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JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE

History is a form of autobiography, an essay in self-knowledge.

Review Questions

Vocabulary:
reciprocate, perception, effervescent, dispatches, exhortation, democrats, aspiration, destiny, zeal, species, pandered, egalitarianism, republicanism, siege, benevolence, deigned, guerrilla, tactics, bombastic, aristocracy, hierarchy, squire, foiled, pincer, parole, autocratic, insubordination, inundated, prancing, inveterate, fervently, façade, reconnaissance.

1. Describe John Graves Simcoe.

2. How could Simcoe have great vision but lack foresight?

3. Explain: (a). Simcoe had gone off to Toronto in a pet; (b) He compared his commission in the wilds to a species of banishment; (c) Simcoe "advanced with all the certainty of a sleepwalker"; (d) Simcoe referred to himself in the third person; (e) hectic hero; (f) tenacity of purpose; (g) prancing pro-consul; (h) Simcoe-centric; (i) made a virtue of accepting his appointment; (j) will-o'-the-wisp idea; (k) exhibit political innocence; (l) suffer serious delusion.

4. What in your opinion was Simcoe's greatest strength? greatest weakness?

5. "A thousand details crowd upon my mind." What does this comment tell you about Simcoe?

6. Describe Simcoe's relationship with Lord Dorchester.

7. Why was Simcoe unable to establish a model of mother England in Upper Canada?

8. What does the epithet 'prancing pro-consuls' tell you about Simcoe and Dorchester?

9. Why might some historians be somewhat surprised that the colony achieved as much as it did under Simcoe?

10. Justify the statement that Simcoe demanded discipline from everyone but himself.

11. Simcoe would have accomplished more with commonsense and compromise. Explain.

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