colony · North America and Oceania

Upper Canada

1791 CE – 1841 CE · capital York

The English-speaking British colony founded for Loyalists north of the Great Lakes, forerunner of the province of Ontario.

Origins

The Constitutional Act of 1791 split the Province of Quebec, creating Upper Canada upriver from Montreal for the Loyalists who had settled there after the American Revolution. Its first lieutenant governor, John Graves Simcoe, laid out roads and moved the capital from Newark to York, the future Toronto, in 1796.

Rule and society

Upper Canada had English common law, freehold land tenure and an elected assembly, but power lay with the lieutenant governor and an appointed elite known as the Family Compact. Land set aside as clergy reserves for the Church of England was a long-standing grievance. The colony repulsed American invasions in the War of 1812, and British immigration greatly increased its population after 1815.

Decline and legacy

Reformers led by William Lyon Mackenzie rose in a brief rebellion in 1837. Following Lord Durham's report, Upper Canada was merged with Lower Canada in 1841 as the Province of Canada; it re-emerged as Ontario at Confederation in 1867.

Lineage

Province of Quebec 1763 CE – 1791 CEUpper CanadaProvince of Canada 1841 CE – 1867 CE

Connections (2)

More states of North America and Oceania →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Upper Canada. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/upper-canada
MLA
“Upper Canada.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/upper-canada. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Upper Canada.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/upper-canada.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Upper Canada’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/upper-canada (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