What was the Constitutional Act of 1791?

• A. A plan to create a federal Dominion
• B. A treaty with the United States
• C. A reform to the British Parliament
• D. A decision to divide Canada into Upper Canada and Lower Canada drafted by Britain

Answer: (D)

The main idea being tested is how governance in British North America was reshaped after the American Revolution. The Constitutional Act of 1791 split the old Province of Quebec into two separate colonies—Upper Canada (roughly modern Ontario) and Lower Canada (roughly modern Quebec). Each province got its own government and a legislative assembly, creating parallel administrative structures to manage different populations within the same empire. This division was designed to address distinct linguistic and cultural communities and to lay groundwork for regional governance, not to create a federal Dominion, not a treaty with the United States, and not a reform to the British Parliament.