John George Lambton, the earl of Durham, was a British political reformer. He was appointed governor general of British North America by the imperial Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, to investigate colonial grievances after the Rebellions of 1837 in Upper and Lower Canada. Durham arrived in Canada in May 1838, but resigned his appointment four months later, following a dispute with the government in London. Durham returned to Britain and in 1839 completed his Report on the Affairs of British North America.
The Report was controversial, and its recommendations progressive for their time. Durham proposed the creation of municipal governments and also a supreme court in the BNA colonies, as well as a resolution of the land question in Prince Edward
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He found "two nations warring in the bosom of a single state." He was a cultural chauvinist and recommended assimilating the French Canadians — whom he called "a people with no literature and no history" — through a legislative union of the Canadas, in which an English-speaking majority would in his view dominate. Thus the French Canadians could not pursue ethnic aims, and the largely anglophone merchants could pursue a strong St. Lawrence economy to ensure future prosperity.
Durham believed the triumph of capitalism would bring harmony and tranquility, if there were also political reforms. In Upper Canada he saw a defective constitutional system, where power was monopolized by "a petty, corrupt, insolent Tory clique." This Family Compact blocked economic and social development in a potentially wealthy colony, thereby causing the discontent which led to the rebellion. Durham's solution was a system in which colonial governments, at least in domestic matters, were made responsible to the electorate rather than to the governor and the Crown. This would be possible if the executive (or in modern terms, the Cabinet) was drawn from and held the support of the majority in the elected assembly. Such a reform would reduce the power of the Family Compact, stimulate colonial development, strengthen the imperial connection with Britain, and minimize American influences in the