The Ninety-Two Resolutions were drafted by

Louis-Joseph Papineau Louis-Joseph Papineau (; October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in Montreal, Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reform ...

and other members of the '' Parti patriote'' of

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

in 1834. The resolutions were a long series of demands for political reforms in the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

-governed colony. Papineau had been elected speaker of the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of e ...

in 1815. His party constantly opposed the unelected colonial government, and in 1828 he helped draft an early form of the resolutions, essentially a list of grievances against the colonial administration. To ensure that the views of the Legislative Assembly be understood by the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

, the ''Parti patriote'' had sent its own delegation to London in order to submit a memoir and a petition signed by 78,000 people. On February 17, 1834, Elzéar Bédard introduced the Ninety-Two Resolutions in the Assembly. Papineau provided most of the arguments for the Resolutions in the subsequent debates. The Resolutions proved divisive, with some moderate supporters of the ''Parti patriote'' voting against them, such as John Neilson and Frédéric-Auguste Quesnel. The Assembly nonetheless approved the Resolutions by a large margin, 56–23, on February 21, 1834. The Assembly then sent the Resolutions to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

.''Journals of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada''
Session 1834, vol. 43, p. 337 (February 21, 1837). The resolutions included, among other things, demands for an elected Legislative Council and an Executive Council responsible before the house of representatives. Under the

Constitutional Act of 1791 The Constitutional Act 1791 ( 31 Geo. 3. c. 31) () was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which was passed during the reign of George III. The act divided the old Province of Quebec into Lower Canada and Upper Canada, each with its ow ...

, Lower Canada was given an elected legislative assembly, but members of the upper house were appointed by the governor of the colony. In the resolutions, the elected representatives once again reiterated their loyalty to the British Crown but expressed frustration that the government of London had been unwilling to correct the injustices caused by the past governments of the colony. In response, the British government appointed the Royal Commission for the Investigation of all Grievances Affecting His Majesty's Subjects of Lower Canada, chaired by the Governor, the Earl of Gosford, which produced several reports on the issues raised by the Resolutions. Meanwhile, the Legislative Assembly did all it could to oppose the un-elected upper houses while avoiding outright rebellion.

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 186 ...

eventually responded to them by issuing ten resolutions of his own (the Russell Resolutions). All of the Legislative Assembly's demands were rejected. The ten resolutions reached Canada in 1837, and many of Papineau's reformists began to agitate for a rebellion. See the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

References

External links

* {{cite book , chapter=The Ninety-Two Resolutions of 1834 , editor=W.P.M. Kennedy , title=Statutes, treaties and documents of the Canadian Constitution, 1713–1929 , location=Toronto , publisher=Oxford University Press , date=1930 , pages=270–290 , chapter-url=https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_03428/299?r=0&s=1

English: The Ninety-Two Resolutions of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada

Français: Les 92 Résolutions de 1834 1834 in Lower Canada 1834 documents February 1834 John Russell, 1st Earl Russell Lower Canada Rebellion