John Graves Simcoe

John Graves Simcoe (February 25, 1752 – October 26, 1806) was the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada (modern-day southern Ontario plus the shoreline of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior) from 1791-1796. He founded York (now Toronto) and was instrumental in introducing British institutions such as the courts, trial by jury, English common law, freehold land tenure, and for abolishing slavery in Upper Canada long before it was abolished in the British Empire as a whole (it had disappeared from Upper Canada by 1810, but wasn't abolished throughout the Empire until 1834).

Achievements

As a military-minded leader, one of Simcoe's major works after founding York was the construction of several roads connecting York to various larger towns in Upper Canada. The Kingston Road runs along the north shore of Lake Ontario to Kingston about 260 km to the east. The Dundas Road, named after Simcoe's friend Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, starts on the Lake Ontario shoreline running northwest, but soon bends westward to its namesake near Hamilton. Simcoe planned to continue it to London, where he had wanted to form the capital of Upper Canada. His most notable bit of road building remains Yonge Street, running from the shoreline in the middle of York directly north until it reaches Lake Simcoe (then known as Lake Toronto). Built by the newly reformed Queen's Rangers between 1793 and 1796, the road was extended several times to eventually develop into the world's longest street, at some 1,896 km. Although military in nature, these roads were more influential in trade and settlement, opening wide areas of southern Ontario to easy travel and dramatically increasing settlement rates.

Related Topics:
Lake Ontario - Kingston - Dundas Road - Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville - Its namesake - Hamilton - Yonge Street - Lake Simcoe - Queen's Rangers - 1793 - 1796

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Simcoe's most notable achievement was the limitation of slavery. Initially, Simcoe proposed the outright abolition of slavery, but the Legislative Assembly opposed this because many Loyalists brought slaves with them to Upper Canada after the American Revolution. As a compromise, Simcoe passed legislation that allowed for gradual abolition: slaves already in the province would remain enslaved until death, no new slaves could be brought into Upper Canada, and children born to female slaves would be freed at age 25. This effectively ended all slavery in 1810. The act remained in force until 1833 when the Emancipation Act abolished slavery in all British holdings.

Related Topics:
Slavery - Loyalists - 1810 - 1833 - Emancipation Act

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