House of Assembly of Upper Canada

House of Assembly
of Upper Canada
Logo
Type
Type
History
FoundedSeptember 17, 1792 (1792-09-17)
DisbandedFebruary 10, 1840 (1840-02-10)
Succeeded byLegislative Assembly of the Province of Canada

The House of Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected lower house of the Parliament of Upper Canada, the legislature of the province of Upper Canada in British North America between 1792 and 1841.

Upper Canada and its government institutions were created when the old Province of Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Canadas by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The act laid out the basic structure of the colonial government, including the Parliament of Upper Canada and its two chambers. Despite being the chamber made up of elected representatives, the assembly had limited authorities. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Lieutenant Governor, Executive Council, and Legislative Council. As observed by Earl of Durham in his consequential report, "(t)his veto they used without much scruple."

The initial sixteen members were elected in Upper Canada's first general election held in August 1792. Voting franchise was only extended to land-owning males, and remained so throughout the province's existence. The first session of the assembly convened on 17 September 1792 in newly renamed Newark, Upper Canada (previously known as Butlersburg, located at modern day Niagara-on-the-Lake), the inaugural provincial capital. The assembly was dissolved in 1796 and reconvened for twelve more sessions between 1797 and 1840 in modest buildings in York, the new capital of Upper Canada. Following the Battle of York in 1813, American troops carried out various acts of arson and plundering including setting fire to the buildings of the Legislative Assembly.

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