6. In 1791 the British Parliament passed the Constitutional Act which gave the people of Upper Canada the privilege of holding lands in their own name. In Lower Canada, too, those who wished were allowed to avail themselves of the freehold system, but the French did not take advantage of their opportunity. In the year 1854 Seigniorial Tenure was abolished, the Government recompensing the seigniors for the surrender of their ancient rights and privileges, and freehold tenure, as in Ontario, was introduced. 7. Reasons why the Seigniorial Tenure failed: (_a_) It was not adapted to conditions in Canada. (_b_) It did not provide sufficient incentive to settlers to improve their lands. (_c_) It gave the habitant no chance to rise. (_d_) It tended to divide the population into three classes. (_e_) It failed to develop a civic spirit. This fact alone made progress practically impossible. Each seignior was the master of his own domain. Thus the people had no opportunity of working together, and under such circumstances no great national spirit could be developed. 8. Note the effect of the conquest of Canada and of the American Revolution, upon Seigniorial Tenure. CONFEDERATION OF CANADIAN PROVINCES TOPICAL ANALYSIS _Causes:_ 1. The idea of union an old one in Canada and the Maritime Provinces; foreshadowed in Durham's Report. 2. Immediate cause in Canada was the question of representation by population; deadlock in Parliament. 3. Immediate cause in Maritime Provinces was the feeling between Britain and the Colonies and the United States over the _Trent_ affair, the _Alabama_ trouble, and the idea in the Northern States that the British Colonies favoured the cause of the South in the Civil War. _Steps toward Confederation:_ 1. Meeting of delegates from the Maritime Provinces in Charlottetown in 1864. 2. Meeting in Quebec, 1864, of delegates from all the provinces favours Confederation. 3. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island reject the proposal, and delegates from Upper Canada (Ontario), Lower Canada (Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick proceed to London to secure an Act of Union from the Imperial Government. 4. Movement in favour of union hastened by United States giving notice in 1865 of the termination of the Reciprocity Treaty in a year, and by the Fenian Raid, 1866. 5. Union accomplished by means of the British North America Act passed by the British Parliament in 1867, and brought into force on July 1st, 1867. The provinces confederated as the Dominion of Canada; a Federal Union. _Outline of Terms:_ See _Ontario Public School History of Canada_, p. 215. Provision made for admission of new provinces. _Expansion of Confederation:_ Admission of other provinces--Manitoba, 1870; British Columbia, 1871; Prince Edward Island, 1873; Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1905; Yukon territory also represented in the Dominion Parliament.