Book Review

Canada and the United States

This monumental work brings together over thirty-five years of research by John Clarke on the southwesterly tip of Ontario, Essex County. Land—who has it, who should have it, and how to obtain it—was the fundamental issue of North American frontier societies, and Upper Canada was no exception. The focus of this study is on the acquisition of land by white Europeans and the relationship between land and power rather than settlement per se. Clarke sets the stage with an examination of the physical landscape, including soil quality, the first surveys of the area, and the land system put into place after 1791. Fur trade merchants and others active in the Detroit area used their connections with the Native peoples to acquire large tracts of land, despite the official government policy that Native land should only be alienated to the crown. Their success at having the government recognize their title after the fact varied with their social connections. Once land was acquired from the Natives, European acquisition of land could proceed. In subsequent chapters, Clarke follows that process to 1852.

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This study stands out from other examinations of land distribution and land policy in Upper Canada by the sheer level of detail upon which it is based. Using survey records, the Abstract Index to Deeds, assessment rolls, and census data, Clarke has been able to map information such as land quality, date of patent, average price, and the holdings of specific speculators on a lot-by-lot basis. Defining speculators as those holding over 400 acres of land, he finds that, in 1825, 63.4 percent of the land patented was in the hands of speculators, a figure corresponding to that for Ontario as a whole. By also gathering extensive biographical information on the 144 persons identified as speculators, Clarke is able to distinguish between those speculators who were office holders and those who were not. He separates office holders into three groups, with those on the executive or legislative council considered at the pinnacle of power, and compares the behaviors of the different groups.

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