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No matter where we’re from, our life
today reflects what took root during George III’s reign. The
Dorchester Proclamation created the first land districts with
the first land registration process for an orderly growth of
good municipal government that followed in Upper Canada. The
Dorchester Proclamation reflects an important milestone in
Canadian history and reminds Canadians today of the democracy we
have built with "peace, order and good government" reflecting
values of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".
 Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester was army officer
and colonial administrator, born September 3, 1724 in Strabane,
Ireland and served under King George the Third. The Dorchester
Proclamation of 1788 illuminates an important chapter of
Canadian history that is aimed to build a society that would be
democratic and orderly within the ambit of Crown and Empire. The
arrival of several thousand families that came to settle in the
western part of the colony of Quebec, later to be known as Upper
Canada, then Canada West and today as Ontario contributed to a
strong foundation for the future of the Province. These settlers
were discharged British and German servicemen, civilians and
refugees of the American Revolution and their presence presented
immense challenges for the improvement of economic and social
conditions of a country that had settled its borders five years
earlier with the United States in 1783.
Outfitting Loyalist refugees was only one of Carleton’s supply
problems. He had been in New York City scarcely two months when
he was forced to declare his own war on corruption within the
military. The famine that started in 1788 and ended in 1790 made
supply problems even worse. To inject new vitality into the
economy and initiating far reaching constitutional and political
changes, Guy Carlton wanted the help and cooperation of the
German settlers who then made up 70% of the population of what
is today’s Western Ontario. The people of German heritage, same
as their counterpart in the US are the great silent majority;
they were the first to oppose slavery and became part of Canada.
Quebec then would be divided into two provinces "Lower
 Canada"
for the Canadian, "Upper Canada" for the British colonists. With
each group thus assured of its not being dominated by the other,
both would be granted assemblies, which would be able to impose
taxes.
On July 24, 1788, Governor General Lord Dorchester by
proclamation issued from Castle of St. Luis in the City of
Quebec divided the Canada’s into four Districts, namely:
Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau and
 Hesse.
The German names of the four districts newly created through
this Proclamation of 1788 were chosen to honour the Royal Family
as well as to please the high presence of German colonists. The
sister of George III, Augusta, was the Duchess of
Brunswick-Lunenburg, his queen was Charlotte Sophia of Strelitz;
among his ancestors was a countess of Nassau, his aunt Mary was
the Countess of
 Hesse-Cassel. The border lines were to serve the
initial administrative needs of the growing government and
provided a form of municipal government for the appointment of
magistrates and the operation of courts. The presence of these
German names then was not unusual. Earlier in 1670 King Charles
II named Rupert’s Land a vast track of land surrounding the
Hudson Bay Region with 3.9 million square kilometres in honour of
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the king’s cousin. After the arrival
of Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, the names were changed in 1792 to
Eastern, Midland, Home and Western District with more changes to
adapt to a growing population.
Our civility, freedom and relative prosperity emerged from these
roots, remarkably strengthened by all who have come since.
Which, when one thinks of the challenges others face and the
opportunities we share in Canada, there is actually quite a lot
for Canadians to celebrate the 1788 Dorchester Proclamation for
centuries to come.
REFERENCES:
Ontario People 1796-1803
Transcribed and Annotated by E. Keith Fitzgerald, Genealogical
Publishing Co. Inc. USA 08063 - 1366-8
Dictionary of Canadian Biography- Vol.V - 1801-1820 University
of Toronto Press
Canadian Bibliography Carleton
The Makers of Canada, Sir Frederick Haldimand by Jean N.
Mcilwraith, Morang & Co. Limited, Toronto 1910
Guy Carleton – A Biography, Paul R. Reynolds, Gage Publishing,
Toronto, Ontario Canada ISBN 0-7715-9300-7
United Empire Loyalists in the Niagara Peninsula, Sixth Annual
Niagara Peninsula Historic Conference
Brock University 1984 , St. Catharines, Ontario
German Canadian Yearbook Volume .I, p.279, New Canadian
Publications, Toronto, Historical Society of Mecklenburg Upper
Canada , text of Lord Dorchester’s Proclamation with artistic
reproduction by A.K. Ebsen
Canada in the Nineteenth Century – Progress of Canada in the
Nineteenth Century by U. Castell Hopkins, F.S.S.
The Progress of Canada Publishing Co. Toronto, Brantford and
Guelph
Canadian Economic History by W.T. Easterbrook and Hugh G.J.
Aitken, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo, London
ISBN 0-8020-6696-8
The Economy of British America, 1607-1789. John J.McCusker &
Russell R. Menard by The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill and London, p.312/13
Ontario 1610-1985 A political and economic history. Dundurn
Press Limited 1558 Queen Street East, Toronto Canada M4L 1E8
Kirby, William: the Annals of Niagara, p.69 Niagara Falls
Lundy’s Lane Historical Society, 1896p,74, p.75
Eduard Hegel Geschichte des Erzbistums Koeln II 1, Koeln 1995
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