God & Government : Exploring the Religious Roots of Upper Canadian Political Culture
This article focuses on a debate that raged in Upper Canada during the early and mid-nineteenth century over the degree to which civil authorities should assume responsibility for promoting societal virtue. Supporters of state-aided Christianity, many of whom were Tories, clashed with critics of clo...
| Published in: | Ontario History |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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The Ontario Historical Society
2013
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| Online Access: | http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1050747ar https://doi.org/10.7202/1050747ar |
| Summary: | This article focuses on a debate that raged in Upper Canada during the early and mid-nineteenth century over the degree to which civil authorities should assume responsibility for promoting societal virtue. Supporters of state-aided Christianity, many of whom were Tories, clashed with critics of close church-state ties, many of whom were Reformers. The catalyst for this conflict was the Clergy Reserves endowment. Drawing on works that situate British North American affairs in an expansive interpretive framework, this article maintains that the Upper Canadian debate over state-aided Christianity was subsumed within a larger conflict regarding the church-state relationship that originated in early modern England and played itself out across the North Atlantic World. Cet article examine un débat qui a fait rage en Haut-Canada pendant la première moitié du 19e siècle, concernant le degré auquel les autorités civiles devaient assumer la responsabilité de promouvoir la vertu dans la société. Ceux qui préconisaient un soutien de l’État au christianisme (dont grand nombre de Tories) s’opposaient aux adversaires de liens étroits entre Église et État (en grande partie des Réformateurs). Au coeur du conflit étaient les réserves du clergé (terres réservées au soutien du clergé protestant). Se basant sur des oeuvres qui envisagent les affaires de l’Amérique du Nord Britannique dans un cadre d’interprétation plus large, cet article traite ce débat du Haut-Canada comme partie d’un conflit plus généralisé concernant les relations entre l’Église et l’État, conflit qui a eu ses origines en Angleterre aux débuts de l’ère moderne et s’est manifesté par la suite dans tous les pays de l’Atlantique du Nord. |
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