Land, Power and Economics on the Frontier of Upper Canada. . - Reviews - book review

Journal of Social History, Spring, 2003 by Jane Errington

The strength of this work is also one of its weaknesses. The reader often loses the central line of argument-of how land and its ownership reflected what others and Clarke consider the essential conservatism of Upper Canada-and an appreciation of the personalities and contradictions of those who actually owned land-amid the masses of evidence and detailed analysis. Perhaps more significant, by viewing land holding in Upper Canada exclusively within the context of 1 8th century British social and political ideology, Clarke fails to consider how land might have been viewed by the majority of immigrants who arrived in the colony after 1791. Few would doubt that British policy rested on a desire to create a landed class and thus promote social and political stability And there is no question that both local and colonial elites used this policy to further their own particular interests. The question remains whether ordinary settlers shared this view. As Clarke himself illustrates, most wanted land on which to sett le. Their unwillingness to go into debt to purchase land and the determination of others to clear mortgages quickly suggests that many wanted to attain what Daniel Vickers has called competence. As Clarke himself notes, even with the latest computer technology to assist in analysing land records, this is not a study of settlement at the micro-scale. (p.xxxv) However, it is only by examining how and why individual settlers and their families used, disposed of and viewed land that one can conclude that they too were part of this Upper Canadian mentality.

Land, Power and Economics is nonetheless an important study. This is not a quick or an easy read. Historians and students will be hard pressed, however, to find another that so carefully sets out the methodology of approach or that brings together an understanding of land policy, land use and the changing agrarian economy in Upper Canada in such a comprehensive fashion.