page_title: William Lyon Mackenzie
section_title: Election to the Legislative Assembly
hierarchical_section_title: William Lyon Mackenzie / Reform member of the Legislative Assembly, 1827–1834 / Election to the Legislative Assembly
caption_attribution_description: The parliament buildings of Upper Canada, designed by Thomas Rogers and constructed between 1829 and 1832, stood at Front and Simcoe streets. York/Toronto, Canada.
context_page_description: William Lyon Mackenzie also spelt McKenzie and MacKenzie, was a Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. His strong views on political equality and clean government drove him to outright rebellion in 1837 after a career as mayor of Toronto and in the colonial legislative assembly of Upper Canada. He led the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion and during its bitter end he set up a small rebel enclave named "Republic of Canada," where he served as president December 13, 1837 to January 14, 1838. After a period of exile in the U.S., he returned to Canada and served as an elected member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1851 to 1858.
context_section_description: Mackenzie declared his intentions to run in the elections for the 10th Parliament of Upper Canada and entered into correspondence with Reformers such as Joseph Hume in England and John Neilson in Lower Canada.  He ran in York County, a riding dominated by colonists of American extraction.  Mackenzie was one of four Reformers vying for York County's two seats – the others included two moderates (J. E. Small and Robert Baldwin) and one radical Reformer, Jesse Ketchum.  During the campaign, Mackenzie published a "Black List" in the Colonial Advocate, a series of attacks on his opponents, which led the Canadian Freeman and the Tories to dub him "William Liar Mackenzie".  Nevertheless, Mackenzie's tactics were successful and he and Ketchum won the seat as part of a landslide that saw the Reformers win a majority of the seats.  However, given the undemocratic nature of Upper Canada at this time, this win did not give the Reformers the right to form a cabinet, as the Executive Council of Upper Canada was still chosen by the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Sir Peregrine Maitland, who remained allied with the Family Compact.
  The 10th Parliament opened in January 1829.  Although there was speculation that Mackenzie would be elected speaker, that honour went to Mackenzie's former lawyer, Marshall Spring Bidwell.  Nevertheless, Mackenzie now had a prominent position from which to advocate for further reforms in the colony.  He organized committees on agriculture, commerce, and the post office (he denounced the post office because it was run to make a profit for British businessmen and he wanted it to come under local control).  He was also critical of the Bank of Upper Canada, which was a monopoly and a limited liability company (Mackenzie distrusted limited liability companies and favoured hard money).  Later in the session, he also spoke out against the Welland Canal Company, denouncing its close links with the Executive Council and the financing methods of William Hamilton Merritt.
  In March 1829, Mackenzie travelled to the U.S. to study the new president Andrew Jackson.  He admired the small size of the American government; the spoils system (whereby a party that wins an election can distribute government jobs to its supporters – unlike in Upper Canada, where those jobs remained controlled by the lieutenant governor no matter who won the election to the Assembly); and Jackson's opposition to the Second Bank of the United States, which corresponded to Mackenzie's feelings towards the Bank of Upper Canada.  Mackenzie was also impressed with Jackson personally when they met.  Following Mackenzie's 1829 trip to the U.S., his political attitudes became increasingly pro-American and anti-British.
  The 10th Parliament was dissolved in 1830 following the death of King George IV, and fresh elections were called.  Unfortunately for Mackenzie and the Reformers, the mood of Upper Canada had changed somewhat from 1828 for a number of reasons: John Colborne, who replaced Peregrine Maitland as lieutenant governor in 1828, was less allied with John Strachan and the Family Compact; Colborne had encouraged immigration to Upper Canada from the British Isles, and these new settlers felt more loyalty to the home country than Upper Canadians born in the New World; and the Reform party had seemed to accomplish little during the two years they had controlled the Assembly.  Consequently, the 1830 election saw the Reformers win only 20 of the 51 seats in the 11th Parliament, though both Mackenzie and Ketchum were returned as members for York.
  Disappointed at the setbacks to the Reform movement, Mackenzie became something of a troublemaker: he published vitriolic personal attacks on his political enemies in the Colonial Advocate; he refused to join an agricultural society organized by the Tories, but attended their meetings and insisted on speaking; and he caused a ruckus in church when, as a member of the assembly, he had attended services at St. James's Cathedral, the anchor congregation of the established Anglican church, as well as services in an i
caption: The third Parliament Building in York was built between 1829 and 1832 at Front Street.
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