“A Brothers feelings”: Epistolary Emotions in a Time of Political Crisis, Georgeville, Lower Canada, 1838–1839

Abstract

Recently discovered correspondence between two brothers in Georgeville, Lower Canada, reveals at an intimately personal level how the Rebellions of 1837–1838 had a ripple effect within the English-speaking borderland region, forcing one of the brothers into temporary exile. The correspondence that ensued also illustrates the tensions that could develop between male members of tightly knit families in the pre-industrial era, and how the expression of emotions was influenced by education and class affiliation.