Clear Grits
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Clear Grits
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|---|---|
| Founded | 1850 |
| Dissolved | July 1, 1867 |
| Preceded by | Reformers |
| Merged into | Liberal Party of Canada |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Canada West |
| Ideology |
Jeffersonian democracy Classical liberalism Agrarianism |
| Policies |
Fiscal: Liberalism Social: Progressivism |
Clear Grits were reformers in the Canada West district of the Province of United Canada, a British colony that is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Their name is said to have been given by David Christie, who said that only those were wanted in the party who were "all sand and no dirt, clear grit all the way through".
Their support was concentrated among southwestern Ontario farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by the 1849 Reform government of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine's lack of democratic enthusiasm. The Clear Grits advocated universal male suffrage, representation by population, democratic institutions, reductions in government expenditure, abolition of the Clergy Reserves, voluntarism, and free trade with the United States. Clear Grits from Upper Canada shared many ideas with Thomas Jefferson.
The Clear Grit platform was first laid out at a convention held at Markham in March 1850, which included the following planks:
Initially led by Peter Perry, they later came under the leadership of Toronto newspaper editor George Brown, and, in 1857 joined with the Reform Party, which was a loose alliance of liberal minded reformers that became the Ontario Liberal Party and Liberal Party of Canada.
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