A new Book of Common Prayer, incorporating…

John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of the colony of Upper Canada, the colonial division of British North America that will eventually become Ontario, had been a supporter of abolition before coming to Upper Canada; as a British Member of Parliament, he had described slavery as an offense against Christianity.

By 1792 the slave population in Upper Canada was not large.

However, when compared with the number of free settlers, the number was not insignificant.

In York (the present-day city of Toronto) there are fifteen African-Canadians living, while in Quebec some one thousand slaves can be found.

Furthermore, by the time the Act Against Slavery will be ratified, the number of slaves residing in Upper Canada will have been been significantly increased by the arrival of Loyalists refugees from the south who bring with them servants and slaves.

At the inaugural meeting of the Executive Council of Upper Canada in March 1793, Simcoe hears from a witness the story of Chloe Cooley, a female slave who had been violently removed from Canada for sale in the United States.

Simcoe's desire to abolish slavery in Upper Canada is resisted by members of the Legislative Assembly who own  slaves, and therefore the resulting act is a compromise.

The bulk of the text is due to John White, the Attorney General of the day.

Of the sixteen members of the assembly, at least six own slaves.

The law, titled An Act to Prevent the further Introduction of Slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude within this Province, states that while all slaves in the province will remain enslaved until death, no new slaves can be brought into Upper Canada, and children born to female slaves after passage of the act will be freed at the age of twenty-five.

American forces take Fort George on May 27, 1813, after a two-day bombardment by cannon from Fort Niagara and the American Fleet, followed by a fierce battle.

Most of the buildings are destroyed.

Brigadier General John Vincent orders the troops to evacuate the fort to minimize the number of casualties

The Iroquois ambush an American patrol at Forty Mile Creek while the Royal Navy squadron based in Kingston come to bombard the American camp, leading General Dearborn to retreat back to Fort George as he now mistakenly believes he is outnumbered and outgunned.

The British commander, General John Vincent, is heartened by the fact that more and more native warriors are now arriving to assist him, providing about eight hundred additional men.

On June 24, with the help of advance warning by Laura Secord, another American force is forced to surrender by a much smaller British and native force at the Battle of Beaver Dams, marking the end of the American offensive into Upper Canada.

The British commander, General Francis de Rottenburg, does not have the strength to retake Fort George, so he builds a blockade, hoping to starve the Americans into surrender.

The Americans abandon the Canadian territory they occupy around Fort George in late 1813.

They had set fire to the village of Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) on December 10, incensing the Canadians and politicians in control.

Many of the inhabitants are left without shelter, freezing to death in the snow.

This leads to British retaliation following the capture of Fort Niagara on December 18, 1813.

Early the next morning on December 19, ...