Mackenzie, William Lyon (1795-1861), was a Canadian political leader and journalist. In the 1830’s, he led a revolt against British rule in the North American colony of Upper Canada.
Mackenzie was born on March 12, 1795, in Dundee, Scotland. He moved to Canada in 1820. In 1824, he founded the Colonial Advocate, a newspaper. In 1828, Mackenzie won election to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada as a member of the Reform Party. He argued for greater local self-government under British rule. In 1834, he became the first mayor of Toronto.
Mackenzie and the Reform Party were defeated in elections in 1836, and Mackenzie soon began to doubt the possibility of achieving peaceful reform. In 1837, he led a revolt to seek independence for Upper Canada from Britain. But local militia easily defeated the few hundred rebels. Mackenzie’s revolt was one of the two unsuccessful Rebellions of 1837. In the other rebellion, Canadians in the colony of Lower Canada also fought against British rule.
Mackenzie escaped to the United States. He established a temporary government on Navy Island in the Niagara River. Authorities in the United States soon arrested him for breaking the neutrality laws. He was tried and imprisoned in 1839 but pardoned in 1840.
Mackenzie worked as a journalist in New York until 1849, when he was allowed to return to Canada. In 1851, he won election to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, a colony formed by a union of Upper and Lower Canada. Mackenzie died on Aug. 28, 1861.
