Louis-Joseph Papineau was born in Montreal in 1786. His father made money as a notary and in business; in 1802, he purchased a seigneury from the seminary of Quebec. In this way, the family rose to become part of what was called by Lafontaine the "family compact."
After his primary schooling, Papineau was sent to the College de Montreal, and after an altercation with the Sulpicians who ran the school, he continued his studies at Le Petit Seminaire de Quebec.
Papineau became a notary and, then a lawyer. His election to the assembly for the county of Kent in 1809 marked the beginning of a long political career.
At the time Papineau entered politics, French Canadian nationalism was rising. According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, society was changing, and nationalists -- liberals, professionals, and small businessmen -- felt the need to defend traditional French Canadian institutions. English merchants and civil servants, as well as immigrant Americans, were seen as a threat.
Papineau joined the Parti Canadien and in 1815 was elected Speaker of the House of Assembly. When in 1822-3 the merchants' party wanted the Canadas unified, an idea much opposed in Lower Canada, Papineau went with John Nielsen to London to prevent this measure from being taken. Whether or not he deserved it, Papineau got the credit for quashing this bill.
In 1826 the party name was changed to the Patriote party, and it was within this party that conflict arose between more liberal and democratic reformers and Papineau's French Canadian nationalists, who defended institutions that were not particularly liberal or democratic.
In 1830, influenced by the ideas of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, Papineau spoke in favour of a Canadian republic, though he found it hard to reconcile this idea with his fondness for the seigneury which he had purchased from his father. A believer in the sacred right of property ownership, he was in effect a conservative, who supported the strong privileges of the church and clergy under the seigneurial system of French Canada. Ironically, the church perceived him as a dangerous liberal democrat, because of the liberal content of his political speeches.
He was hostile to commerce, no doubt in large part because the British were in control of the larger scale trading. Though in his early days he respected the British constitutional system, this admiration came to an end in later years, when he favoured the American way of doing things more. His involvement in the Rebellions of 1837 has been described as "ambiguous;" among other things, he destroyed documents and encouraged his subordinates to do the same.
After the second failed rebellion, Papineau left for France by way of New York, and stayed there until 1845, even though his wife had returned in 1843 and he himself had received amnesty the year before. Upon returning to Canada, he became involved in politics once more and fell into conflict with Lafontaine. For one thing, he absolutely opposed the union of the two Canadas, preferring the idea of annexing Lower Canada with America.
In 1871, he died in the Manor house he had earlier built for himself and his family at his seigneury at Montebello.
(Source: Fernand Ouellet)
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