According to Read, "the new government, then, was to be a balanced one, blending the elements of King (the lieutenant governor), Lords (the two appointed councils), and Commons (the assembly) (Read, 1985, p. 6). It was believed that the interests of all would be served by this system and that accordingly an overall sense of harmony and balance would be favored to the chaos of revolution and/or political upheaval. .
Yet, soon after the passage of the Constitution Act of 1791 vested interest began to accumulate within the governmental structure of Upper Canada. This was because local government officials were appointed, rather than elected (Read, 1985). The Loyalists found themselves caught in between a system of governance based on nepotism. According to Read, however, "Upper Canada had been founded by men and women who fled from the Revolution in the Thirteen Colonies" (Read 1985, p. 6). It is important to understand that in light of the dramatic events of not only the American Revolutionary War, but also the French Revolution that the events of the rebellions of 1837-38 cannot be seen without understanding that the right of citizens to participate in the political process, as epitomized with the French and American Revolutions, as individuals sought a representative assembly rather than an appointed one. .
In Lower Canada, however, the causes were much different. According to Alan Greer, "the absence of municipal institutions (in the cities as well the country until about the time of the Rebellion) was in fact part of the deliberate policy of preventing the development of centres of power that might rival the central colonial administration" (Greer 1993, p. 17). While the situation and causes differed in both Upper and Lower Canada, so too did the preceding actions and levels of civil disobedience. .
The rebellion in Lower Canada began first. It was started by rebel leaders in November 1837, amongst them Wolfred Nelson, Louis-Joseph Papineau, and Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan (Curtis 1983).