Louis-Joseph Papineau

Louis-Joseph Papineau was a lawyer, a prosperous landowner, a skilled orator and a passionate champion for democratic and French Canadian rights in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec). He was first elected to the Assembly of Lower Canada in 1809, and later became leader of the Canadian Party (later the Patriot Party). Inspired by American Republicanism, in the 1830s Papineau demanded—through the document “Ninety-Two Resolutions”—that the British transfer essential political controls to the Lower Canada Assembly.  Britain’s refusal led to an open revolt, and Papineau was forced to flee—first to the United States and then to Paris. Granted a pardon, he returned to politics in Lower Canada where he advocated for annexation with the United States.