Revolutions without a Revolutionary Moment: Joint Stock Democracy & the Transition to Capitalism in Upper Canada

Abstract

The transitions to capitalism and responsible government are two revolutions without a revolutionary moment in Ontario's history. This article examines the contribution of the corporation to both in the years before the Rebellion of 1837. It contrasts the ‘gentlemanly capitalism’ of chartered corporations under the oligarchic control of the Family Compact with a series of unincorporated joint stock companies managed by reformers, and by a small religious group, the Children of Peace, in particular. Tracing the overlapping boards of management of these joint stock companies with reform political organizations reveals the economic impetus for the emergence of a culture of deliberative democracy. These joint stock companies were developed to help preserve the freehold property of farmers, and hence their political voice. The irony of the capitalist and democratic revolutions in Ontario was their co-operative joint stock nature.