Louis-Joseph Papineau (October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reformist

Patriote movement The patriotes movement was a political movement that existed in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) from the turn of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent Act of Union of 1840. The partisan embodiment of ...

before the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (french: rébellion du Bas-Canada), commonly referred to as the Patriots' War () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now south ...

of 1837–1838. His father was

Joseph Papineau Joseph Papineau (October 16, 1752 – July 8, 1841) was a notary, seigneur, and political figure in Lower Canada. Between 1773 and 1775, he worked as a surveyor. Papineau was also a horticulturalist whose estate home at Montebello is a to ...

, also a politician in Quebec. Papineau was the eldest of eight children and was the grandfather of the journalist

Henri Bourassa Joseph-Napoléon-Henri Bourassa (; September 1, 1868 – August 31, 1952) was a French Canadian political leader and publisher. In 1899, Bourassa was outspoken against the British government's request for Canada to send a militia to fight for ...

, founder of the newspaper ''

Le Devoir ''Le Devoir'' (, "Duty") is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. ''Le Devoir'' is one of few independent large-c ...

''. Louis-Joseph Papineau is commemorated by a public artwork installed in the metro station, Papineau that serves the street named for his father

. L'École Secondaire Louis-Joseph Papineau in Montreal was named after him.

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

Papineau was elected

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of el ...

on January 21, 1815. The same year, he replaced

Pierre-Stanislas Bédard Pierre-Stanislas Bédard (September 13, 1762 – April 26, 1829) was a lawyer, judge, journalist and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born in Charlesbourg in 1762, descended from French ancestors who had first arrived in New France ...

as leader of the ''

Parti Canadien The Parti canadien () or Parti patriote () was a primarily francophone political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century. Its members were made up of liberal pro ...

''. Under his leadership, the party worked for the reform of Lower Canada's political institutions and strongly opposed the abuses of the appointed Legislative Council. In 1820, he refused a position on the Legislative Council offered by governor Dalhousie.

Childhood and education

Papineau was described as an energetic child. His arrival at the Seminary of Quebec in 1802 was highly anticipated, and his reputation preceding him. Upon graduation, he began an apprenticeship under his father with the goal of becoming a blacksmith, but this was quickly abandoned when the young Papineau turned to law, joining his cousin

Denis-Benjamin Viger Denis-Benjamin Viger (; August 19, 1774 – February 13, 1861) was a 19th-century politician, lawyer, businessman in Lower Canada. He was a leader in the ''Patriote'' movement. Viger was part of the militia in the early 19th century and th ...

. Viger "was for a time the assembly's agent in London and became one of Papineau's prominent supporters and close friends, but after the rebellion, he was to follow Lafontaine." Papineau's later childhood was mainly spent on the seigniory of la Petite Nation, located on the Ottawa river, which was purchased by his father in 1801 from the Quebec Seminary. During his time spent at the seigniory of La Petite-Nation, Papineau was sent to study at the College of Montreal where he rebelled and was forced to leave college. He was then sent to study at the Seminary of Quebec, where he completed his secondary studies. In 1808 Papineau was elected member of parliament for Kent (now Chambly, Quebec) before being admitted to the Bar of Lower Canada in 1810. Later, he served as a militia officer in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. In 1822, he was sent to London with John Neilson to present a petition of 60,000 signatures against the Union project. While in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, he was replaced by Joseph-Rémi Vallières as Speaker. In 1826, he was chosen leader of the Patriotes, a reformed and more radical ''Parti Canadien''. In 1831, he sponsored a law which granted full equivalent political rights to

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s, 27 years before anywhere else in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. The events that led to Jews receiving full citizenship rights in Lower Canada in advance of other nations or territories in the British Dominion were due to the involvement of one

Ezekiel Hart Ezekiel Hart (15 May 1770 – 16 September 1843) was an entrepreneur and politician in British North America. He is often said to be the first Jew to be elected to public office in the British Empire,. He was elected three times by the voters of ...

, a Jew who had proved his dedication to the burgeoning Canadian identity by raising money to support troops in Lower Canada to help in defence against

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

invasion from the south. Louis-Joseph was part of the committee that wrote the

Ninety-Two Resolutions The Ninety-Two Resolutions were drafted by Louis-Joseph Papineau and other members of the '' Parti patriote'' of Lower Canada in 1834. The resolutions were a long series of demands for political reforms in the British-governed colony. Papineau ha ...

passed by the Legislative Assembly on February 21, 1834. The resolutions called for an elected Legislative Council and an Executive Council responsible before the house of the people's representatives.

Leader of the Patriotes

After the arrival of the

92 Resolutions The Ninety-Two Resolutions were drafted by Louis-Joseph Papineau and other members of the ''Parti patriote'' of Lower Canada in 1834. The resolutions were a long series of demands for political reforms in the British-governed colony. Papineau had ...

in Lower Canada on March 6, 1837, he led the movement of protest and participated in numerous popular assemblies. He led the committee that organized the boycott of essentially all British imports to Lower Canada. On November 15, he created the ''Conseil des Patriotes'' with

Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, (probably 27 February 1797 – 29 May 1880) was a doctor and journalist. Career Born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, he studied medicine in Paris and immigrated to Lower Canada in 1823 where he became involved ...

