John Christian Schultz

2025-07-31T13:19:45Z

104.195.138.12: /* Red River Rebellion */ changed to Red River Resistance

{{Short description|Canadian Manitoba politician and businessman}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name = Sir John Christian Schultz
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|KCMG|size=100%}}
| image = JohnChristianSchultz.jpg
| caption =
| order1 = 5th
| office1 = Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
| term_start1 = July 1, 1888
| term_end1 = September 1, 1895
| predecessor1 = [[James Cox Aikins]]
| successor1 = [[James Colebrooke Patterson]]
| monarch1 = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| governor_general1 = [[Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby|The Lord Stanley of Preston]]<br />[[John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair|The Earl of Aberdeen]]
| premier1 = [[Thomas Greenway]]
| office2 = [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] for Manitoba, Manitoba
| appointed2 = Royal Proclamation
| nominator2 = [[John A. Macdonald]]
| term_start2 = September 23, 1882
| term_end2 = July 1, 1888
| constituency_MP3 = [[Lisgar (electoral district)|Lisgar]]
| parliament3 = Canadian
| predecessor3 = Established
| successor3 = [[Arthur Wellington Ross]]
| term_start3 = March 2, 1871
| term_end3 = June 20, 1882
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1840|01|01}}
| birth_place = [[Amherstburg, Ontario|Amherstburg]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1896|04|13|1840|01|01}}
| death_place = [[Mexico]]
| nationality =
| party = [[Liberal-Conservative Party|Liberal-Conservative]]
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Newspaper publisher, physician
| profession =
| cabinet =
}}

'''Sir John Christian Schultz''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|KCMG}} (January 1, 1840 – April 13, 1896) was a [[Manitoba]] politician and businessman.<ref name="Gwyn">Richard Gwyn, '''Nation Maker, Vol. II''': pg. 100. Vintage Canada, 2012. Print.</ref> He was a member of the [[House of Commons of Canada]] from 1871 to 1882, a [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] from 1882 to 1888, and the [[List of lieutenant governors of Manitoba#Lieutenant Governors of Manitoba, 1870-present|fifth]] [[Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba]] from 1888 to 1895.

==Background==
Schultz was born in [[Amherstburg]], [[Province of Canada|Canada West]] (now [[Ontario]]). Despite being raised in a poor household, he saved enough money to study medicine at [[Queen's University, Canada|Queen's College]] in [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]] (1858–60) and [[Victoria University in the University of Toronto|Victoria College]] in [[Cobourg, Ontario|Cobourg]] (1860–61). He did not graduate from either institution, but nonetheless advertised himself as a "Physician and Surgeon" after moving to the [[Red River of the North|Red River]] settlement later in 1861 (it is unknown if he purchased a degree, as was legal at the time).<ref name="DCBO P2">See Paragraph 2 of [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6420 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']</ref> He also worked as a businessman and speculator in this area, and eventually owned a number of stores in the Red River colony's business sector, including the general store which was the initial building at [[Portage and Main]] with his half-brother [[Henry McKenney (merchant)|Henry McKenney]].<ref name=MHSTransactions>{{cite web|title=The Man Who Created the Corner of Portage and Main|url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/portageandmain.shtml|publisher=Manitoba Historical Society|access-date=January 22, 2014|author=George F. Reynolds|date=June 2, 2012}}</ref>

Schultz also helped to establish a museum{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} and [[freemasonry|Masonic Lodge]] in 1864 in the region. Arrested for improper business practices in 1868, his wife and supporters soon broke into the prison and released him.{{sfn|Woodcock|2011|p=66}} He continued to live and work in the area, in open defiance of the [[Council of Assiniboia]].<ref name="DCBO P3">See Paragraph 3 of [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6420 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']</ref><ref name="MHC P4">See Paragraph 4 of [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/schultz_jc.shtml Biography at ''Manitoba Historical Society'']</ref>

