Chapter 1
Colonies in the Wilderness, 1814-1840

Important People, Groups, and Events
Briefly outline the importance, achievements, or significance of the following: 1. The Group of Seven - Their nationalist approach was a part of a strategy to move the art establishment and the public into the modern age. They combined the elements of sketch boxes, open air painting, the liberation of color and the simplification of form to achieve what no other artist had achieved in Canada before them: they popularized art. By 1930, they had inspired the nation to see itself manifest in art and educated it to embrace creative expression as part of everyday life.

2. The Metis – The Metis lived in rustic region west and north of the Great Lakes. They worked in fur trade which had become the natural allies of the Native people and Metis against settlement. They had everything to gain and nothing to lose from settlement and although the Europeans and Americans wanted to farm the West, but usually didn’t because of the Metis and Natives were determined to prevent settlement. 3. The Family Compact - The Family Compact was a small and powerful group of servants in Upper Canada. Its members were united by family bond and a common political vision. They dominated the Executive Council, the Legislative council and public administration. To the Family Compact, the domination of the councils and administration was more important than the affairs of a newly established colony. They struggled to move forward because of their loyalty to Great Britain’s and hostility towards the United States.

4. The Chateau Clique – The Chateau Clique was a wealthy family who lived in Lower Canada, and was the equivalent of Family Compact. They gained most of their power and influence after the war in 1812. They wanted to replace the Roman Church with an Anglican Church and replace French civil law with British common law. Their efforts led to the Act of Union in 1840, which ended up failing to incorporate all French Canadians but did succeed in preventing their political and economic interests in triumph over those of Britain. The Clique was also able to establish itself in the Legislative Council, leaving the Legislative Assembly, made up of a majority of French-Canadian representatives. 5. John Graves Simcoe – John Simcoe was the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791-1796. He founded York and introduced British institutions such as the courts, trial by jury, English common law, freehold land contract, and for ending slavery in Upper Canada long before it was even stopped in the British Empire.

6. Josiah Henson – Josiah Henson was born into slavery and escaped to Ontario in 1830. He founded a settlement and had a school for refugee slaves. He was also a minister, author and a abolitionist. 7. The Underground Railroad – The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routs and safe houses for slaves in the United States to escape to other countries like Canada. It successfully freed 100,000 slaves into Canada with the help of abolitionists and allies. 8. Mary Ann Shadd – Mary Ann Shadd was the first black woman publisher in North America and the first in Canada. She wrote “notes on Canada West” in 1852 which attracted many black people to Canada. She was also a journalist, a teacher and lawyer. She preached for slaves that had been taken advantage of and tried to teach them to be self-reliant.

9. The Rebellions of 1837 – The Rebellions of 1837 was an armed fight between Lower and Upper Canada that went from 1837 to 1838. The Lower Canada rebellions were French Canadians and English Canadians against British colonial government. Both rebellions were driven by frustrations in political development. 10. Robert Gourlay – Robert Gourly was a writer, agriculturist and political reform activist, educated at St. Andrews University, and in the summer of 1817 Gourlay arrived in