Achieving Responsible Government: Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin
Despite their differences, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, a Catholic francophone from Lower Canada and Robert Baldwin, a Protestant Anglophone from Upper Canada, facilitated Canada’s adoption of responsible government. Assess whether Lafontaine and Baldwin should be considered as the founders of what was to become Canada.
Despite their differences, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, a Catholic francophone from Lower Canada and Robert Baldwin, a Protestant Anglophone from Upper Canada, facilitated Canada’s adoption of responsible government. Assess whether Lafontaine and Baldwin should be considered as the founders of what was to become Canada.
Primary Sources
R.B. (Robert Baldwin) Sullivan, Letters on Responsible Government (1844)
Canadiana Discovery Portal: This site enables users to search across the valuable and diverse digital collections of Canada's libraries, museums, and archives. This index contains several primary sources related to Robert Baldwin and his government- keyword search ‘Robert Baldwin’. In addition, there are over 50 documents and links related to Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine though most are in French – keyword search ‘Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine’. Keyword search ‘Responsible government’ also nets worthwhile results, including “Copy of correspondence between the governors of the British North American provinces and the Secretary of State : relative to the introduction of responsible government into those colonies” (London, 1848). Confederation debates are also located using this search engine using keywords ‘Confederation responsible government’.
Secondary Sources
Confederation: includes discussion and artifacts of main events and directions for further reading:
"The Makers of Canada": E-book, scanned from the 1907 original by Stephen Leacock, contains some direct quotations of Baldwin drawn from Assembly papers and minutes:
Canada: A People’s History (season 1, episode 7): “The Union of the Canadas”
NFB, “Robert Baldwin: A matter of principle” (1961)
Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine Quick Facts.
Robert Baldwin Quick Facts:
Print Sources available at RO Library
Michael S. Cross, A Biography of Robert Baldwin: The Morning-Star of Memory (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2012)
Browse through the Confederation section in the library (971.03 to 971.05)
