• DOI:10.3138/CHR-072-03-02
• Corpus ID: 154595085

Paternalism and Politics: Sir Francis Bond Head, the Orange Order, and the Election of 1836

@article{Cadigan1991PaternalismAP,
  title={Paternalism and Politics: Sir Francis Bond Head, the Orange Order, and the Election of 1836},
  author={Sean T. Cadigan},
  journal={The Canadian Historical Review},
  year={1991},
  volume={72},
  pages={319 - 347}
}

• Sean T. Cadigan
• Published 1 September 1991
• Political Science
• The Canadian Historical Review

maintenance of the imperial connection. On the basis of this belief, the lieutenant-governor acted in ways that polarized Upper Canadian politics on the issue of loyalty to bring about a favourable resolution for the Tory faction.' Subsequent work variously characterized Head as a fool, as a self-defined political cavalier, or as a thug who rigged elections through violence and intimidation in the cause of Upper Canadian loyalism versus American republicanism. • Recent work still leaves Head as a' posturing, vainglorious individual devoid of political experience and common sense,' muddying the clear waters leading to constitutional reform by use of the loyalty issue? While there is much truth in these descriptions of Head's role in the x836 election, they miss the point in seeing him as an aberrant twist to existing tensions between Tories and Reformers. The