“La mort du conseil spécial est la meilleure action que ce corps ait faite durant sa vie […]”: The French-Canadian Press and the Special Council of Lower Canada, 1838–1841

On 10 February 1838, months following the 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion, the population of Lower Canada lost all political rights and a political voice. While the British Government attempted to figure out what to do with its disobedient colony, it suspended the 1791 Constitution, dissolved the Legislative Assembly, and put in place an “authoritarian” Special Council to govern the colony. How did French Canadians react to this tutelage? While …