Beware of the “Evil American Monster”: Upper Canadian views on the need for a penitentiary, 1830-1834

Abstract

Over the years numerous studies have focused on explaining the emergence of the penitentiary in nineteenth century Ontario. The routine question addressed in these studies is that of why Upper Canadians enacted legislation in the 1830’s to provide for the construction of a penitentiary based on the Auburn model. While the accounts historians have offered of the circumstances that led to this decision differ in other respects, they commonly agree that Upper Canadians living in the 1830’s began to view crime as a serious problem, and that they saw the construction of an Auburn-model penitentiary as an important part of the solution to this problem. This paper offers an alternative account of the circumstances that led to the establishment of an Auburn-model penitentiary in Upper Canada. This account highlights the opposing views Upper Canadians expressed about the “success” of American penitentiaries, and the outcome of the politics of penal reform in the 1830’s. Although other unique circumstances also contributed to the direction taken by the development of the penitentiary in Upper Canada, this investigation shows that the acceptance of the penitentiary among Upper Canadians was most importantly the result of conflict and compromise between the advocates of reform and their opponents.