Acts of Union

The Act of Union passed in 1840 by the British Parliament united the North American provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Parliament had created the two provinces in 1791 to separate British colonists, many of them Loyalist refugees from the American colonies, in Upper Canada from a Roman Catholic, French-speaking majority in Lower Canada. The 1840 act provided for a single government headed by a royally-appointed governor and a legislative assembly equally apportioned between the former divisions. The union created the Province of Canada; the sections were known as Canada East and Canada West.