The Rebellions of 1837 began after Papineau's rights were denied by the governor to 92 resolutions of reform. Papineau had thought it was important that the people of Lower Canada should have a more suitable government, rather than the small oligarchy. After his rights were denied he led the Patriots against the Oligarchy gov't. His attempt for reform through rebellion was unsuccessful however; it sparked the idea of rebellion of W. Mackenzie in Upper Canada. Mackenzie started his rebellion in a tavern/ bar fight. The Upper Canada Rebellion also ended quite unsuccessful. After the rebellions, Both Papineau and McKenzie fled to the United States, leaving their follower rebels to face their punishments. As a result, the rebels would either have a death penalty or be transported to Bermuda/ Australia for 7 years. The lower Canadian rebels would have their crops and fields burned. William Lyon Mackenzie was a fiery and vocal critic of the Upper Canadian system in the 1820's and 30's. His temperament and conviction led him to the point where he not only advocated armed rebellion against the colonial government but led it.
He was born in Dundee Scotland on March 12, 1795 and immigrated to Canada in 1820 where he began writing for the Montreal Herald after a stint of manual labour building the Lachine Canal.
In May of 1824 he decide that he could run a newspaper and started the Colonial Advocate, in Queenstown, which was a newspaper which served as an opposition position to the group known as the family compact who were firmly in power in Upper Canada. He moved to Toronto and continued his attacks on the lack of responsible government and the family compact's corrupt and self-serving record.
He quickly became a folk hero among the common man in Upper Canada who generally felt that he was right about the family compact and that something should be done. Not satisfied with just writing about the government, he ran for office in