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They do not teach this in history courses down here. I wish our libraries were open for browsing as it is so much better to read about this interesting figure and important part of Canadian history from proper literature than what is offered online. Mackenzie was a very outspoken politician in his time it seems like and quite often branded a radical by his enemies. He detested the then British North American government, was a fan of Andrew Jackson but not of Martin Van Buren, and was willing to rebel against perceived corruption. He lived for 11 years in the U.S., even becoming a U.S. citizen at one point but grew to hate American living as well and ultimately moved back to Canada. How different would Canada have become had Mackenzie persevered in establishing the "Republic of Canada" based on his ideals right then and there? Would Canada have remained the same as it is now or would it have been more like the U.S.? Anyone have any thoughts?
You might find this interesting. Here are Part 1 and Part 2 about William Lyon Mackenzie (not to be confused with Canada's 10th Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King !!), but this website (Historical Narratives of Early Canada) also has information about other personalities in early Upper Canada too. Check it out.
You might find this interesting. Here are Part 1 and Part 2 about William Lyon Mackenzie (not to be confused with Canada's 10th Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King !!), but this website (Historical Narratives of Early Canada) also has information about other personalities in early Upper Canada too. Check it out.
Yes, I was in that website yesterday. It's fascinating to read up on events of a long past time that shaped the formation of the Dominion of Canada just as how the American Revolution, the Lousiana Purchase, and the American Civil War helped shape the U.S.. A critical description in that history found in the website above that cannot be overlooked is that of the values and beliefs of most of the settlers of Upper Canada in 1837-38. A major reason why Mackenzie's Rebellion failed to take off it seems was that the majority of inhabitants weren't interested in actually fighting the authorities, even for the noble cause of responsible government (or at least that's how Mackenzie thought of it), and so Mackenzie was not able to drum up enough support. Yet responsible government was introduced through legislature in spite of the short failed rebellions of 1837-38 and though there were hiccups along the way, none were so great as to seriously threaten the authorities. To me, Mackenzie was some 70 years too late in employing his tactics to violently overthrow the government. Had he lived prior to or during the American Revolution, he might have elicited more supportive voices but after the War of 1812, it seemed like both Britain and the U.S. were weary of rebellions and conflicts. Rather the Upper Canada government along with the Lower Canada government heard the desires of their respective inhabitants for a united responsible government and acted in establishing it without further bloodshed.
Would you say though that the social and political values of Canadians nowadays stems from these events nearly two centuries ago? The Americans engaged in more conflicts throughout American history and it just occurred to me that notion of defending one's rights from back then did shape American discourse to this day. In fact, I have a book that tells that inhabitants of individual states even fought skirmishes with each other back in the day in defense of their respective state or territorial rights, something I did not know about before. Okay, Canada also had to deal with Louis Riel's rebellion and that also led to much distrust among different groups but that'll be a discussion for another day.
...... Would you say though that the social and political values of Canadians nowadays stems from these events nearly two centuries ago? .......
I doubt it. Although I think that most of the social and political values of Canadians today are an improvement over what they were 200 years ago, I also think that the majority of Canadians living today don't know or don't give much thought to Canada's history (or any other country's history) from 200 years ago. We are all in the here and now, and now keeps on changing.
They do not teach this in history courses down here. I wish our libraries were open for browsing as it is so much better to read about this interesting figure and important part of Canadian history from proper literature than what is offered online. Mackenzie was a very outspoken politician in his time it seems like and quite often branded a radical by his enemies. He detested the then British North American government, was a fan of Andrew Jackson but not of Martin Van Buren, and was willing to rebel against perceived corruption. He lived for 11 years in the U.S., even becoming a U.S. citizen at one point but grew to hate American living as well and ultimately moved back to Canada. How different would Canada have become had Mackenzie persevered in establishing the "Republic of Canada" based on his ideals right then and there? Would Canada have remained the same as it is now or would it have been more like the U.S.? Anyone have any thoughts?
Don't sweat it. Most Canadians aren't aware of this either.
There is lots of stuff in Canada named for people named MacKenzie ourwith MacKenzie (spelled different way) in their name.
I think many people may mix them up a bit though quite a few will of course know of that major river and perhaps assume it was named for the explorer guy.
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