Editing Upper Canada (section)

===Reform movement===
{{main|William Lyon Mackenzie|Reform movement (Upper Canada)}}

There were many outstanding individual reform politicians in Upper Canada, including [[Robert Randal]], [[Peter Perry (politician)|Peter Perry]], [[Marshall Spring Bidwell]], William Ketchum and Dr. [[William Warren Baldwin]]; however, ''organized'' collective reform activity began with [[Robert Fleming Gourlay]]. Gourlay was a well-connected Scottish emigrant who arrived in 1817, hoping to encourage "assisted emigration" of the poor from Britain. He solicited information on the colony through township questionnaires, and soon became a critic of government mismanagement. When the local legislature ignored his call for an inquiry, he called for a petition to the British Parliament. He organized township meetings, and a provincial convention&nbsp;– which the government considered dangerous and seditious. Gourlay was tried in December 1818 under the Sedition Act 1804 and jailed for 8 months. He was banished from the province in August 1819. His expulsion made him a martyr in the reform community.<ref>{{harvp|Craig|1963|pages=93–99}}</ref>

The next wave of organized Reform activity emerged in the 1830s through the work of [[William Lyon Mackenzie]], [[James Lesslie (publisher)|James Lesslie]], [[John Rolph (politician)|John Rolph]], [[William John O'Grady]] and Dr [[Thomas David Morrison|Thomas Morrison]], all of Toronto. They were critical to introducing the British Political Unions to Upper Canada. Political Unions were not parties. The unions organized petitions to Parliament.

The Upper Canada Central Political Union was organized in 1832–33 by Dr Thomas David Morrison (mayor of Toronto in 1836) while [[William Lyon Mackenzie]] was in England. This union collected 19,930 signatures on a petition protesting Mackenzie's unjust expulsion from the House of Assembly by the Family Compact.<ref>{{harvp|Wilton|2001|pp=146–147}}</ref>
[[File:Second market in York (Toronto).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Second market in York (Toronto)]]
This union was reorganized as the Canadian Alliance Society (1835). It shared a large meeting space in the market buildings with the Mechanics Institute and the [[The Children of Peace|Children of Peace]]. The Canadian Alliance Society adopted much of the platform (such as secret ballot & universal suffrage) of the [[Owenite]] National Union of the Working Classes in London, England, that were to be integrated into the [[Chartism|Chartist]] movement in England.<ref>{{harvp|Schrauwers|2009|pp=181–184}}</ref>

The Canadian Alliance Society was reborn as the Constitutional Reform Society (1836), when it was led by the more moderate reformer, Dr William W. Baldwin. After the disastrous 1836 elections, it took the final form as the Toronto Political Union in 1837. It was the [[Reform movement (Upper Canada)#Toronto Political Union|Toronto Political Union]] that called for a Constitutional Convention in July 1837, and began organizing local "Vigilance Committees" to elect delegates. This became the organizational structure for the Rebellion of 1837.<ref>{{harvp|Schrauwers|2009|pages=192–199}}</ref>

{{Members of the Reform Movement (Upper Canada)}}

{{Gallery
| title  = Members of the Reform Movement
| width  = 120
| height = 100
|File:RobertGourlay3862.JPG|[[Robert Fleming Gourlay]]
|File:WilliamLyonMackenzie.jpeg|[[William Lyon Mackenzie]]
|File:Thomas David Morrison.png|Dr [[Thomas David Morrison|Thomas D. Morrison]]
|File:RobertBaldwin23.jpg|[[Robert Baldwin]]
|File:Sam Lount bas relief.jpg|[[Samuel Lount]]
}}