1791 in Canada

Last updated September 21, 2025

This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "1791 in Canada" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this message )

←

1791
in
Canada

→

Decades:

Part of a series on the
History of Canada
Benjamin West's The Death of General Wolfe
Timeline (list) Pre-colonization 1534–1763 1764–1867 1867–1914 1914–1945 1945–1960 1960–1981 1982–present
Significant Events Sites People
Topics Agricultural Cultural Constitutional Economic Former colonies Immigration Indigenous Medicine Military Monarchical Peacekeeping Population Sports Religion Territorial evolution Women
Provinces Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Nunavut Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon
Cities Brampton Charlottetown Edmonton Fredericton Halifax Hamilton Lethbridge Markham Moncton Montreal Northwest Territories capital cities Ottawa Quebec City Regina Richmond Hill Saint John Saskatoon Toronto Vancouver Winnipeg Name etymologies
Research Bibliography Historiography Historians Studies Indices The Canadian Encyclopedia
Canadaportal
v t e

Incumbents

Monarch: George III ^[1]

Federal government

Parliament of Lower Canada — 1st
Parliament of Upper Canada — 1st

Governors

Events

1791–95 – British Captain George Vancouver explores Northwest Coast exhaustively with two ships, but finds no Northwest Passage.
Edmund Burke supports the proposed constitution for Canada, saying that: "To attempt to amalgamate two populations, composed of races of men diverse in language, laws and habitudes, is a complete absurdity. Let the proposed constitution be founded on man's nature, the only solid basis for an enduring government."
Charles James Fox declares that "Canada ought to remain attached to Great Britain through the good-will of the Canadians alone."
Lord Grenville, denying that Canadian attachment to French jurisprudence is due to prejudice, says it is founded "on the noblest sentiments of the human breast."
George Vancouver leaves England to explore the west coast; Alejandro Malaspina also explores the northwest coast for Spain.
In response to Loyalist demands, the Constitutional Act 1791 divides Quebec into Lower Canada (mostly French) and Upper Canada (mostly English who recently migrated from America). In so doing, the Crown hopes to create a stable society that is distinctly non-American. Although French-Canadians retain the privileges granted by the Quebec Act, the Anglican church receives preferred status, including the clergy reserves.

An Anglo-French colonial aristocracy of rich merchants, leading officials, and landholders is expected to work with the royal governors to ensure proper order. Legislative assemblies, although elected by propertied voters, have little real power.

Incumbents
Federal government
Governors
Events
Births
Deaths
References

Population of Lower Canada is 160,000. Population of Upper Canada is 14,000.

Births

January 5 – John Bethune, Anglican clergyman (d. 1872)^[2]
February 6 – Charles Richard Ogden, Joint Premier of the Province of Canada (d. 1866)
July 26 – Sir John Robinson, 1st Baronet, of Toronto, lawyer, judge and political figure (d. 1863)
November 28 – John Cook, politician Ontarian (d. 1877)

Deaths

References

↑ "Kings and Queens of Canada". aem. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
↑ Cooper, John Irwin (1972). "Bethune, John (1791-1872)". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. X (1871–1880) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press . Retrieved 2023-05-14.

v t e History of Canada
Year list (Timeline)	18000 BCE–1500 CE 1534–1763 1763–1867 1867–1914 1914–1945 1945–1960 1960–1981 1982–present
Topics	Canadian Confederation Fathers of Confederation Canadians - (Persons of significance) Constitutional Crown and Indigenous peoples Cultural Economic Etymology Events of significance Former colonies and territories Heritage Minutes Historic Sites Immigration Chinese immigration Military Operations Peacekeeping Monarchical Population history Sports Territorial evolution Women
Provinces and territories	Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Name etymologies
Cities	Brampton Charlottetown Edmonton Fredericton Halifax Hamilton Lethbridge Markham Moncton Montreal Northwest Territories capital cities Ottawa Quebec City Regina Richmond Hill Saint John Saskatoon Toronto Vancouver Winnipeg Name etymologies
Research	Bibliography Historiography Historians Surveys
Search
Category Canadaportal

v t e List of years in Canada
Pre-Confederation Prehistory–1866	Prehistory to 1 BC 1st millennium 1000s 1100s 1400s 1500s 1600s 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s 1660s 1670s 1680s 1690s 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866
Post-Confederation 1867–present	1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Quebec	1608 1609 1610 1611 1612 1613 1614 1615 1616 1617 1618 1635
Canadian electoral calendars	2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Related	List of Canadian monarchs List of governors general of Canada List of prime ministers of Canada List of Canadian federal parliaments Population of Canada by year Timeline
Research	Bibliography Historiography
Category Canadaportal

v t e 1791 in North America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.