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were even greater. The Loyalist element became very strong 
in Nova Scotia and in the province of Quebec, and the 
Loyalist migration caused the creation of two new provinces, 
New Brunswick and Upper Canada. Loyalist influence upon 
the development of the Canadian constitution was equally 
pronounced in that it brought about another change of policy 
on the part of the British ministry with respect to the govern- 
ment of Canada.-^ Altho they wished to live under British 
rule, the Loyalists carried with them to Canada their ideas 
of, and desires for, English institutions, including representa- 
tive assemblies. In fact, many of the Loyalists had gone along 
in their political thinking with men who later became Patriots 
almost to the point of independence. While they were not 
willing to break the tie which bound them to the British 
Empire, many of the Loyalists had disapproved of the British 
policy with respect to taxation in the years before 1775. 
These Loyalists went in large numbers to the province of 
Quebec, the section which had been set off by the Quebec 
Act as a region which was intended to be French, with French 
civil law, feudal land tenures, and the Catholic religion. Con- 
flict in interests and aspirations was the inevitable outcome 
of this situation, and a change of policy on the part of the 
British government became imperative. The French Cana- 
dians regarded the guarantees contained in the Quebec Act 
as being in the nature of a sacred compact, and this greatly 
complicated the problem of colonial government.^* 
The Constitutional Act of 1791 was by no means a solution 
of the British problem of colonial government. By this act 
Canada was to be divided into two provinces. Upper and 
Lower Canada. The population of Upper Canada was chiefly 
English, but that of Lower Canada was predominantly 
French, and whatever English element was there was ef- 
fectually swamped by the French. Moreover, the system of 
government as provided in the Act of 1791 proved to be 
unworkable. It has sometimes been said in the United States 
“La guerre de I’independance americaine, a part son influence sur les vues de la 
politique britannique a I’egard du gouvernement des dependances, reagit d’une facon tres 
pronouncee sur le developpement de la constitution canadienne. . . . L’acte constitu- 
tionnel de 1791 fut une heureuse tentative de parer aux necessites de I’heure.” 
Arthur G. Doughty et Duncan McArthur, Documents relatifs a L’Historie Constitu- 
tionnelle du Canada, 1791-1818. Introduction, o. x, 
“It was the settlement of Upper Canada that rendered the Quebec Act of 1774 
obsolete, and made necessary the Constitutional Act of 1791, which granted to the 
Canadas representative assemblies.” Wallace, op. cit., 6. 
