In Upper Canada it was the Anglican Tories alone who articulated a national vision for the province and who struggled to defend a traditional Church-State 'nation' in North America independent of the new United States. Had the Tories not acted on their beliefs, Upper Canada might well have succumbed to either conquest or absorption by the American republic, or have become thoroughly Americanized. In disparaging and denigrating the principles, beliefs and values of the Upper Canadian Anglican Tories, and in ignoring their achievements -- while focussing on the supposedly progressive Reform Party and the purportedly liberal values of its component 'outgroups' -- historians have produced a national history that is truly 'hollow at the core'. This present study rejects the liberal-Whig (liberal-progressive) interpretation of the political history of Upper Canada in favour of an interactive, intellectual-history approach that focusses on the interplay of ideas, conflicting ideologies and the influence of ideas on historical events. From the Preface: This book is a supplement to an earlier publication by the author-The Upper Canadian Anglican Tory Mind, A Cultural Fragment (2018)-that reconstructed the ideas, beliefs, and principles of the Upper Canadian Anglican Tories with respect to the British constitution, religion and education, and their Christian worldview.... An underlying assumption ... was that 'ideas influence actions', and that a reconstruction of the Tory mind would permit historians to attain a better understanding of the reason why the Upper Canadian Tories took the particular positions that they did on the major political issues of their day. The present book carries forward the concept that 'ideas influence actions'. It does so through an examination of the response of the Anglican Tories to several major public issues of their day, and through setting forth an explanation for their actions in keeping with the tenets of their political philosophy: viz. the principles, values, beliefs and worldview of the Anglican Tory mind. The chapters of the book focus on the critical years, 1812-1840, when the Anglican Tories were defending the cultural values and institutions of the Loyalist asylum of Upper Canada, and were engaged in a veritable struggle for survival against an external threat posed by the imperialism of the United States and its democratic republican ideology, and an internal political threat posed by democratic radicals and evangelical sectariansespousing American political ideas and religious beliefs. In that struggle, the Anglican Tories strove to ensure the sustainability of their traditional Church-State polity through the maintenance of the balanced British Constitution, the extension of the ministrations of the established Church of England, and the teaching of the youth of the province in a 'national system' of education under the direction of the Established Church.... Secondarily, this book analyzes the ideas and character of the politicized 'outgroups' who were assailing the Tory establishment from within the province, and the threat posed externally-both militarily and ideologically--by the new American democratic republic on the borders of Upper Canada. In doing so, this study yields a deeper understanding of the ideological struggle, a veritable 'battle of ideas', in which the Anglican Tories were engaged in Upper Canada following the close of the War of 1812.

The Upper Canadian Anglican Tory Mind: A Cultural Fragment by Robert W. Passfield is the most comprehensive elaboration of the beliefs, values and worldview of Anglican Toryism since the works of the Anglican divine, Richard Hooker, at the English Reformation, to which has been added the Tory concept of the 18th Century balanced British Constitution and the Tory view of the ultimate purpose of education, within the context of the politics of an English colony: the Province of Upper Canada.

This first scholarly account of the Church of England in Upper Canada makes a substantial contribution to an understanding of the religious, political and intellectual development of British North America. The author examines the church's role as the colony's officially "established" church, the Anglican clergy's response to political reverses, and the eventual theological divisions among the clergy.

In studies of the Rideau Canal construction project, Labour historians have focused on the suffering of the canal workers, and have posited that the military deployed troops to suppress labour unrest and were indifferent to the suffering of the workers. This book provides a different perspective through placing the canal project within its natural and physiccal environments, and through taking into account cultural factors in examining the labour as it evolved during the construction of the canal. Within that broader framework, a totally different view emerges with respect to the causes of the suffering experienced by the canal workers, and the role of the military on the canal project. Moreover, the paternalism of Lt. Col. John By is revealed in his efforts to promote the physical, material, and moral well-being of the canal workers. Lastly, the phenomenon of military paternalism is examined further within a Marxist context, and in terms of Anglican toryism and and Lockean liberalism.

Tory loyalty, in addition to demanding unquestioning adherence to the imperial connection, was exclusive. It was used both to distinguish Loyalists from the American late-comers and to differentiate supporters of the political status quo from opponents of the administration. Tories and Reformers attached different qualities to loyalty. Although the Tories framed the political debate, a moderate Reform conception developed in response. The importance of loyalty was unchallenged by moderate Reformers, but they wished to redefine it in ways that would legitimize their own political goals. They appealed to British political traditions that emphasized the idea of individual dissent based on constitutional rights and the necessary independence of legislators threatened by the use of prerogative power as well as the corruption of the executive. By the 1830s, the polarization of politics seemed to offer only two choices - loyalty or disloyalty. This transitional period led to the emergence of moderate and accommodative Toryism as a response to the exclusiveness of the Family Compact. Moderate Toryism developed because other groups, who were not prepared to give up their political and social exclusion, had been drawn into the debate. The moderate Reformers survived through the 1840s and entered the administration. Tories also prospered through adoption of the Reform position permitting new groups to enter the High Tory elite. The result was the formation of a conservative consensus which dominated Upper Canada, whose conservatism lay in a new definition of loyalty which had evolved through the initiatives of moderate Reformers.

From Quaker to Upper Canadian is the first scholarly work to examine the transformation of this important religious community from a self-insulated group to integration within Upper Canadian society. Through a careful reconstruction of local community dynamics, Healey argues that the integration of this sect into mainstream society was the result of religious schisms that splintered the community and compelled Friends to seek affinities with other religious groups as well as the effect of cooperation between Quakers and non-Quakers.

Five leading Canadian religious historians address the Canadian Protestant experience. Each author considers a separate period, taking into account the major underlying themes of the time and noting the influence exerted by key personalities. As this collection shows, Protestantism had its most profound effects on Canadian life in the nineteenth century. As the twentieth century unfolded, however, Canadian Protestantism, battered by demographic change, profound inner doubt, so-called modernity, and secularization, was gradually pushed to the periphery of Canadian experience. The contributors are Phyllis D. Airhart, Nancy Christie, Michael Gauvreau, John G. Stackhouse Jr, and Robert A. Wright.