In 1837 the more determined of the Dutch
"trekked" north and east to found republics in Natal, the Orange River
Free State, and the Transvaal. Purged of these discontented elements,
the Cape was given representative government in 1853, and Natal, which
had been annexed in 1844, received a similar constitution in 1856.
Meanwhile, Canada had advanced through constitutional struggles and
open rebellion to the second stage. It had received its baptism of fire
during the war (1812-1814) between Great Britain and the United States,
when French and British Canadians fought side by side against a common
enemy. But both provinces soon experienced difficulties similar to
those between the Stuarts and their parliaments; their legislative
assemblies had no control over their executive governments, and in 1837
Papineau's rebellion broke out in Lower, and Mackenzie's in Upper,
Canada. Lord Durham was sent out to investigate the causes of
discontent, and his report marks an epoch in colonial history. The idea
that the American War of Independence had taught the mother-country the
necessity of granting complete self-government to her colonies is a
persistent misconception; and hitherto no British colony had received a
fuller measure of self-government than had been enjoyed by the American
colonies before their Declaration of Independence. The grant of this
responsible self-government was one of the two principal
recommendations of Lord Durham's report.
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