Table Of ContentConfederation
and the Roots of Conflict in
the Canada*, 1815-1873
STANLEY RYERSON
B.
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Canada's "crisis ofConfederation" has
until now been probed and debated
almost exclusively in terras of cultural
and constitutional conflict. But what
about social structure in relation to
national tensions and inequalities?
UNEQUAL
Stanley Ryerson in
UNION
invites us to consider a. radical
reinlerpretation of Canada's history;
he examines the connection between
the social and die national—between
the origins of a "business society'1 and
the patterns of colonialism in our
How
experience. early capitalist in-
dustriaHsrji and the rise to power of a
class of Canadian businessmen set their
imprint on the State established in
j067: nx\d how the institution of wage
labor, the relation of '"'masters and
Liven™ has affected the struggles for
independence and national self-
determination - these are among the
questions dealt with in a study that
sheds fresh light on the origins and
nature of the cox-jtemporary Canadian
dilemma.
o
UNEQUAL UNION
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Unequal Union
Hoot* of Crisis in the Canadas* 1815-1973
ManlnlMtimon
Progress Books* 1975
Books by
RYERSON
S. B.
1837: The Birth of Canadian Democracy (1937)
(out of print)
French Canada: A Study in Canadian Democracy (1943)
Le Canada francais: sa Tradition, son Avenir (1945)
A World to Win (1946, 1950)
(out of print)
The Founding of Canada: Beginnings to 1815 (1960, 1963)
The Open Society: Paradox and Challenge (1965)
Unequal Union (1968)
Unequal Union: Confederation and the Roots of Conflict
in the Canadas 1815-1873 (First edition 1968)
Unequal Union: Roots of Crisis in the Canadas 1815-1873
(Second edition 1973)
Second edition 1973: Paperback ISBN 0-919396-17-8
Clothbound ISBN 0-919396-18-6
Third Printing
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 73-76035
Ouvrage publie* a Toccasion du Centenaire de la Confedera-
tion Canadienne, et r^dig^ grSce a une subvention de la
Commission du Centenaire.
Published on the occasion of the Centennial of Canadian
Confederation. The preparation of the manuscript was sub-
,lfoioR7||,qR0/7 sidized by the Centennial Commission.
Copyright © by Progress Books, 1973. All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or by any
information storage and retrieval system,"without permission in writing
from the publisher, except for brief quotations for purposes of review.
Progress Books, Publishers, 487 Adelaide St. W., Toronto, Ont. Canada
M5V 1T4
Printed and bound in Canada
TO MILDRED
PREFATORY NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION
In the course of re-working the book for an up-dated
French-language edition, in the midst of the Quebec
events of the early 1970s, I have felt the need for either
some recasting of parts of the argument, or else for a sort
of meditative sequel. Circumstances of work, however,
compel me to defer the latter and to limit the extent of
the former. Hence, apart from a few corrections in points
of detail I have made only two changes of substance. One
involved an error in the discussion of Reciprocity (p. 236);
I am indebted to Frank W. Park for pointing it out. The
other had to do with bi-national political equality, 1848
and responsible government (concluding part of chap-
ter 8).
The main burden of the argument of Unequal Union I
believe has been confirmed by much of what has happened
since the mid-1950s when the research and writing of it
began. Some of the aspects of continuity are suggested in
a paper written in the summer of 1970 and presented to
the International Sociology Congress of that year. A more
recent, post-October 1970 treatment appears in an essay on
class in the symposium-volume on Capitalism and the
National Question (ed. G. Teeple, U. of T. Press, 1972).
It is the interweaving of two historic processes, the one
proceeding from the British Conquest and its aftermath,
the other from the pattern assumed by the Industrial
Revolution in its penetration of colonial British America,
that set the terms for today's dilemma. They have been
modified by the U.S. take-over, but not removed; rather,
intensified. The intersecting issues of class and national
self-determination persist, and neither the existing state-
structure nor the class society of which it is the political
expression can indefinitely resist the pressures for change.
Departement d'histoire, S.B.R.
Universite du Quebec a Montreal
Preface
This book, a sequel to The Founding of Canada:
Beginnings to 1815, completes an outline sketch of some
of the driving forces that brought into being our present
economic and political structure. As indicated in a fore-
word to the earlier book, what I have undertaken is not
by any means a comprehensive coverage but only "a pre-
liminary breaking ofground, suggestinga line of approach
to a re-interpretation of this country's history." The
period covered embraces the origins of capitalist industry,
the revolutionary prelude to the ascent to power of a class
of Canadian businessmen, the emergence of the class of
industrial wage-earners, the relationships of French-
Canadian and English-speaking Canadian national com-
munities. In dealing with these, I present rather a series
of studies than an exhaustive narrative or analysis. It is
my hope that the work will incite further exploration on
the part of others; as well as making some contribution to
the eventual production of a full-scale, "three-dimension-
al" history such as can do justice to social structure and
national realities. It is an exhilarating sign of our times
of change, not only that work is being done on hitherto
untouched or largely neglected areas of our social past
and present, but that there is growing recognition of the
significance of class and nation in Canadian development.
These at times find astonishing expression in the dis-
course of our early protagonists of reaction and democ-
racy: which is not the least of my reasons for citing them
in their own wordswherever possible. (Present-day author-
ities are cited mainly on points of controversy.)
VIII PREFACE
In the sixteen years of intermittent research for this
book and its predecessor I piled up a debt of assistance
rendered by a very large number of co-workers and
friends. Rather than attempting to catalogue it in detail,
I can only acknowledge the debt with deep-felt and all-
embracing thanks to all who helped. In a few cases I have
been able to allude in reference or footnotes to particu-
lar acts of assistance. Special mention, however, must be
made of the kindness of Professor George Rud£, of the
University of Adelaide, Australia, who placed at my dis-
posal his file of material on the Patriotes transported to
Van Diemen's Land. I also gratefully acknowledge the
assistance of the Public Archives of Canada and the Na-
tional Gallery, la Bibliotheque de l'Assemblee Legislative
du Quebec and its director, M. Charles Bonenfant, la
Bibliotheque Saint-Sulpice and the Collection Gagnon de
la Bibliotheque Municipale de Montreal, the Toronto
Public Library and the Library of the University of To-
ronto. My acknowledgments are due likewise to other
institutions and individuals, as credited in reference notes
or in the text. For the design of the book I am deeply in-
debted to the late Carl Dair, who also designed The
Founding of Canada.
I am grateful to the Centennial Commission for its
grant in aid of publication, and for its patience with my
slowness (the MS was submitted by September 1, 1967,
but editing and work on production extended beyond the
year's end).
The contemporary issues—to which, I trust, the present
study offers a background of some relevance—promise to
hold the anxious attention of Canadians and Canadiens
(or Quebecois), at least for the decade to come: may these
pages make some contribution to a sense of direction as
well as of urgency in both "the Canadas."
