Romney explains this failure of historical imagination as the outcome of an explicit strategy adopted by reformers in the face of charges of disloyalty to Britain in the wake of the Rebellions of 1837. In recounting the “myths of responsible government”, Romney emphasized that after the ascendancy of Loyalism as the dominant political ideology of Upper Canada any demand for democracy or for responsible government became a challenge to colonial sovereignty. The linkage of the "fight for responsible government" with disloyalty was solidified by the Rebellion of 1837, as reformers took up arms to finally break the "baneful domination" of the mother country. Struggling to avoid the charge of sedition, reformers later purposefully obscured their true aims of independence from Britain and focused on their grievances against the Family Compact. Thus, responsible government became a "pragmatic" policy of alleviating local abuses, rather than a revolutionary anti-colonial moment. William Kilbourn stated that the removal of Radicals from Upper Canada politics, either through execution or their retreat to the United States, allowed the Clear Grits to be formed as a more moderate political force that had fewer disagreements with the Tories than the reformers. See also Benjamin Milliken II History of Canada List of conflicts in Canada Rebellions of 1837 References Works cited Further reading William Lyon Mackenzie, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, Biographi.ca "Rebellion in Upper Canada, 1837" by J. Edgar Rea "MHS Transactions: Rebellion in Upper Canada, 1837" Mhs.mb.ca Brown, Richard. Rebellion in Canada, 1837-1885: Autocracy, Rebellion and Liberty (Volume 1) (2012) excerpt volume 1; Rebellion in Canada, 1837-1885, Volume 2: The Irish, the Fenians and the Metis (2012) excerpt for volume 2 Ducharme, Michel. "Closing the Last Chapter of the Atlantic Revolution: The 1837-38 Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 116(2): 413–430; (2006) Dunning, Tom. "The Canadian Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 as a Borderland War: A Retrospective," Ontario History (2009) 101#2 pp 129–141. Mann, Michael. A Particular Duty: The Canadian Rebellions, 1837-1839 (1986) Read, Colin. The rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada (The Canadian Historical Association historical booklet) (1988), short pamphlet Tiffany, Orrin Edward. The Relations of the United States to the Canadian Rebellion of 1837-1838 (2010) "The story of the Upper Canadian rebellion". C. Blackett Robinson, Toronto Charles Lindsey, The Life and Times of William Lyon Mackenzie and the Rebellion of 1837–38. 1862; cited by Betsy Dewar Boyce, The Rebels of