William Lyon Mackenzie

Scottish-born journalist and rebel leader who fought against the Family Compact and became Toronto's first mayor.

William Lyon Mackenzie (March 12, 1795 – August 28, 1861) was a journalist and politician born in Scotland who later became a Canadian-American figure. He ran newspapers that attacked the Family Compact, the ruling elite of Upper Canada. Elected to represent York County in the Legislative Assembly, he sided with the Reformers. Mackenzie led the failed Upper Canada Rebellion; after its defeat, he tried to get Americans to help invade Upper Canada during the Patriot War, but that effort also failed. Though he was well-liked for taking on government officials, he was unable to achieve most of his political goals. He remains a well-known Reformer from the early 1800s.

Mackenzie grew up in Dundee, Scotland, and moved to York, Upper Canada, in 1820. He started his first newspaper, the Colonial Advocate, in 1824 and was elected to the Legislative Assembly for York County in 1827. When York became Toronto in 1834, he served as its first mayor but turned down the Reformers' nomination for the 1835 municipal election. After losing his seat in the Legislative Assembly in 1836, he became convinced that only an armed uprising could change Upper Canada's political system. In 1837, he gathered farmers near Toronto and persuaded Reform leaders to back the Upper Canada Rebellion. The rebels chose him as their military commander, but government forces defeated them at the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern.

Following a short stay in the Sharp family barn in Glen Morris, Ontario, Mackenzie fled to the United States. There, he sought American support to invade Upper Canada and overthrow its government. This broke the Neutrality Act, which bans launching an invasion of a peaceful foreign country from U.S. soil. Mackenzie was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

He served over ten months before President Martin Van Buren pardoned him. After his release, he lived in several New York State towns and tried to start newspapers, but none succeeded. He uncovered documents revealing corrupt financial deals and government appointments by New York State officials and published them in two books. In 1849, the parliament of the newly formed Province of Canada granted him amnesty, and he returned.

He represented Haldimand County in the provincial legislature from 1851 to 1858. His health declined in 1861, and he died on August 28.