The early United States, a single country, was split ideologically, if not geographically between north and south. Early Canada, still under British rule, was split as well. Lower Canada contained parts of the modern-day Province of Quebec (and for a while parts of Labrador); Upper Canada was connected to Lake Superior in the U.S. and had the southern part of modern-day Ontario province. The Ottawa river formed part of the boundary. Their split existence stayed in place for 50 years, until a British study concluded it was better to merge the two halves.

On this day, July 23, in 1840 the British Parliament passed an Act of the Union, merging Upper Canada with Lower to created a single Province of Canada.

As with the American North and South, the two sides to Canada were also quite different. Upper Canada was reeling from massive debts brought on by imprudent investments in canals linking cities to the Great Lakers. Lower Canada was financially solvent, but their French-Canadian Catholic culture did not mesh well with the British Protestant one. The differences persisted despite the merge, and not a decade later another Act of Parliament split the region into the province of Quebec (formerly Upper Canada) and Ontario (formerly Lower Canada.)