. He and O'Callaghan fled Montreal for

Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu is a municipality in the southwestern part of Quebec, Canada on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 2,285. History In 1694, ...

on November 16, after governor

Lord Gosford Earl of Gosford is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1806 for Arthur Acheson, 2nd Viscount Gosford. The Acheson family descends from the Scottish statesman Sir Archibald Acheson, 1st Baronet of Edinburgh, who later settled ...

ordered their arrest and that of 25 other Patriot leaders. Papineau and O'Callaghan went to the home of

Wolfred Nelson Wolfred Nelson (10 July 1791 – 17 June 1863) was the mayor of Montreal, Quebec, from 1854 to 1856. Biography Nelson was born in Montreal. His father, William Nelson, was an immigrant to Colonial America from Newsham, North Yorkshire, En ...

. He crossed the United States border on November 25.

In exile

On February 8, 1839, he departed to leave

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he hoped to get France involved. In May, he published the ''Histoire de l'insurrection du Canada'' (History of the insurrection in Canada) in the magazine ''Progrès''. Despite meeting with influential politicians such as

Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...

and Lamennais, the France of

Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

also remained neutral. After his wife left in 1843 "he spent a large part of his leisure in the main archival repositories in Paris, where he copied documents relating to French rule in Canada". His role in the 1837 rebellions against British rule forced him into exile until 1845, when, three years after he had been granted amnesty, he finally decided to return to what in 1845 was called the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on th ...

but he visited

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

before getting to the Province of Canada. He only returned to Montreal after he had been granted amnesty by the colonial government as well. Louis-Joseph Papineau 1840

Return to politics

In 1848, he was elected member of the new united Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada in the riding of Saint-Maurice. In severe disagreement with the emerging French Canadian Liberal Party, he sat as an independent member. A convinced

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

after a long exile in the United States and France, Papineau supported the

Montreal Annexation Manifesto The Montreal Annexation Manifesto was a political document dated September 14, 1849, and signed in Montreal, Canada East, calling for the Province of Canada's annexation by the United States. The manifesto was published in two versions (October 11, ...

that called for Canada to join the United States of America. Louis-Joseph Papineau, along with

John Molson Jr. John Molson Junior (October 14, 1787 – July 12, 1860) was a Canadian politician and entrepreneur. He served as director of Molson Bank, president of the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad (Canada's first railway), and president of Montreal Gen ...

, the son of

John Molson John Molson (December 28, 1763 – January 11, 1836) was an English-born brewer and entrepreneur in colonial Quebec, which during his lifetime became Lower Canada. In addition to founding Molson Brewery, he built the first steamship and the fir ...

, and

Horatio Gates Horatio Lloyd Gates (July 26, 1727April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battl ...

, served as the first Vice-Presidents of the Montreal Mechanics' Institute. He participated in the creation of the ''

Parti rouge The Red Party (french: Parti rouge, or french: Parti démocratique) was a political group that contested elections in the Eastern section of the Province of Canada. It was formed around 1847 by radical French-Canadians inspired by the ideas of L ...

''. He was defeated in 1851 but elected in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 1852. He did not present himself again in the elections of 1854. He retired from public life and reappeared only once to hold a conference at the ''

Institut Canadien de Montréal The Institut canadien de Montréal (English; Canadian Institute of Montreal) was founded on 17 December 1844, by a group of 200 young liberal professionals in Montreal, Canada East, Province of Canada. The Institute provided a public library and d ...

'' in December 1867. He died at his manor in

Montebello, Quebec Montebello is a municipality located in the Papineau Regional County Municipality of Western Quebec, Canada. At the 2001 census, there were 1,039 permanent residents. The village has a total area of , and is located at the eastern edge of Quebec's ...

near the modern

Château Montebello The Fairmont Le Château Montebello, formerly and commonly known as the Château Montebello, is a historic hotel and resort complex in Montebello, Quebec, Canada. The resort complex includes a large game reserve and a large wooden structure. The w ...

on September 23, 1871. Both Papineau's manor house in Montebello and his house in Montreal are National Historic Sites, and both are units of the national park system. The one in Montreal, designated in 1968, is closed to the public, but the Montebello property, designated in 1986, is open seasonally, from May to October. Papineau, himself, was named a National Historic Person in 1937. A federal plaque reflecting that status was finally unveiled in 2022, with plans to install it at Montebello. On October 21, 2012, a monument to his memory was unveiled at Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu by Québec Premier

Pauline Marois Pauline Marois (; born March 29, 1949) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as the 30th premier of Quebec from 2012 to 2014. Marois had been a member of the National Assembly in various ridings since 1981 as a member of the Parti Québ ...

Family

M. Papineau married Julie Papineau (née Julie Bruneau) in Quebec City on April 29, 1818. Together, they had 9 children . *

Amédée Papineau Louis-Joseph-Amédée Papineau, or Amédée Papineau (1819–1903) was a writer and Québecois patriot and present at the meeting at which the was founded. He was the eldest son of Louis-Joseph Papineau, a leader in the Rebellions of 1837, Rebe ...

