First published by William Lyon Mackenzie on May 18, 1824, the journal frequently attacked the Upper Canada aristocracy known as the "Family Compact", which governed the province.

The Colonial Advocate was used as a voice for constitutional reform, educating and inspiring citizens to take action against their government, making Mackenzie and his paper an important leader in the formation of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.

[2] He would blatantly state his views on members of government, using outward attacks including the names of specific people and established institutions.

"[3] He labelled the May 4, 1826 issue of the Colonial Advocate, the "latest and loudest blast of Colonial Advocate sounded in the ears of the people of Upper Canada," writing, "during the whole of our brief editorial campaign we have exercised with boldness the valuable privilege of thinking for ourselves; it may be here remarked that this boldness does not always attend the public exhibition of our countrymen; who are justly formed over the whole world for the more valuable quality of discretion.

He claimed these papers were "openly in the pay of those who have sought for thirty years to keep the people in ignorance, squander the fruits of their industry … who had dared to stand up for the British constitution and the good of the country.

We will carefully go over the principal matters connected with his [Lieutnenant Governor Sir Peregrine Matiland's] administration… for the present we cannot remember anything he has done of a public nature worth recording.

After Mackenzie had received a large settlement from the Types Riot (see below), and had described the members of the Family Compact as driven solely by self-interest, the paper began to take a leading role in the Upper Canada Rebellion.

"[4] Through the Colonial Advocate, Mackenzie and other early newspapers made democracy possible "at the level where it matters most -- the exchange of ideas in the neighborhood, the serious but not necessarily solemn conversation among friends"[4] For this, he would criticize the Family Compact, bringing to attention the imbalance of power the group held.

It encouraged citizens to press for a representative form of government, and within his first year of publication began advocating for confederation of the British North American Colonies.

Unlike in the US, wealthy British statesmen were not willing to invest in the economy, and at the time, investors were needed to jump start Canadian development.

[3] On May 18, 1826, he published an article praising the US in which he claims any political liberalism that has come to the province was, "owing chiefly to our neighborhood to the United States, and the independent principles brought into the colony with them by the settlers from thence…" [7] During the decade preceding the rebellion, Mackenzie advocated many reforms relating to the banking system, custom dues, heavy legal fees, education, the postal service, jury selection.

[8] He criticized the powers of the appointed justices, the granting of corporate privileges ultimately leading to the bitter relationship between Mackenzie and the group of officials named "The Family Compact.

"[8] At the beginning of his political career, Mackenzie called himself a "whig of 88" which represented the particular British constitutional idea of government known as Whiggery—which is largely what we have in Canada today.

On September 22, 1831, the Colonial Advocate published, "we have been informed that in the most populous country township in the home district there is not at this time of the year more than one school of ten scholars, altho' the number of persons between 6 and 16 is over 600!!!"

[12] Mackenzie ensued the Colonial Advocate once again to attack Strachan and the Family Compact's ideals, and voiced these opinions through his papers and other publications.

[13] The compact was coined with the term 'family' as the members were all linked by family, patronage, and shared political and social beliefs all to favor the mercantile upper class.

The Family Compact idealized British institutions such as a balanced constitution (powers divided between the Crown and executive and the elected assembly), a hierarchal society, and an established church.

"[2] Mackenzie wrote of the Family Compact: "the 'thirty tyrants' proceed in their systematic efforts to destroy good legislative measures; … besides the salaries of its officers fixed by law and the places and pensions and salaries and other things, your property, which its members unjustly enjoy, the legislative council demanded out the public chest last winker, for silk curtains, velvet for their throne...three out of every for of your salient representatives sanctioning the act of plunder, of robbery I might say, but I like to use mild expressions".

On June 8, 1826, a group of young men were seen breaking into the Colonial Advocate's office late at night while Mackenzie was out of town on business.

He wrote a letter to the "Honourable Knights Citizens of Burgesses, representing the Commons of the United Kingdom and Britain and Ireland" describing the details of the riot, and the unfair results of the judiciary.

After going back and suing the rioters, this time with more witnesses and with a legal team, he was able to succeed, earning Mackenzie enough money to repair the damage and more.

Soon after, Samuel Jarvis, a member of the Family Compact and a convicted rioter, published "The Statement of Facts Relating to the Trespass on the Printing Press in the Possession of Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie" which addressed the public and particularly the subscribers of the Colonial Advocate.

"I cannot, in justice to myself, or to those implicated through my indiscretion, remain longer silent, and quietly witness this second attempt at imposition, without an effort to counteract its wicked and mischievous tendency" and continues, "I had sufficient experience of the uncompromising baseness of Mr. Mackenzie's disposition, and could not doubt he would descend to the meanest and most contemptible artifices, and use the most strenuous exertions to paralyze the effect which a candid and indgenuous relation of facts was calculated to produce on the minds of a generous and impartial public.

Members of the Family Compact feared its ability to influence readers and the general public, and for this they decided the need to attack it in attempts to scare it away.

[16][1] A year before the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion, Mackenzie wrote what would summarize his belief on newspapers and politics: "one thing is certain, no free popular government can exist unless people are informed.