==Newspaper publisher==
In 1859, Schultz convinced [[Patrick Gammie Laurie]], a newspaper publisher in Canada West, to sell his ''Owen Sound Times'' to set up the first newspaper in the Red River settlement; Laurie abandoned the idea before arriving when he found out that William Buckingham and William Coldwell had established one already: the ''[[Nor'Wester (newspaper)|Nor'Wester]]''.{{sfn|Hildebrandt|2008|p=51}} James Ross bought Buckingham's share of the ''Nor'Wester'' in 1863{{sfn|Davis|1995|p=104}} and sold it to Schultz in 1864; Schultz became full owner when he purchased Coldwell's the following year.{{sfn|Hildebrandt|2008|p=117}}

Schultz was a major figure in the early, highly partisan publishing world of the Red River area, which was soon to become the province of Manitoba.{{sfn|Davis|1995|p=104}} Schultz used the ''Nor'Wester'' to promote ending the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]'s rule of the Red River area and open it to settlement. Following his arrest and jailbreak in 1868, the paper ran a version of his side of the story and a criticism of the Hudson's Bay Company's legal authority.{{sfn|Woodcock|2011|p=66}} He sold the ''Nor'Wester'' to Walter R. Brown in 1868, and [[Louis Riel]] confiscated it the following year.{{sfn|Davis|1995|p=104}}

==Red River Resistance==
[[File:Agnes Schultz by William James Topley.jpg|thumb|Schultz married Agnes Campbell Farquharson in 1867.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Biography – SCHULTZ, Sir JOHN CHRISTIAN – Volume XII (1891-1900) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/schultz_john_christian_12E.html|access-date=2021-07-12|website=www.biographi.ca}}</ref>]]
Schultz was initially on good terms with Red River's francophone community, but his unscrupulous business practices soon made him unpopular with most established settlers, anglophone and francophone alike. By 1869, he had emerged as the leader of a small, ultra-loyalist organization known as the [[Canadian Party]]. This group promoted the annexation of Red River by the Canadian government, and encouraged new anglophone/Protestant immigration from [[Ontario]]. Schultz and his followers were actively engaged in land speculation, and were viewed with extreme suspicion by most of Red River's [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis]] community.

During the [[Red River Resistance]] of 1869–70, Schultz emerged as one of the leading opponents of [[Louis Riel]]'s provisional government (which was supported by most of the area's population). Schultz's followers engaged in a number of military skirmishes with the Riel government. Schultz and a number of his followers were taken prisoner by Riel.<ref name=docb>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6420|title=Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online: Schultz, Sir John Christian|access-date=April 24, 2011}}</ref> Schultz managed to escape,<ref name=amer>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Schultz, John Christian|year=1920}}</ref> and tried to organize a group to liberate the remaining prisoners,<ref name=docb/> but was forced to leave the region in February 1870.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Siamandas | first = George | title = John Christian Shultz One of Manitoba's Colourful Businessmen Becomes Lieut. Gov | url = http://siamandas.com/time_machine/PAGES/early_manitoba/JOHN_SCHULTZ.htm | access-date =21 April 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | title = Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online: Schultz, Sir John Christian | publisher=University of Toronto | year = 2000 | url = http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?BioId=40542 | access-date = 21 April 2010 }}</ref> He arrived in [[Toronto]] in April.

Schultz made several speeches against the Riel government during his time in Toronto, and played a significant role in swaying Protestant opinion against the Métis leader. He frequently referred to [[Thomas Scott (Orangeman)|Thomas Scott]] (an Ontario [[Orange Order|Orangeman]] executed by the Riel government for "treason") as a Protestant hero, and called upon Ontario's Orangemen to avenge his death (both Schultz and Macdonald were also Orangemen, as were most of the Ontario militiamen).