(1819–1903) – heir of Louis-Joseph; *Didier Papineau (1820–1821); *Lachance Papineau (1822–1862) – died in a mental institution; *Arthur Papineau (1824–1825); *Aurelie Papineau (1826–1830); *Ézilda Papineau (1828–1894) – suffering from dwarfism, did not have any children and stayed all her life in

; *Gustave Papineau (1830–1851); *Charles Papineau (1833–1834); *Azélie Papineau (1834–1869) – married the painter and architect Napoléon Bourassa (1827–1916), mother of

, a famous journalist.

Bibliography

"A Chronology of the Life of Louis-Joseph Papineau"
Manoir-Papineau National Historic site of Canada, Parks Canada * * Fernand Ouellet
"Louis-Joseph Papineau: A Divided Soul"
in Canadian Historical Association, 11, Ottawa, 1960 * James Marsh
''Papineau, Louis-Joseph''
in th
''Canadian Encyclopedia''
*

"A Biographical Sketch of the Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau, Speaker of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada"
in ''Sentinel'', Saratoga Springs, 1838 * Gustave Proulx. ''Le Combat Magnifique: Louis-Joseph Papineau''. Montréal: Les Presses de "La Presse", 1973. 124 p. Without ISBN *

Thomas Storrow Brown Thomas Storrow Brown (July 7, 1803 – November 26, 1888) was a Canadian journalist, writer, orator, and revolutionary in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec). Biography Born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, the son of Henry Barlow Brown and R ...

"Brief sketch of the life and times of the late Hon. Louis-Joseph Papineau"
in ''New Dominion Monthly'', 1872, January 1872, 20 pages * Johnny-Normand Pickering LeBlanc ''Le Mémorial Papineau'', Éditions du Fleuve, Montréal, 1989

Art Works

Paintings

Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', ''beau-père de l'artiste'', 1858, 152 x 114,9 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec.

Alfred Boisseau Alfred Boisseau (1823–1901) was an American/Canadian artist who was born in Paris, France. He was known as a painter and photographer, who specialized in paintings of North American Natives and the West. As a young man in his 20s, Boisseau immig ...

, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1871, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Charles Alexander Smith, ''L'Assemblée des six comtés à Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu en 1837'', 1891, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec.

Lithography

Gerome Fassio, adapted from Antoine Maurin, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1844, lithography, 37,8 x 30,7 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec.

Sculptures

Louis-Philippe Hébert Louis-Philippe Hébert (1850–1917) was a Canadian sculptor. He is considered one of the best sculptors of his generation. Career Hébert was the son of Théophile Hébert, a farmer, and Julie Bourgeois of Ste-Sophie de Mégantic, Quebec. At ag ...

, adapted from Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1874, 28,8 x 14 x 11,5 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Louis-Philippe Hébert, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1887, 75 x 28 x 24 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1900, 72 x 60,4 x 13,1 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1900, 48 x 37 x 10 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1900, 48 x 37 x 10 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1900, 58 x 45,5 x 10 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1900, 58 x 45,5 x 10 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1900, 48 x 37 x 10 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', 1900, 47 x 36 x 10 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec.

Photography

Thomas Coffin Doane, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', Daguerréotype, c. 1852, Library and Archives Canada
reference #3195235
Jules-Isaïe Benoît, dit Livernois, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau. Photographie d'un tableau de Théophile Hamel'', 1863, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Unknown, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau, de l'album Eugène-Hamel'', circa 1865, 9,8 x 5,1 cm and; 7,8 x 4,6 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Henri-Napoléon Grenier, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau, de l'album de collection dit de Napoléon Garneau'', 1870-1871, 10,2 x 6,3 cm; and 9,5 x 5,9 cm , Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec. Unknown, ''Le Musée du manoir Papineau, à Montebello'', circa 1895, , 25,3 x 30,3 cm and 16,3 x 21,3 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec.

Photo-engraving

Napoléon Bourassa, ''Louis-Joseph Papineau'', circa 1900, 13,5 x 9 cm and 38,1 x 29,2 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec.

Drawing

Jobson Paradis, ''La Chapelle funéraire Papineau, Montebello'', circa 1900-1915, 23,4 x 28,6 cm, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec.

Note

The Art works section was copied and adapted from the French Wikipedia page of

Louis-Joseph Papineau Louis-Joseph Papineau (October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Low ...

. See that page's history for attribution.

References

External links

* *
Les 92 Résolutions
(PDF in French)

* ttp://www.zonecousinage.com/pedigree.php?personID=I5146&tree=entier&parentset=0&display=standard&generations=4 Ancestry of Louis-Joseph Papineau(in French).
Historica’s Heritage Minute video docudrama about “Hart and Papineau.”
(

Adobe Flash Player Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the ...

)
''Louis-Joseph Papineau: The Demi-God''
a 1961

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

dramatization (

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Papineau, Louis-Joseph 1786 births 1871 deaths Lawyers from Montreal Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Canadian people of the War of 1812 Politicians from Montreal Canadian republicans Canadian Roman Catholics Recipients of Canadian royal pardons Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Lower Canada Rebellion people