The Extant Documentation of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837

This book of documents is designed to help satisfy the continuing interest in the risings and to shed new light on areas which, though often much discussed, have not always been closely examined.

Perhaps surprisingly there is a large amount of documentation extant on the rebellions, much of which has not been considered. The editors have attempted to produce in whole, or in part, all the important documents of the period from 1836 to the end of the rebellions' immediate aftermath, even those reproduced elsewhere. We have also tried to survey all of the province and, consequently, have canvassed a wide spectrum of material. Faced with an abundance of documentation, we have typically opted for contemporary material over reminiscences and the like, which are often coloured by time and self-interest. Inevitably, we have omitted many documents which we could have included, but we feel that this collection presents those which best represent the range of available materials and which canvass the issues of the day most clearly and comprehensively.

--Colin Read and Ronald J. Stagg, eds., preface to The Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada: A Collection of Documents, Carleton Library 134 (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1988), ix.