A rebel is a person who takes up arms to fight against or refuses allegiance to the established government (Oxford Dictionary). In l870 and l885 Louis Riel raised and led a rebellion against the established government so he could be considered a rebel. He was definitely insane and a megalomaniac and his effort in reality did little to improve the lot of his people. .
The young Riel as leader of the Métis people wanted to work with the democratic system to bring Manitoba into Confederation. Ottawa considered the list of rights fair. Up to this point there can be admiration for Riel. He had tried to make secure the Métis way of life and let nothing happen to their farms. However his actions were a revolt against the legal authority of the settlement, the governor, and council. The will of the people does not entirely make something legal. His provisional government was illegal and he made himself a dictator. Even in this period of Riel's life he starts to show fits of temper and highhandedness as seen with his quick execution of Thomas Scott, and a love of power. .
As "President- he held on to the prisoners he had captured to add to his feeling of power. He wanted to hang on to his power and not come to a peaceable solution after the revolt. When Donald Smith arrived with the Queen's proclamations the paper said .
"The people may rely on it that respect and protection will be extended to the different religious persuasions, that titles to every description of property will be perfectly guarded and that all the franchises which have existed, or which the people may prove themselves qualified to exercise, shall be duly continued or liberally conferred-(Hardy).
Riel wanted to get hold of these papers because they would weaken his hold on Red River. A patriot would have wanted to make peace. Riel did not. He may have wanted a to be independent state or join the United States as influenced by O'Donoghue, a Fenian and annexationist or he may have really enjoyed being totally in power (Hardy).
