'Rage-against-the-dying-of-the-light': Interpreting the Guerre des Eteignoirs

Included among the numerous reforms implemented by the governing elite of L ower Canada during the 1840s were the establishment of a public school syst em and municipal government, both of which were to be supported by property taxes. These initiatives precipitated more than a decade of popular unrest , which reached its climax in 1850, a year marked by riots, arson, charivar is, and other forms of collective violence. This study analyzes the guerre des eteignoirs, as this period of resistance came to be known, particularly as it played out in the most affected countries of Nicolet and Yamaska in the district of Trois-Rivieres. It finds that new political opportunities a t both the local and provincial level caused tension and competition among the rural elite, leading many wealthy landowners to resist the state's init iatives for both economic and political reasons. The village bourgeoisie, o n the other hand, generally supported the new school and municipal institut ions, seeing them as the means to achieve cultural and political leverage. The habitants were eteignoirs who criticized the school reforms primarily b ecause of the hardships new taxes would impose, but also because the reform s undermined local control of schools. A major finding of this paper, howev er, is that habitant resistance to school laws did not signify that they op posed education itself; in fact, they, unlike their elite allies, demonstra ted a consistent desire for public schooling throughout this time period.