Date Published:

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Ninety-Two Resolutions

Ninety-Two Resolutions. These resolutions were passed in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in February, 1834, and constituted a sort of declaration of rights on the part of the patriote party. They were drafted by A. N. Morin, but were inspired by L. J. Papineau. They demanded the application of the elective principle to the political institutions of the province, after the American model; but did not advocate, in any explicit way, the introduction of responsible government. Lord Aylmer, the governor-general of Canada at that time, in an analysis of the resolutions, maintained that "eleven of them represented the truth; six contained truth mixed with falsehood; sixteen were wholly false; seventeen were doubtful; twelve were ridiculous; seven repetitions; fourteen consisted of abuse; four were both false and seditious; and the remaining five were indifferent." The text of the resolutions will be found in W. P. M. Kennedy (ed.), Statutes, treaties, and documents of the Canadian constitution (Oxford, 1930).

[The full text, in French, of the 92 resolutions is to be found at this site, or alternatively here in PDF format. Clearly, not everyone has the same negative perception of the resolutions that Governor Aylmer had.]

Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. V, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 401p., p. 8.