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One of the great French Canadian nationalists was
Louis-Joseph Papineau who was born in Montréal on the 7th of October, 1786 and died on the 25th of September, 1871 at the age of 85.
The letter traces the history of the Papineau family in Canada and also mentions that the family's many members had to flee France under Louis X1Vth's rule as they were originally Huguenots or French Calvinists . One member of the family fled to Canada in the year 1686 or 1687 and it seems that all of the Papineaus, of which Louis-Joseph was one of the offspring, are descendants from this original Papineau. Louis-Joseph Papineau was a very important politician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada , as Quebec was known prior to Confederation. The country in 1837 was made up of Upper Canada and Lower Canada (much of what is now known as Ontario and Quebec). From the moment of his entry into the Assembly, Papineau never ceased to play a central role in the politics of Lower Canada both in and outside of the Legislative Assembly. He was speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1815 to 1823 and 1825 to 1832. As a powerful speaker he became leader of the Canadian Party, which later became known as the Parti Patriote (Patriot Party). To understand more of the history of Lower Canada it is necessary to go back to the early years of the Legislative Assembly prior to Confederation wherein there existed two parties, the Canadian Party or Parti Patriote and the Tory Party. The former was for the most part made up of French-speaking members and the latter comprised English-speaking members. The basic difference between the two parties is that the Tory party believed in a society patterned after the British model. Consequently their belief was that the aristocracy should control the political power and emphasis should be placed on intensive trade, unconditional attachment to the British Empire and a culture based on Protestant reform. On the other hand the Canadian party wanted a local sovereignty and with the power to be in the hands of the middle class acting on behalf of the working class. This was to be supported by domestic trade, agriculture, the Custom of Paris, Catholicism and local markets.
The copyright of the article Louis-Joseph Papineau and Maison Papineau in Montreal is owned by . Permission to republish Louis-Joseph Papineau and Maison Papineau in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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