A chronology of the life of Louis-Joseph Papineau
Manoir Papineau National Historic Site
© National Archives of Canada / C-5414
- The Formative Years (1786-1809)
- The Initiation into Political Life (1808-1815)
- The Rise to Political Prominence (1815-1827)
- Leader of the Parti patriote (1827-1837)
- Exile (1837-1845)
- Political Epilogue (1848-1854)
- Seigneur Papineau Retires to Private Life (1854-1871)
The Formative Years (1786-1809)
October 7, 1786
Birth of Louis-Joseph Papineau in Montréal.
1796-1804
Louis-Joseph Papineau commences schooling at the Collège de Montréal and, from 1802, continues at the Séminaire de Québec.
© National Archives of Canada / Pastel sur papier attribué à Louis Dulongpré, / négatif C-96269, 1796
1805-1809
Law clerkship at the firm of his cousin Denis-Benjamin Viger.
The Initiation into Political Life (1808-1815)
1808-1814
Elected Member of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada for the county of Kent (Chambly).
1810
Called to the bar of Lower Canada.
1813
Captain of a battalion of the Select Embodied Militia, during the War of 1812.
1814
Louis-Joseph Papineau becomes the owner of his father's home, located on Bonsecours Street in Montréal.
1814-1830
Elected Member of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada for the riding of Montréal West (city).
The Rise to Political Prominence (1815-1827)
© National Archives of Canada / Gravure sur bois, anonyme (s.d.) / négatif C-9223
1815-1823
Elected Speaker of the House, for which he receives an annual salary of 1000 pounds beginning in 1817.
1817
Louis-Joseph Papineau purchases the seigneury of La Petite-Nation from his father.
1818
Louis-Joseph Papineau marries Julie Bruneau, the daughter of Pierre Bruneau, a merchant and member of the House for Québec.
1820-1823
Papineau is nominated to the Executive Council, but declines this offer.
1823
Travels to England accompanied by John Neilson to lodge a protest against the projected union of Upper and Lower Canada.
1825-1838
Re-elected Speaker of the House of Assembly.
Leader of the Parti patriote (1827-1837)
©National Archives of Canada / Lithographie dessinée par Robert A. Sproule, 1832 / négatif C-5462
1827
Papineau emerges victorious from a long-time rivalry which, since 1815, has pitted politicians from Québec and Montréal against one another for leadership of the Parti canadien, which became the Parti patriote around 1826.
1827-1828
Member of the House of Assembly for the county of Surrey (Verchères).
1830-1838
Louis-Joseph Papineau represents the riding of Montréal West (city) at the House of Assembly.
1834
Drawing up and tabling of 92 Resolutions, which air all the grievances of the Parti patriote against the colonial government.
1834-1835
Elected member of the House of Assembly for the riding of Montréal.
March and April 1837
Discussion and adoption of the Ten Resolutions by Lord Russell in London, which reject the grievances and reforms put forward by the Parti patriote.
April 10, 1837
News of the Russell Resolutions arrives in Canada.
May 15, 1837
Speech by Louis-Joseph Papineau during a meeting in Saint-Laurent at which he advocates boycotting imports from Great Britain and engaging in contraband.
July 17, 1837
Along with Cyrille-Hector-Octave Côté, Louis-Joseph Papineau chairs a popular meeting at Napierville.
October 23 and 24, 1837
Meeting of delegates from six counties (Assemblée des Six-Comtés: Richelieu, Saint-Hyacinthe, Rouville, Chambly, Verchères and L'Acadie) in Saint-Charles.
November 6, 1837
Members of the Doric Club ("the constitutionals") and Les Fils de la liberté ("the sons of liberty")–two opposing paramilitary groups–clash in Montréal. Members of the first group sack the home of Papineau.
November 23, 1837
Battle at Saint-Denis: the Patriotes defeat the British troops. Louis-Joseph Papineau and Dr. Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan flee to Saint-Hyacinthe.
Exile (1837-1845)
December 1, 1837
Louis-Joseph Papineau and Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan arrive in the United States. Proclamation by Governor Gosford in French and English promising an award of 1000 pounds in provincial currency (4000 piastres) to anyone who manages to apprehend and hand over Louis-Joseph Papineau to the forces of law and order.
January 2, 1838
Meeting in Middlebury, Vermont (U.S.A.), which ends in a scission between a radical wing (Nelson) and a moderate wing (Papineau).
1838
In late May or early June, Louis-Joseph Papineau is reunited with his wife and several of their children in Saratoga, New York (U.S.A.).
November 4, 1838
Rebellion breaks out again in Lower Canada.
February 8, 1839
After having failed to win over several American political figures to his cause, Louis-Joseph Papineau sets sail from New York for France aboard the Sylvie-de-Grasse.
May 1839
Publication by the Paris journal Revue du progrès of the first part of L' Histoire de l'insurrection du Canada (History of the rebellion in Canada), by Louis-Joseph Papineau.
1839-1845
During his exile in France, Louis-Joseph Papineau consults the works of various libraries, copies or has copied documents concerning Canada from the Archives de la Marine (the French colonial secretariat) and the Jesuit archives, with the objective of continuing his history of the Canadian colony.
1845
After being granted amnesty, Papineau returns to Canada via Boston.
Political Epilogue (1848-1854)
©: Patrick Altman / Musée du Québec / Lithographie de Gérome Fassio, d'après un dessin d'Antoine Maurin, 1843 / 55.111
1848-1851
Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Union of the Canadas for the county of Saint-Maurice. This second period in the political career of Louis-Joseph Papineau, which will extend to 1854, gradually contributes to the politician's celebrity. Papineau is replaced as leader of the French Canadian reformers by Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine, and was taxed with being politically unrealistic. As a mere member of the Assembly, Papineau quickly loses interest in his duties.
1849
Advocates annexation of the Union of the Canadas by the neighbouring republic. Louis-Joseph Papineau's conduct at the outset of the battle of Saint-Denis in November 1837 alienates Wolfred Nelson, one of the politician's main supporters.
1852-1854
Represents the county of Deux-Montagnes at the Legislative Assembly of the Union of the Canadas.
The Seigneur Retires to Private Life (1854-1871)
© Parcs Canada / Fonds Jacqueline Papineau Desbaillets / Archambault / 206/ic-1G/PR-6/S-93 no 3, 1843
1854-1871
Papineau retires to the huge manor house he has just built at Montebello, and devotes himself to his family and books and to the duties associated with administering his lands in the La Petite-Nation seigneury.
1854-1869
Louis-Joseph Papineau is on hand as each of several family members dies. He thus decides to build a funeral chapel near the manor house, where he and his family are to be interred.
September 23, 1871
Death of Louis-Joseph Papineau at Montebello, at the age of 85. Five days later, his remains are laid to rest beside those of his family previously buried in the funeral chapel.
For further information on the man and his era, visit the Web site Les Patriotes de 1837
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