The Tenant League in

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

was a 19th-century agrarian

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

movement whose goal was the "dismantling of the proprietary land system" in that province.Book Review: The Tenant League of Prince Edward Island, 1864–1867: Leasehold Tenure in the New World.

Context

The League was formed in response to the

Absentee Landlord In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 b ...

Question A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms, typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are i ...

, which arose in 1767 when

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

divided the island into 67 lots, which he allocated to his supporters by lottery. Many

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and ma ...

s in the province were unhappy with their inability to gain title in the land they worked. Most also faced burdensome rents. The grants were conditional on certain settlement conditions which were often not fulfilled. However, the political connection of the grantees generally meant that the government could not or would not contest them, in spite of calls from the province's tenants.The Absentee Landlord Question - Prince Edward Island.

Activity

The league was created in December 1864. By the summer of 1864, most of the Island's tenants were members. In a convention at

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlott ...

, the league adopted a constitution which urged its members to withhold payment of rents. At a parade in 1865 the government attempted to arrest Samuel Fletcher, the league's leader. However, the crowd of members prevented it. Governor

George Dundas George Dundas may refer to: * George Dundas (1690–1762), MP for Linlithgowshire (UK Parliament constituency), Linlithgowshire 1722–1727 and 1741–1743 * George Dundas (Royal Navy officer) (1778–1834), Royal Navy admiral and member of parliam ...

then banned the organization, but they refused to disband. Defiance and collective action would continue to characterize the league's existence, as they clashed with officials dispatched to collect rents.The Tenant League / Tenant League Riots.
/ref> This prompted the introduction of British troops to put down the "Tenant League Riots" in 1866.

Influence

In 1873, after a failed railroad project pushed the Island almost to bankruptcy, it joined the Dominion of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Under the terms of union, the government of Canada provided financial help to the province in purchasing the remaining leaseholds. In 1878 PEI passed its compulsory Land Purchase Act which finally dispossessed the absentee landlords and made the land available for purchase in

fee simple In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., pe ...

to the local population.Prince Edward Island.

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References

{{reflist Political history of Prince Edward Island 1863 establishments in Canada 1864 in Canada 1865 in Canada 1866 in Canada