracey spends 35 days in prison in January for writing an editorial attacking the non-elected bureaucrats of the colonial government.
• 1832 - During a by-election in Montreal on May 21, British soldiers open fire on the crowd and kill three supporters of the Parti Patriote.
• 1832 - A first cholera epidemic kills 6,000 people.
• 1832 - The Parti Patriote passes a law giving full political rights to the Jewish minority of Lower Canada, a first in the British Empire and some 27 years before Great Britain itself.
• 1833 - Foundation of the Club des femmes patriotes (Patriot Women's Club).
• 1833 - The British Parliament passes the Slavery Abolition Act giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.
• 1834 - Foundation of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society on June 24.
• 1834 - Foundation of the loyalist Quebec Constitutional Association .
• 1834 - The Parti patriote is elected with a strong majority of about 95% of the registered vote. That is 77 of 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 483 739 votes against 28 278.
• 1834 - The Legislative Assembly presents the Ninety-Two Resolutions, a document requesting democratic reforms in Lower Canada.
• 1835 - Foundation of the loyalist Montreal Constitutional Association in January.
• 1835 - Foundation of the Union patriotique .
• 1835 - Louis-Michel Viger and Jacob De Witt found La Banque du Peuple . It becomes a chartered bank in 1844.
• 1836 - Foundation of the Doric Club, the reincarnation of the illegal British Rifle Corp .
• 1836 - The laws establishing the écoles normales of the country are passed. They would have been the first secular, public, and free schools of Lower Canada.
• 1837 - On March 6, the Russell Resolutions arrive in Lower Canada, rejecting all the major demands of the Patriotes.
• 1837 - Foundation of the Comité central et permanent in April.
• 1837 - Founded in August, the Société des Fils de la Liberté holds its first public assembly on September 5.
• 1837 - Various Assemblées populaires are held throughout Lower Canada between May and November.
• 1837 - The Doric club attacks the Fils de la liberté on November 6 and take this occasion to destroy the office of the Vindicator and vandalize the house of Papineau.
• 1837 - On November 8, General John Colborne begins to recruit volunteers for militias which are placed under the command of lieutenant-colonel Dyer.
• 1837 - On November 16, Lord Gosford orders the arrest of 26 patriot leaders on charges of high treason.
• 1837 - Battle of St-Denis on November 23.
• 1837 - Battle of St-Charles on November 25.
• 1837 - The Patriotes take control of St-Eustache on November 30.
• 1837 - Proclamation of martial law in the district of Montreal on December 5.
• 1837 - 80 Patriotes are forced to retreat at Moore's Corner near the American border on December 6.
• 1837 - On December 13, General John Colborne, Lord Seaton, leaves Montreal for Saint-Eustache leading 1,300 men.
• 1837 - Battle of St-Eustache on December 14.
• 1837 - The British troops burn the village of St-Benoît .
• 1838 - February 26, Robert Nelson, General of the Patriotes, gathers between 600 and 700 volunteers, the Frères Chasseurs and American sympathisers who try to invade Lower Canada.
• 1838 - Robert Nelson proclaims the independence of Lower Canada in Week’s House on February 28. See the Déclaration d'indépendance du Bas-Canada.
• 1838 - The Constitutional Act is suspended on March 27. A Special Council is formed by London.
• 1838 - The envoy of the British government, John George Lambton, Lord of Durham, arrives in Quebec City on May 27.
• 1838 - Proclamation of amnesty for all prisoners, except eight who are exiled to Bermuda, on June 28.
• 1838 - The Frères Chasseurs take positions in Beauharnois , Sainte-Martine and Saint-Mathias on November 3.
• 1838 - New proclamation of martial law on November 4.
• 1838 - Battle of Lacolle on November 7.
• 1838 - Battle of Odelltown on November 9. End of the Patriotes Rebellion.
• 1838 - Creation of a military court to judge 108 men.
• 1839 - Publishing of the report of Lord Durham on February 11.
• 1839 - Hanging of 12 Patriotes at the prison of Pied-du-courant on February 15.
• 1839 - Charles Poulett Thomson, Lord Sydenham, succeeds Lord Durham as governor general of the Canadas.

1840s

• 1840 - The Act of Union receives royal assent on July 23.