dominated Legislative Assembly banned all further joint-stock banks, even though it was the speculative chartered Bank of Upper Canada that was insolvent and required a government bailout. The Bank of the People survived the panic unscathed and without recourse to government protection. The bank was purchased by the Bank of Montreal in 1840. Like the other Canadian chartered banks, it issued its own paper money. The Bank of Canada was established through the Bank of Canada Act of 1934 and the banks relinquished their right to issue their own currency. Related Banks The name selected by the reformers, the Bank of the People, reflects their emerging strong ties and shared strategies with reformers in Lower Canada, who were founding a similarly named bank in Montreal at the same time, in an effort to break the Bank of Montreal's monopoly there. La Banque du Peuple was formed under the title of Viger, Dewitt & Company, organized as a société en commandite, the French form of joint stock company. The Montreal bank's founders were Louis-Michel Viger, a Montreal lawyer and popular Patriote politician, and Jacob DeWitt, a wealthy American-born hardware merchant, ship owner and reform politician. They drew their clientele from among the French farmers and artisans. References Defunct banks of Canada Bank of Montreal Banks established in 1835 Banks disestablished in 1840 1840 disestablishments in Canada Canadian companies established in 1835 Economic history of Ontario