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In the aftermath of the American Revolution, the British government was sensitive to unrest in its remaining colonies with large populations of British colonists. After William Lyon Mackenzie's abortive Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837 and Louis-Joseph Papineau's matching Patriotes Rebellion in Lower Canada that lasted through the next year, Lord Durham was appointed governor general of Upper Canada (now Ontario) and given the task of examing the issues and determining how to defuse tensions. In his report, one of his recommendations was that colonies which were sufficiently developed should be granted "responsible government", a term which specifically meant the policy of British-appointed governors bowing to the will of elected colonial assemblies.

Responsible government was put to the test in 1849Events January 23 Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her MD by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, thus becoming the United States' first woman doctor January 31 Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom February 14 In New York City, James Knox Polk be when Reformers in the legislature of the now-united Province of CanadaNote: for information about Canada's present-day provinces, see Provinces of Canada. The Province of Canada was a British colony in North America, created by the fusion of the Canadas into one province by the Act of Union (1840). The former Lower Canada b passed the Rebellion Losses BillThe Rebellion Losses Bill was a controversial law enacted by the legislature of the Province of Canada in 1849. Its passage and subsequent assent by the Governor General, Lord Elgin makes the bill a landmark piece of legislation in Canadian political hist, a law that provided compensation to French-Canadians who sufferred losses in the 1837-38 rebellions. Many English-CanadianEnglish-Canadian is a loose term that generally refers to the non- francophone, English-speaking majority population of Canada. Traditionally, it has referred to anglophone Canadians, that is to say Canadians who are of British descent. In this case, thes were outraged and seen the bill as compensation to traitorsIn law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation. A person who reneges on an oath of loyalty or a pledge of allegiance, and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy, is considered to be a traitor . Oran's Dictionary of the Law ( 1983) defi. The Governor, Lord Elgin, had serious misgivings about the bill, but nonetheless signed it into law in spite of demands from the Tories that he refuse assent. Elgin was physically assaulted by an English-speaking mob for this, and the Montreal Parliament building was burned to the ground in the ensuing riots. Nonetheless, the Rebellion Losses Bill helped entrench responsible government into Canadian politics.

It is worth noting that responsible government is, even to this day, de facto rather than de jure in some former British colonies. To take a specific example, the Governor General of Canada, theoretically appointed by the Queen of Canada, has the power to veto any and all legislation passed by the Canadian Parliament. In practice, however, any breach of the policy of responsible government would undoubtedly touch off a constitutional crisis. (See Monarchy in Canada for more information on the Canadian monarchy.)

In time, the granting of responsible government became the first step on the road to complete independence. In contrast to the American experience, Canada (for example) gradually gained greater and greater autonomy over a considerable period of time, including 1867's British North America Act, 1931's Statute of Westminster, and even as late as the patriation of the British North America Act in 1982 (see Constitution of Canada).

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Responsible governmentResponsible government was a term used to refer to one major plank of the program used by the United Kingdom to grant independence to the so-called "white" dominions (notably Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and in contrast to its colonial possessions Responsible Drug User's OathThe Responsible Drug User's Oath (RDUO) is an oath which is intended for recreational drug users who wish to use drugs in a relatively responsible manner, as opposed to doing so in the stereotype of a lifeless, ethically bankrupt, hedonistic and self-dest Responsible drug useThe concept of responsible drug use is one that stirs debate easily. On the one hand, some believe that recreational drug use is an inherently irresponsible action (in that drug use is fraught with danger, and is illegal in many societies) and therefore c Responsible Government LeagueThe Responsible Government League was a political movement in the history of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland did not join with the rest of Canada when the confederation was first formed in 1867. It eventually achieved Domi Responsible FatherhoodResponsible Fatherhood Responsible Fatherhood is a concept that describes involved parenting by noncustodial fathers and represents the antithesis of the concept of the stereotyped “deadbeat dad. Today, the majority of American children will spend some pa