Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada (1838)

After suffering a setback at Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu in Lower Canada on 25 Nov. 1837, the Patriotes were forced into exile and fled to the United States; from there they hoped to organize another rebellion. An initial invasion of Lower Canada occurred on 28 Feb. 1838. The band distributed copies of a declaration of independence, drawn from the American Declaration of Independence, that first enumerated the crimes Great Britain had committed against Lower Canada and then set forth the right to overthrow the government. There followed 18 declarations on abolition of the union of church and state, seigneurial tenure, and so on. The invasion proved to be a total failure.