ECO322H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Partible Inheritance, Land Tenure, Corn Laws
Lecture 2 – ECO322
Wheat Production in Ontario and Quebec before 1850:
- wheat production in Quebec insufficient to feed population of Quebec, in stark contrast to
Ontario
- Cultural explanations such as industriousness, religion and family size were given as reasons
for disparity in production
- Constitutional Act of 1791 splits Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada; rebellion caused
another move to untie both into Province of Canada: Canada East and West
Wheat Production in Lower Canada:
- Wheat was chosen as primary crop due to easy storage, high yield and value per weight
- Rapid growth in Upper Canada in terms of population
- land transport costs meant that you lived, at most, 20 to 40 miles from waterways
- Geopolitical events allowed for high market prices for exported wheat up until 1815 (British
corn laws imposed very high tariffs)
- expanding agriculture (clearing land) would have masked declining productivity
Seigneurial system:
- Long, narrow strips of land given by seigneurs to censitaires (immigrants) to work the land
Payments due:
1) Cens: symbolic payment to the seigneur
2) Rent in kind: rent paid in food
3) Compulsory labor: Must work the land for a set number of days
4) Banalité: Money paid for grain mill and oven usage
5) Lods et vent: tax on value of property
- payments were rather insignificant because seigneurs competed for censitaires due to little
immigration and unclaimed land (10 % of censitaire’s income)
- it ends up being less expensive under seigneur system than the freehold system in Upper
Canada
- shape of land was advantageous in that it had houses close together and greater range of soil
types, closer to the water as well
- disadvantageous in that it had created a smaller market for goods since villages weren’t needed
Partible Inheritance:
- Did large families and equal division of land cause the problems
- Large family sizes made sense as a frontier society since available land made it possible
- It wasn’t partible inheritance per se, but the fact that there was so much land to being with;
population would have adjusted if it needed to
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Document Summary
Wheat production in ontario and quebec before 1850: Wheat production in quebec insufficient to feed population of quebec, in stark contrast to. Cultural explanations such as industriousness, religion and family size were given as reasons for disparity in production. Constitutional act of 1791 splits quebec into upper and lower canada; rebellion caused another move to untie both into province of canada: canada east and west. Wheat was chosen as primary crop due to easy storage, high yield and value per weight. Rapid growth in upper canada in terms of population. Land transport costs meant that you lived, at most, 20 to 40 miles from waterways. Geopolitical events allowed for high market prices for exported wheat up until 1815 (british corn laws imposed very high tariffs) Expanding agriculture (clearing land) would have masked declining productivity. Long, narrow strips of land given by seigneurs to censitaires (immigrants) to work the land.
