William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify the establishment of Upper Canada. He represented York County in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and aligned with Reformers. He led the rebels in the Upper Canada Rebellion; after its defeat, he unsuccessfully rallied American support for an invasion of Upper Canada as part of the Patriot War. Although popular for criticising government officials, he failed to implement most of his policy objectives. He is one of the most recognizable Reformers of the early 19th century.
Raised in Dundee, Scotland, Mackenzie emigrated to York, Upper Canada, in 1820. He published his first newspaper, the Colonial Advocate in 1824, and was elected a York County representative to the Legislative Assembly in 1827. York became the city of Toronto in 1834 and Mackenzie was elected its first mayor; he declined the Reformers' nomination to run in the 1835 municipal election. He lost his re-election for the Legislative Assembly in 1836; this convinced him that reforms to the Upper Canadian political system could only happen if citizens initiated an armed conflict. In 1837, he rallied farmers in the area surrounding Toronto and convinced Reform leaders to support the Upper Canada Rebellion. Rebel leaders chose Mackenzie to be their military commander, but were defeated by government troops at the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern.
After briefly taking shelter in the Sharp family barn in Glen Morris, Ontario, Mackenzie fled to the United States and rallied US support to invade Upper Canada and overthrow the province's government. This violated the Neutrality Act, which prohibits invading a foreign country from American territory. Mackenzie was arrested and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment. He was jailed for more than ten months before he was pardoned by the American president Martin Van Buren. After his release, Mackenzie lived in several cities in New York State and tried to publish newspapers, but these ventures failed. He discovered documents that outlined corrupt financial transactions and government appointments by New York State government officials. He published these documents in two books. The parliament of the newly created Province of Canada, formed from the merger of Upper and Lower Canada, granted Mackenzie amnesty in 1849 and he returned to Canada. He represented the constituency of Haldimand County in the province's legislature from 1851 to 1858. His health deteriorated in 1861 and he died on August28.
Early life and immigration (1795–1824)
Background, early years in Scotland, and education
William Lyon Mackenzie was born on March 12, 1795, in Dundee, Scotland. Both of his grandfathers were part of Clan Mackenzie and fought for Charles Edward Stuart at the Battle of Culloden. His mother, Elizabeth Chambers, a weaver and goat herder, was orphaned at a young age. His father, Daniel Mackenzie, was also a weaver and seventeen years younger than Elizabeth. The couple married on May 8, 1794. After attending a public dance, Daniel became sick, blind and bedridden. He died a few weeks after William was born.Although Elizabeth had relatives in Dundee, she insisted on raising William independently and instructed him on the teachings of the Presbyterian church. Mackenzie reported he was raised in poverty, although the extent of his family's wealth is difficult to authenticate. At five years old, Mackenzie received a bursary for a parish grammar school in Dundee. When he was eleven, he used the reading room of the Dundee Advertiser newspaper and meticulously documented and summarized the 957 books he read. In 1811, he was a founding member of the Dundee Rational Institution, a club for scientific discussion.
In 1813, William moved to Alyth, Scotland, to help his mother open a general store. He had a sexual relationship with Isabel Reid, and she gave birth to their son James on July 17, 1814. His congregation agreed to baptize James after Mackenzie endured public criticism for fathering an illegitimate child and paid a fine of thirteen shillings and fourpence to the church. A recession followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, and Mackenzie's store went bankrupt. He moved to southern England and worked as a bookkeeper for the Kennet and Avon Canal Company. He spent most of his money on wild behaviour and became a gambler.
