Louis Riel Essay Research Paper Louis David

Louis Riel Essay, Research Paper

Louis ?David? Riel?s role in the Confederation of Manitoba

When people hear the name Louis Riel, some fill up with anger

and others fill up with a thankful sense of happiness. Louis was Metis,

this was the product of a Voyageur and Indian women having a baby. A

Voyageur and a Indian women getting together back then occurred

during the time the Hudson Bay company and the Northwest were

searching for furs. The Voyageurs wanted to remain friends with the

Indians so they married the Indian women. Louis was born in 1844. He

was a man who stuck up for the rights of his people. In this essay I will

entice you on how Louis Riel contributed to the Confederation of

Manitoba within the years 1869-1885.

In 1821 the Hudson Bay company had created a union with the

Northwest. By this time the Hudson Bay company had ruled the praries.

They were soon in the process of relinquishing its territory to the

Canadian government. It was like an end to an era. English Protestants

had settled on the Forks near the Red River, these Canadians wanted the

land so they could obtain political and judicial structures with which

they were familiar with. The Metis believed that this would not favor

their way of life.

In 1869 the Canadian government sent surveyors to the colony

before the government even owned the land. Louis Riel had ordered

them to stop, he was very upset about this. The Metis then wouldn?t

allow William McDougall, the Lieutenant- Governor elect into the

colony. Very mad and defensive the Metis took over Fort Gary and used

it as a headquarters. The Canadians who were there an didn?t want to

participate were imprisoned. Louis formed a provisional government to

negotiate the colonies entrance into Confederation, he knew that the

Metis thoughts and ideas would be bypassed. A list of rights were made

by the government and sent to Ottawa. The prisoners would be let free if

nobody interfered with the provisional government. One of the prisoners

did plan an attack however, a Thomas Scott was then recaptured and

executed.

Ottawa received the list of rights and had passed the Manitoba Act

on May 23, 1870. Manitoba was entered as the fifth province on July

15, 1870. Amnesty was awarded to the whole rebellion except Louis. He

became an exile, of course he was very upset about this. He changed his

name and went to Montreal where he was interned in a hospital for the

mentally ill. After his release in 1879 he eventually moved to Motana

where he married a Marguerite Monet and had two children.

In 1884 he was asked by a Mr. Gabriel Dumont to come to

Saskatchewan because the Indians were starving and the Metis lands

and rights were being usurped. He agreed and went back to his rebels to

help them fight the government with the help of the Indian Chiefs Big

Bear and Poundmaker. Eight thousand troops were organized to fight

the rebels, they fought at Duck lake, Fish Creek, and Batoche. During

this battle Louis surrendered to a General Middleton. He was tried and

found guilty. On November 16,1885 he was hanged.

I hope that during the reading of this essay I have explained how

Louis ?David? Riel contributed to the Confederation of Manitoba. I

don?t know if Louis should of or shouldn?t of been executed. What I

mean is that I know for what he did for his people he should not have

been executed for, but the fact that he was makes the whole issue all the

more important and spiritual. He died to make life easier for his fellow

people and in the process he established Manitoba as a province.

Thank You.