Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine

Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine

The house in Boucherville where La Fontaine lived when he was a child

Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine, 1st Baronet KCMG (also Lafontaine , born October 4, 1807 in Boucherville , † February 26, 1864 in Montreal ) was the first Canadian to become Prime Minister of the United Province of Canada and the first chairman of one own parliamentary representation (responsible government) in Canada.

life and work

As a lawyer and statesman, La Fontaine was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1830. He was a supporter of Papineau and a member of the Parti canadien (later Parti patriote ). After the severe consequences of the rebellions against the British authorities in 1837 , he advocated political reforms in the newly created province of Canada in 1841 .

As part of the unification of the two Canadas, he worked with Robert Baldwin to found a party for the liberal reformers of Upper and Lower Canada. He and Baldwin formed a government in 1842 but resigned in 1843. In 1848 Queen Victoria commissioned him to form the first government under the new policy of responsible government . The La Fontaine-Baldwin government, formed on March 11, fought for the restoration of the official status of the French language, which had been abolished by the Union Act, as well as for the principles of responsible government and for the principle of double majority voting Laws.

Statue of La Fontaine in Boucherville

While Baldwin was reforming western Canada (Upper Canada), La Fontaine approved laws to abolish manorial rule in the east (Lower Canada). He granted amnesty to the exiled leaders of the uprisings in Lower Canada. The agreed union was not accepted by the loyalists in Canada's east. They protested violently and burned down the Parliament in Montreal. La Fontaine retired into private life in 1851 but was appointed chairman of the Supreme Court of Eastern Canada in 1853. In 1854 Queen Victoria made him Baronet , of the City of Montreal in the County of Montreal, Canada, and in 1855 he received it from Pope Pius IX. the Knight's Cross of the Papal New Year's Eve .

La Fontaine had married Adèle Berthelot (1813-1859) on July 9, 1831, after her death he married the widowed Julia-Elisabeth-Geneviève Morrison (1822-1905) on January 30, 1861. While his first marriage was childless, the second had two sons: Louis-Hippolyte (* July 11, 1862), the second son (* July 15, 1864) died at the age of one. The older son became his title heir as 2nd baronet when La Fontaine died, but died in 1867, whereupon the title expired.

Fonts

• Les deux girouettes, ou l'hypocrisie démasquée. Montréal 1834 ( online ; PDF; 4.3 MB)
• Notes sur l'inamovibilité des curés dans le Bas-Canada. Montréal 1837.
• Analysis de l'ordonnance du Conseil spécial sur les bureaux d'hypothèques [...] Montréal 1842.
• De l'esclavage en Canada , Montréal 1859.
• De la famille des Lauson. Vice-rois et lieutenants généraux des rois de France en Amérique. 1859. ( online ; PDF; 3.7 MB)
• The Address to the Electors of Terrebonne. 1840 ( online )

Honors

Statue of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine on Parliament Hill in Ottawa

In the Montreal region, both the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge Tunnel and the Parc Lafontaine were named in his honor. A statue of La Fontaine and Baldwin was erected on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

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In English

• ME Abbott Nish: Double majority: Concept, Practice and Negotiations, 1840-1848. Master thesis . McGill University, Montréal 1966.
• SB Leacock: Baldwin, Lafontaine, Hincks. Responsible Government. Toronto 1907.

In French

• Georges Aubin: Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine. Correspondence générale. 2002-2005
  • Tome 1: Les ficelles du pouvoir: correspondance entre Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine et Robert Baldwin, 1840-1854
  • Tome 2: Au nom de la loi: lettres de Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine à divers correspondants, 1829-1847
  • Tome 3: Mon cher Amable: lettres de Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine à diverse correspondants, 1848–1864
• Georges Aubin: Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine. Journal de voyage en Europe, 1837-1838. Septentrion, Sillery 1999, ISBN 2-89448-142-X .
• Real Bertrand: Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine. Lidec, Montréal 1993, ISBN 2-7608-7046-4 .
• Elie-Joseph Auclair: Figures canadiennes. vol. 2, Montréal 1933, pp. 9-19. ( online ; PDF; 7.0 MB)
• Alfred Duclos DeCelles: LaFontaine et son temps. Librairie Beauchemin, Montréal 1907. ( online ; PDF; 20.3 MB)
• Laurent-Olivier David: Sir Ls.-H. Lafontaine. Typography Geo. E. Desbarats, Montréal 1872.

Web links

Commons : Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).