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Author Mills, David, 1952-

Title The idea of loyalty in Upper Canada, 1784-1850 / David Mills
Published Kingston, Ont. : McGill-Queen's University Press, ©1988

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Description 1 online resource (x, 238 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : portraits
Contents Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1 The Idea of Loyalty in Upper Canada -- 2 The Ideological Foundations of Loyalty -- 3 The Alien Question and the Debate over Loyalty -- 4 Born in the Bosom of Loyalty: Egerton Ryerson and the Methodists in Upper Canada -- 5 We Seek Tranquility and Good Government, According to Our Constitution: Moderate Toryism in the 1830s -- 6 The Controversy over Legitimate Opposition: Reform Loyalty before the Rebellion -- 7 Loyalty and the Idea of Party in the 1840s -- 8 Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C
De -- f -- g -- h -- i -- j -- l -- m -- n -- o -- p -- r -- s -- t -- u -- w
Summary Tory loyalty, in addition to demanding unquestioning adherence to the imperial connection, was exclusive. It was used both to distinguish Loyalists from the American late-comers and to differentiate supporters of the political status quo from opponents of the administration. Tories and Reformers attached different qualities to loyalty. Although the Tories framed the political debate, a moderate Reform conception developed in response. The importance of loyalty was unchallenged by moderate Reformers, but they wished to redefine it in ways that would legitimize their own political goals. They appealed to British political traditions that emphasized the idea of individual dissent based on constitutional rights and the necessary independence of legislators threatened by the use of prerogative power as well as the corruption of the executive. By the 1830s, the polarization of politics seemed to offer only two choices - loyalty or disloyalty. This transitional period led to the emergence of moderate and accommodative Toryism as a response to the exclusiveness of the Family Compact. Moderate Toryism developed because other groups, who were not prepared to give up their political and social exclusion, had been drawn into the debate. The moderate Reformers survived through the 1840s and entered the administration. Tories also prospered through adoption of the Reform position permitting new groups to enter the High Tory elite. The result was the formation of a conservative consensus which dominated Upper Canada, whose conservatism lay in a new definition of loyalty which had evolved through the initiatives of moderate Reformers
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-232) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Allegiance -- Ontario -- History
HISTORY -- Canada -- General.
HISTORY -- Canada -- Pre-Confederation (to 1867)
Allegiance
Ontario
Genre/Form Electronic books
History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780773561748
0773561749