Schultz returned to Red River (now renamed Manitoba) in September, after the Canadian government had taken the area with militia units from Ontario. These Ontario soldiers frequently engaged in violence against the Métis population; there can be little doubt that Schultz approved of and encouraged their actions.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

==Provincial politics==
The newly established government of Manitoba sought conciliation among the province's ethnic, religious and linguistic factions, and generally regarded Schultz as a disruptive force. [[Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba|Lieutenant Governor]] [[Adams George Archibald]] hated Schultz, and refused to consider him when constructing his first administration. In Manitoba's first provincial election (December 30, 1870), Schultz's ''Canadian Party'' was the only real opposition to the governing alliance. His followers won four seats (one of which was overturned on appeal), and were responsible for the death of at least one aboriginal government supporter. Schultz himself was defeated by [[Hudson's Bay Company]] spokesman [[Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal|Donald Smith]] in the riding of Winnipeg and St. John, 70 votes to 63. There was a riot among the Ontario militiamen when the result was announced.

The ''Canadian Party'' continued as a parliamentary force after this defeat. At one stage, Archibald warned Prime Minister [[John A. Macdonald]] that they were promoting the "extermination" of the Métis.

==Federal politics==
Manitoba elected its first representatives to the federal House of Commons in March 1871, and Schultz declared himself a candidate in the riding of [[Lisgar (electoral district)|Lisgar]]. He was "a member of the expansionist [[Canada First]] movement."<ref name="Gwyn" /> In a campaign marked by violence and intimidation, he defeated local government supporter Colin Inkster by 315 votes to 65.

Schultz's political affiliations were ambiguous in this period. John A. Macdonald attempted to bring him into the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] ranks in 1871, almost certainly with the intent of neutralizing him. These efforts were unsuccessful, and by 1872 Schultz was apparently calling himself an Independent Liberal. He started another local paper, the ''Manitoba Liberal'', before the year was over.

In the [[1872 Canadian federal election|federal election of 1872]], Schultz defeated his former ally [[Edward Hay (politician)|Edward Hay]], 273 votes to 128. He defeated Hay a second time in 1874, 285 votes to 216. He was also appointed to the Council of the [[Northwest Territories]] in 1872, and served on that board until its restructuring in 1876.

Notwithstanding Schultz's past agitations against the Métis, he was actually a ''defender'' of aboriginal rights for most of his time in parliament. He sought better compensation for the aboriginal population covered under ''Treaty 3'', and tried to protect the buffalo from being hunted to extinction. He also sought to provide the west's Métis population with sufficient provisions for farming.

These positions may appear strikingly out of character of Schultz's previous actions, but they can probably be explained by the reduced influence of Louis Riel in the Canadian west after 1875. Most English-speaking aboriginals in the region were opposed to Riel, as were a number of francophone Métis; these groups generally did not consider Schultz as an enemy, nor was he unfavourably disposed toward them. Schultz continued to be a leading opponent of Riel in the 1870s, supporting his expulsion from parliament in 1874 and his five-year banishment from Canada in 1875. (It may also be noted that Schultz stood to benefit financially from some of the policies which he advocated for western Canada's native population.)

Schultz was re-elected by acclamation in the [[1878 Canadian federal election|federal election of 1878]], as John A. Macdonald's Conservatives won a national victory. Schultz would thereafter identify himself as a Liberal-Conservative and a supporter of Macdonald. Manitoba's population was by this time becoming dominated by Ontario immigrants (Riel's followers having largely abandoned the area), and Schultz was no longer considered a dangerous outsider by the local power structure.

In 1882, Schultz was defeated by [[Arthur Wellington Ross]] (also a Conservative), 760 votes to 720. Schultz was in poor health by this time, and many believed that he had little time left to live. Perhaps out of sympathy, John A. Macdonald appointed him to the [[Senate of Canada|Senate]] on September 23, 1882.

Schultz's health subsequently recovered, and he was able to function as an active member of the Senate. He supported [[prohibition]], and continued to defend aboriginal rights against outside incursions.