Early years in Canada
Mackenzie's friend John Lesslie suggested they emigrate to Canada in 1820, and the two men travelled there aboard a schooner named Psyche. When Mackenzie arrived in North America, he worked in Montreal for the owners of the Lachine Canal as a bookkeeper and The Montreal Herald as a journalist. Later that year he moved to York, Upper Canada, and the Lesslie family employed him at a bookselling and drugstore business. He wrote articles for the York Observer under the pseudonym Mercator. The Lesslies opened a second shop in Dundas, Upper Canada, and Mackenzie moved there to become its manager.In 1822, his mother and his son joined Mackenzie in Upper Canada. Elizabeth invited Isabel Baxter to immigrate with them, as she had chosen Baxter to marry her son. Although they were schoolmates, Mackenzie and Baxter did not know each other well before meeting in Upper Canada. The couple wed in Montreal on July 1, 1822, and they had thirteen children. Their daughter Isabel Grace Mackenzie was the mother of Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
The ''Colonial Advocate'' and early years in York (1823–1827)
Creation of the ''Colonial Advocate''
The partnership between the Lesslies and Mackenzie ended in 1823. Mackenzie moved in 1824 to Queenston, a town near Niagara Falls, to open a new general store. A few months later he sold his store and bought a printing press to create the Colonial Advocate, a political newspaper. He refused government subsidies and relied on subscriptions, although he sent free copies to people he considered influential. The newspaper printed articles that supported the policies of the Upper Canadian Reform movement and criticized government officials. He organized a ceremony for the start of the construction of the memorial to Isaac Brock, a British major-general who died in the War of 1812. Mackenzie sealed a capsule within the memorial's stonework containing an issue of the Colonial Advocate, the Upper Canada Gazette, some coins, and an inscription he had written. Lieutenant governor Peregrine Maitland ordered the capsule's removal a few days after it was placed in the monument because of the Colonial Advocates critical stance of the government.In November 1824, Mackenzie relocated the paper and his family to York. Although the Colonial Advocate had the highest circulation among York newspapers, he still lost money on every issue because of low paid subscription numbers and late payments from readers. James Buchanan Macaulay, a government official in York, accused Mackenzie of improper business transactions in 1826 and made jokes about Mackenzie's Scottish heritage and his mother. Mackenzie retaliated by pretending to retire from the paper on May 4, 1826, and published a fictitious meeting where contributors selected Patrick Swift as the new editor. Mackenzie used the Swift alias to continue publishing the Colonial Advocate.
Types Riot
In the spring of 1826, Mackenzie published articles in the Colonial Advocate under the Swift pseudonym that questioned the governance of the colony and described the personal lives of government officials and their families. On June 8, 1826, rioters attacked the Colonial Advocate office. They harassed Mackenzie's family and employees, destroyed the printing press and threw its movable type, the letters a printing press uses to print documents, into the nearby bay. Mackenzie hired Marshall Spring Bidwell to represent him in a civil suit against eight rioters.Bidwell argued that Mackenzie lost income from the damaged property and his inability to fulfill printing contracts. Upon cross-examination, Mackenzie's employees confirmed that Mackenzie authored Patrick Swift's editorials in the Colonial Advocate. The court awarded Mackenzie £625 in damages which he used to pay off his creditors and restart production of his newspaper. One year after the riots, he documented the incident in a series of articles, which he later published as The History of the Destruction of the Colonial Advocate Press.
Reform member of the Legislative Assembly (1827–1834)
Election to the Legislative Assembly
In December 1827, Mackenzie announced his candidacy to become one of the two representatives for the York County constituency in the 10th Parliament of Upper Canada. The Types Riot settlement was used to fund his campaign and he cited the incident as an example of corruption in Upper Canada. Mackenzie ran as an independent and refused to buy alcohol and treats for supporters or bribe citizens to vote for him, as was done by most politicians at this time. He published weekly articles in his newspaper called "The Parliament Black Book for Upper Canada, or Official Corruption and Hypocrisy Unmasked" where he listed accusations of wrongdoing by his opponents. He came in second in the election, becoming one of the representatives for York County.In parliament, Mackenzie chaired a committee that assessed the effectiveness of the post office and recommended that local officials should determine local postal rates. He also chaired a committee that evaluated the appointment process of officials who administer elections in Upper Canada. He was a member of committees that looked at the banking and currency regulations of Upper Canada, the condition of roads, and the Church of England's power. Mackenzie opposed infrastructure projects until the province's debt was paid. He spoke against the Welland Canal Company, denouncing the financing methods of William Hamilton Merritt, the company's financial agent, and its close links with the Executive Council, the advisory committee to the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada.
In the election for the 11th Parliament of Upper Canada in 1830, Mackenzie campaigned for legislative control of the budget, independent judges, an executive council that would report to the legislature, and equal rights for Christian denominations. He was re-elected to represent York County in the parliament. The Reform group lost their majority in the legislature, mostly because the Legislative Council of Upper Canada blocked the passage of their proposed legislation. In the new parliament, Mackenzie chaired a committee that recommended increased representation for Upper Canadian towns, a single day for voting in elections, and voting by ballot instead of voice.
During a legislative break, Mackenzie travelled to Quebec City and met with Reform leaders in Lower Canada. He wanted to develop closer ties between the Reform leaders of each province and learn new techniques to oppose Upper Canada government policies. He gathered grievances from several communities in Upper Canada and planned to present these petitions to the Colonial Office in England.