Upper+Canada

__**She Main Points**__


 * Upper Canada was the newest and most undeveloped colonies in the 1800’s. There where few roads, and places 30-40 kilometers from York (the capital) were considered remote
 * The area had been occuppied by natives for a long time
 * when Europeans arrived it was all wilderness, their first task was to claim and clear the land


 * The Importance of Social Class**
 * Society was very close knit, neighbors interacted a lot more than they do today
 * Communities would try and set up small schools and churches.
 * Life was hard for the people because it took so long to raise crop that was productive. Most families ended up in debt.
 * Social class was important in how people adapted to Upper Canada. The rich would often have to do the hard work themselves. Because of the lack of labor, upper and lower classes would often live with each other, even though they never would have done this in Europe. The needed each other to survive.
 * //mortgaged//= to use as security on a loan
 * //Landmark//= any prominent feature of the landscape, natural of man-made that identifies the asuh
 * //Monopoly//= exclusive ownership because of legal privilege

= **The problem of land** = ==
 * Settlers came to Upper Canada to own their own freehold farms
 * They arrived to find that most of good land has already been bought absentee landowners and speculators
 * They were angry because advertising campaigns back in Europe told of cheap, fertile lands, close to towns and markets
 * The Problem of land helped cause discontentment that led to Rebellion of 1837


 * Speculators**

Land speculators were a major issue for immigrants in Upper Canada. They bought large swaths of the best lands, limiting the supply for immigrants and pushing them to buy land from the speculators at a much higher price than what the speculators purchased them at. Such practices allowed land speculators to double their investments in just 10 years. Large land speculating companies received very generous prices for land from the government, in exchange the large companies helped attract immigrants from Europe. The Canada Company bought a million hectors of land for just £295 000 to be paid over 16 years. Thus by 1815, these speculators owned 50% of the land in Upper Canada.

**Clergy and Crown Reserves**

Land speculators aside, the Clergy and Crown also owned a lot of land in Upper Canada. Around 2/7 of the land in Upper Canada was set aside for the income (sale/rent) of the Anglican Church and Government.Many of these were uncleared forest and happened to be scattered everywhere; causing much trouble with the local infrastructure, halting road development and irritating farmers looking to get to town. The available land in Upper Canada was very limited.

**Government**

The government had designs for land owning, and cultural inhibition that was made for Europe, and not lands in the new world.
 * Government wanted to duplicate British model of landowning – large estates controlled by selected aristocrats
 * Government thinks that privileged few with lots of land more likely to maintain ties and loyalties to England and British institutions.
 * Government wants to prevent Canadians from developing rebellious American attitudes and views
 * Republicans believed that British policies were anti-democratic and discriminatory and thought immigrant farmers should succeed from own efforts

Check your understanding:

What was the first task of Europeans arriving in Upper Canada? What were the trademarks of the "Social Class"? Why were speculators detrimental to emigrants? What did the British not want the Canadians to be influenced by? (Think neighbouring countries)

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