==Lieutenant-Governor==
On July 1, 1888, he resigned his Senate seat to become the [[Lieutenant-Governor]] of Manitoba. He was instructed to keep the Macdonald government updated on developments in the province, and to attempt to influence the government of [[Thomas Greenway]] on matters involving Macdonald's [[National Policy]]. He played little part in the Greenway government's anti-bilingualism legislation (which resulted in the [[Manitoba Schools Question]]), though he dutifully signed it into law on March 1, 1890, following Macdonald's orders. Schultz subsequently sought concessions for francophone schools.

==Late life and legacy==
Schultz stepped down as Lt. Governor in 1895. He traveled to [[Mexico]] in an attempt to improve his faltering health, but died there in 1896. Schultz's remains were transported to Winnipeg by a special baggage car, draped in a black cloth on the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]]. His remains were accompanied by his best friend [[Alfred Codd]] and his wife.<ref name="deathtrain">{{Cite journal|title=The Funeral Train|journal=XXIII|publisher=Manitoba Daily Free Press|date=April 18, 1896|pages=1}}</ref>

Schultz's progress from political outsider to Lt. Governor reflects the changes which occurred in Manitoba from 1870 to 1888. Although his early demagoguery was moderated over time, it is unlikely that he could have assumed high office had it not been for the high movement of anglophone settlers from Ontario to Manitoba in the intervening years. In 1870, he was regarded as a nuisance; he was loathed throughout his life as noted upon his death by many influential people who had the displeasure of making his acquaintance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/schultz_jc.shtml|website=www.mhs.mb.ca|title=Memorable Manitobans: John Christian Schultz (1840-1896)}}</ref>

Outside politics Schultz, [[Henry Septimus Beddome]], [[Curtis James Bird]] and others were the founders of the Medical Health Board of Manitoba which was incorporated in 1871 and became the [[College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba]] in 1877. Schultz was actively interested in railway and telegraph development and in colonization.<ref name="amer" />

== Electoral record ==
{{1874 Canadian federal election/Lisgar}}
{{1878 Canadian federal election/Lisgar}}
{{1882 Canadian federal election/Lisgar}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===

{{Refbegin}}

* {{cite book
|last = Davis
|first = Angela E.
|title = Art and Work: A Social History of Labour in the Canadian Graphic Arts Industry to the 1940s
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3xsBiJ-dmkgC
|year = 1995
|publisher = [[McGill-Queen's Press]]
|isbn = 978-0-7735-1280-1
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Hildebrandt
|first = Walter
|title = Views from Fort Battleford: Constructed Visions of an Anglo-Canadian West
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4S_X0123s_IC
|year = 2008
|publisher = [[University of Regina Press]]
|isbn = 978-0-88977-220-5
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Sprague
|first = D. N.
|title = Canada and the Métis, 1869-1885
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=D0BnHT9zHYIC
|year = 1988
|publisher = [[Wilfrid Laurier University Press]]
|isbn = 978-0-88920-958-9
}}
* {{cite book
|last = Woodcock
|first = George
|title = Colony and Confederation: Early Canadian Poets and Their Background
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=D9v6yWZwZ0cC
|year = 2011
|publisher = [[UBC Press]]
|isbn = 978-0-7748-4517-5
}}

{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Christian Schultz |sopt=t}}
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6420 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']
* [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/schultz_jc.shtml ''Manitoba Historical Society – John Christian Schultz'']
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=11770}}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Schultz, John Christian|year=1905 |short=x}}
* [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/portageandmain.shtml ''Manitoba Historical Society – The Man Who Created the Corner of Portage and Main'']

{{MBLG}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schultz, John Christian}}
[[Category:1840 births]]
[[Category:1896 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from Manitoba]]
[[Category:Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of Manitoba]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories]]
[[Category:Politicians from Winnipeg]]
[[Category:Canadian people of German descent]]
[[Category:Physicians from Manitoba]]
[[Category:Canadian nationalists]]
[[Category:Canadian white supremacists]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Senate of Canada]]

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John Christian Schultz