Lower Canada Rebellion - Aftermath

Aftermath

Following the military defeat of the Patriotes, Lower Canada was merged with Upper Canada under the Union Act. The Canadiens barely remained a majority in the new political entity, and with continued emigration to the English-speaking part of Canada, this dominance was short lived. Eight years after the Union, a responsible government was set up in the united Province of Canada. The great instability of this new regime (see Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada) led to the formation of the Great coalition, and another major constitutional change, the Canadian Confederation of 1867.

The rebellion of the Patriotes Canadiens of Lower Canada is often seen as the example of what might have happened to the United States of America if the American Revolutionary War had failed. In Quebec, the rebellion (as well as the parliamentary and popular struggle) is now commemorated as the Journée nationale des Patriotes (National Patriotes Day) by the use of the Canadian Statutory Holiday, Victoria Day. It has become a symbol for the contemporary Quebec independence movement (and to a lesser extent a symbol of Canada's small republican movement).