Which law first gave Upper and Lower Canada legislative assemblies elected by the people?
- The Act of Union of 1840
- The Constitution Act, 1982
- The Constitutional Act of 1791
- The Quebec Act of 1774
Answer: The Constitutional Act of 1791
The Constitutional Act of 1791 split Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada and, for the first time, gave the Canadas legislative assemblies elected by the people. The Atlantic colonies already had them: Nova Scotia since 1758, Prince Edward Island since 1773 and New Brunswick since 1785.
Learn more: The Loyalists and the beginnings of democracy
- In 1776 the 13 British colonies south of Quebec declared independence and formed the United States.
- More than 40,000 Loyalists, people loyal to the Crown, fled the American Revolution and settled in Nova Scotia and Quebec.
- Joseph Brant led thousands of Loyalist Mohawks into Canada.
- Loyalists had Dutch, German, British, Scandinavian, Aboriginal and other origins, and many religions: Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Quaker and Catholic.
- About 3,000 black Loyalists, freedmen and slaves, came north for a better life. In 1792 some black Nova Scotians, given poor land, left to found Freetown, Sierra Leone (West Africa).
- Sir Guy Carleton supervised the Loyalist migration to Nova Scotia and Quebec in 1782–83.
- First elected representative assemblies: Halifax, Nova Scotia (1758); Prince Edward Island (1773); New Brunswick (1785).
- The Constitutional Act of 1791 split the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada (later Ontario: mainly Loyalist, Protestant, English-speaking) and Lower Canada (later Quebec: mainly Catholic, French-speaking).
- The 1791 Act gave the Canadas, for the first time, legislative assemblies elected by the people.
- The name Canada became official in 1791 and has been used ever since.
- The Atlantic colonies and the two Canadas together were called British North America.